Providence, state, and education leaders gathered Friday to cut the ribbon on the new upper campus of Frank D. Spaziano PK-8 School in Providence, a $34.5 million middle school building that will serve 312 students. The ceremony marks the completion of a $78.5 million educational complex that now unites an elementary school and a middle school on facing sides of the same street.
According to WJAR, district officials say the new building features STEAM learning centers, integrated modern classroom technology, a state-of-the-art media center, and specialized classrooms for special education programming. The station reports that Rhode Island Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green called the opening an important milestone in the district's facility transformation, made possible through state intervention, adding that “Every student deserves access to a high-quality learning environment that supports their growth, achievement, and well-being.”
The 38,756-square-foot building broke ground in December 2024 and reached its topping-off milestone on May 5, 2025, with a construction timeline set at 14 months, according to O&G Industries, the general contractor on the project. DOWNES Construction served as owner's program manager and Tecton Architects handled design, the same team that delivered the elementary phase, per the same account.
Grades Will Expand Gradually Through 2028
For the 2026-27 school year, the upper campus opens serving only grades 6 and 7, with full middle school capacity of grades 6 through 8 arriving in 2027-28, according to Providence Public Schools. The adjacent upper and lower campuses were strategically planned to preserve the district's dual-language education pathway, letting students stay in the same bilingual program from Pre-K through 8th grade without switching buildings, per O&G Industries.
The $44 million Spaziano Elementary lower campus, which opened in 2023, was the first brand-new school built in Providence in more than two decades, replacing a 70-year-old building and later earning a 2024 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon award for its carbon-neutral design, according to Downes Construction.
Part of a Billion-Dollar District Overhaul
The Spaziano complex is one piece of Providence's district-wide $1 billion facilities modernization program, which aims to shift the district from 38 aging buildings toward fewer, larger PreK-8 consolidated campuses by 2030, according to The Providence Eye. Hoodline has previously reported on the district's merger plan, which calls for at least 16 new or like-new facilities as standalone elementary and middle schools are consolidated.
That construction work has been financed through local municipal bonds, including a $160 million bond in 2018 and a $125 million referendum voters approved in 2022, leveraged alongside state building aid reimbursements from the Rhode Island Department of Education, according to that same RIDE statement on the bond referendum. The timing of Friday's ribbon-cutting also lands in the district's first academic term since state oversight formally ended on June 30, 2026, when governance returned to local municipal leaders after nearly seven years of Rhode Island Department of Education intervention.
How the district manages operational costs, staffing, and academic outcomes under that restored local control remains to be seen as grade expansions continue to roll out through 2028.
