Newport This Week

Heart-Warming Story Highlights Committe Meeting



The School Committee discussed a gamut of issues on May 14, ranging from policy tweaks and new programs for improving learning and behavior to new school hours and the collection of forms that would lead to an improved revenue stream.

But the highlight of the evening was the presentation of the heart-warming story of Rogers High School students working together to create a playhouse for 2-year-old Patrick Alford of Middletown, a child facing health challenges.

Project Playhouse began as a service-learning project for management students at Bryant University. Collaborating with the Tiverton-based Rosemary’s Wish Kids, whose mission is to grant wishes to those with significant illnesses between age 3 and 21 in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts, the decision was made to build custom playhouses.

“It was all about collaboration,” said Diane Sheehan, supervisor of arts at the Newport public schools. “From the arts program, from NACTC, to the carpenters, to Bryant, to the art seminar student, Caitlin Martin, to the local architect, Dan Herchenroether, who designed the playhouse, it was a full circle of course curriculum and engaged students.”

Sheehan and Martin brainstormed ideas for the playhouse’s design, which Herchenroether turned into blueprints. Brian Ferreira, who teaches carpentry at NACTC, and his students constructed the 9′-by-9′ playhouse, and Martin worked on the decoration, based on Patrick’s love of the characters from the Transformers movie franchise. The playhouse was completed last month.

The students who collaborated on the project received certificates of achievement from the School Committee, while Sheehan read a line from one of the Transformer films, “The darkest nights produce the brightest stars.”

The committee also heard reports on two significant programs underway in the schools. The first, Open Circle, is used at Pell Elementary to help students deal with emotional frustrations and challenges. It teaches breathing tech- niques to calm students in times of stress, uses phrases to help them through difficult learning challenges, and improves cooperation with peers. Mary Sheehan, a social worker at Pell, and first-grade teacher Katy Caruolo credited the program with reducing disciplinary referrals to the principal’s office.

Dr. Ronilee Mooney, director of the English Language Learning programs, spoke about Imagine, which combines computer programs, activities, and books to accelerate writing, oral and reading skills.

Committee member Sandra Flowers presented several items that the Policy Subcommittee has been working on, including making certain that candidates interviewed for district positions reflect the ethnic diversity of Newport.

There was also discussion involving the district’s policy on holding back students. In the future, kindergartners through fifth graders who don’t meet proficiency standards will be required to attend summer school. Following that, a student can be held back one time and then be placed in alternative learning settings.

Middle School students can also be held back, while high schoolers must track in whatever pathway they’ve elected.

Chair Raymond Gomes addressed the efforts to improve the collection of Impact Aid Program forms. Through the program, the federal government pays the district for each child in a family serving in or working for the military.

A new set of protocols was established to increase the rate of returned signed forms, including sending Family Service coordinators to homes, robocalls, and at Rogers, even making students ineligible for extracurricular activities and sports teams.

Supt. Colleen Jermain said that 859 forms were returned in 2018, an increase of more than 100 over the previous year. Committee member Rebecca Bolan said she will propose in June that the district hire a person to collect the forms, adding that the policy would pay for itself.

The committee also approved a memorandum of understanding between the district and the Rhode Island Department of Education that will allow reimbursement of up to $100,000 for expenses connected with submissions to RIDE for financial assistance in constructing new facilities. The money will go to Studio JAED, the consultants assisting in the preparation of Newport’s applications to RIDE.

Pell Principal Traci Westman reported that school’s hours for next year will be pushed back 15 minutes, running from 8:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. The change is due to buses arriving late for the current closing time at Thompson Middle School, forcing students to wait at Pell Elementary.

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