Barrington has received approval from the Rhode Island Board of Regents for $2.46 million in health and safety repairs to the town's six schools.

The actual cost to Barrington taxpayers will be around $1.5 million -- either 60 or 65 percent of the $2.46 million price tag depending on the reimbursement rate at the time of the approvel by RIDE, said Ron Tarro, school finance director.

No bonds will be sold to complete the work, he said.

Many of the smaller items in the scope of work will be completed by the school department's maintenance staff, said Tarro. But about half of the work at the schools involves fire alarm systems and fire doors.

That work is beyond the expertise of the schools' maintenance staff and will be bid out for the appropriate contractors, said Tarro.

The scope of work came from the School Committee by way of the School Building Committee and consultants that assessed the schools for almost a year. The health and safety work will bring all of the buildings up to the state’s fire and building codes.

Tarro said previously that the administration will continue to evaluate the needs of each school and adjust spending as needed. School Committee Chairman Patrick Guida has said: “If we don’t have to do it, we won’t.”

All of the work is expected to be completed within 3 to 5 years, Tarro said.

The scope of work shows the following costs for each school:

• Barrington High School -- $885,609
• Barrington Middle School -- $464,841
• Hampden Meadows School -- $662,117
• Nayatt School -- $114,275
• Primrose Hill School -- $197,530
• Sowams School -- $139,930

 Here is a look at some of the work and its costs at the high school:

• Replace railings in the stairs to the second floor ($13,648)
• Re-swing doors from courtyards to exist in proper direction ($32,756)
• Install fire shutters on openings to cafeteria from dishwasher ($$13,648)
• Create a second means of egress from the courtyards ($32,756)
• Replace toilet and urinal petitions in boy’s locker room ($13,648)
• Upgrade toilet rooms adjacent to faculty dining room ($44,357)
• Replace all rooftop exhaust fans ($75,066)
• Emergency and exit lighting ($64,488)
• Make fire alarm modifications and upgrades ($444,835)
• Bring the school up to ADA requirements ($66,000)

 Here is a look at some of the work proposed for the middle school:

• Modify handrails and guard rails in corner stairwells to second floor ($40,945)
• Replace missing handrails and stair nosings at exits from the gym and girls locker room ($20,472)
• Replace and re-swing doors from courtyards to swing in proper direction ($27,292)
• Replace kitchen ceiling with washable ties ($23,065)
• Ceiling insulating panel needs replacement in boiler room ($20,472)
• Emergency and exit lighting ($50,157)
• Allowance to cover potential HVAC system failure ($180,000)

Most of the Hampden Meadows work involves adding smoke partitions at exit corridors, extending masonry walls to the underside of the roof deck, removing ceiling grid and tiles in corridors to access and seal those openings with metal studs and rated gypsum board, and giving all wall openings at least a 30-minute rating. The cost is more than $511,000.

The most significant work at Nayatt, Primrose Hill and Sowams schools involves modifying and upgrading the fire alarms at a cost of almost $79,000 each for the former two schools and almost $69,000 at Sowams. Each classroom at Sowams also needs exit windows at a cost of $30,000.