This may be the dog days of summer, but for school administrators they are days filled with planning for a new school year, which in Newport begins September 6. Superintendent of Schools Colleen Burns Jermain joins WhatsUpNewp for her monthly videocast tomorrow (July 31) at 1:30 p.m. And there’s no shortage of subjects to address.
Our videocast will follow by a day what the teachers’ union has characterized as perhaps the last mediation session over concerns of what Jermain calls a district-wide reorganization, resulting in the layoff and displacement of some 20 percent of the teacher force.
We’ll not only want to know what happened at the session, and its impact on the coming school year, but also what it means to the ongoing relationship between the school administration and the teaching faculty.
At the center of the dispute has been the growing number of multi-language learners in Newport schools. We will want to learn what plans the system has for multi-language learners, and how it may impact other students, and teachers.
We will also want to learn:
- About construction progress at Rogers High School. Is the project on time? What do the finances look like, and how are students going to be disrupted during construction in the coming school year?
- The relationship between Newport schools and the recently announced regional learning center at the Florence Gray Center in Newport, serving both Newport and Middletown. School officials from both communities were conspicuous by their absence at a governor’s press conference a couple of weeks ago that was billed as a way of creating “a culture of learning throughout Rhode Island.”
- What impact, if any, is the end of additional construction bonuses from the Rhode Island Department of Education?
- How the district attained its attendance goals in 2024, and what plans are in place for 2024-25 to continue to improve attendance?
- How the district will begin implementing its vision as outlined in the strategic plan, completed this past year, and how it will begin to fulfill Newport’s Portrait of a Graduate?
- And what changes to expect in the coming school year? Is there adequate staffing, including bus drivers and teachers? Are there any other capital improvements expected to any of the school buildings? What will happen with culinary and automotive, which in the Rogers building plans?
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