The Newport School Committee has named Dr. Peter Sanchioni interim superintendent of Newport Public Schools, the committee announced Friday tapping a veteran administrator to lead the district through a period of fiscal strain and an unsettled regionalization timeline.
The committee voted Thursday evening to appoint Sanchioni, according to an announcement shared by the superintendent’s office. He will succeed Colleen Burns Jermain, who steps down June 30 after more than 12 years leading the district.
Sanchioni most recently served as superintendent of Tiverton Public Schools and previously led the Natick and Millis public school systems in Massachusetts. He also worked as a principal for 10 years, according to the committee.
The committee will formally welcome and introduce Sanchioni to the community Tuesday, June 9, at 6:30 p.m. at Pell Elementary School.
The appointment follows interviews held last week. Jermain, who said she stayed out of the search because the applicant field included internal candidates, had told What’sUpNewp the committee narrowed about a dozen applicants to a small group of finalists.
The committee structured the position as a one-year interim hire, a decision tied to a possible November ballot question on regionalization with the Middletown school system. That timeline has since slipped, with Jermain saying the earliest realistic date for a Newport-Middletown merger now appears to be 2027 and raising the possibility that the committee could launch a search for a permanent superintendent as soon as this fall.
Sanchioni takes over a district facing deepening financial pressure. Jermain has pegged the projected deficit for the 2026-2027 school year at roughly $3.8 million, with the city’s budgeted 4% increase leaving a gap she said does not allow the district to recall any of the 17 teachers it has laid off. A separate $2.8 million deficit in the current fiscal year has triggered a state requirement that the district file a deficit reduction plan with the Rhode Island Auditor General.
Jermain, a Newport native and Rogers High School graduate, has held the post since January 2014, making her among the longest-serving superintendents in the district’s history.
