To the editor and readers of Whats Up Newp:
We would like to start by thanking city council members Pinnock, Smyth, Carlin + Khamsyvoravong for passing the “Academic Integration Advisory Committee” resolution.
As PTO, School Improvement Team and Superintendent Advisory committee members and parents of two Pell school students, we are ardent supporters of public education and are in favor of properly regionalizing our two school systems.
We want our children educated with their friends from Middletown. We would like to stand shoulder to shoulder with Middletown parents and neighbors and together establish the very best schools and academic outcomes for our children.
Simply combining administrations – without addressing the educational gaps nor combining student bodies will NOT achieve that. In fact, the risk is that it will do the opposite – especially for Newport’s children.
Real-regionalization should be student focused FIRST not simply a “money grab” without any thought or foresight for the future of our school systems nor our children.
In towns our size, an honest conversation doesn’t require another slick (and expensive) marketing campaign, focused only on the money. Real regionalization: with a focus on academics and education, our children and our community should be an open exchange.
This Academic Integration Advisory Committee will finally enable that conversation.
We look forward to joining hands with our neighbors and finding solutions together – in a manner that is open, inclusive and focused on academic outcomes.
Let’s do better this time. Let’s do the right thing for our education system, our teachers, our administrators, our kids and our communities.
Let’s step forward together into the next moment and start the conversation that we should have been having all along.
Alana + Joe Hearn
Newport
