About a dozen people have applied to serve as Newport’s interim superintendent of schools, Superintendent Colleen Burns Jermain said Wednesday, with the school committee on track to name her one-year successor next month.
Jermain, who announced in October that she will step down June 30 after more than 12 years leading the district, said the applications are being held in the district’s human resources office, where school committee members may review them through Friday evening. The field will then be narrowed to three or four finalists for what she expects will be a single round of interviews, with the goal of an appointment at the committee’s May 12 meeting.
The opening is for one year only, Jermain said.
The committee began that review process Wednesday, as What’sUpNewp’s Frank Prosnitz reported in an April 28 story. School Committee Vice Chair Rebecca Bolan told What’sUpNewp the position was advertised on Schoolspring, the primary online job board for educational positions in Rhode Island, and the application window closed last week.
Bolan told What’sUpNewp the committee deliberately structured the search as an interim hire because Newport is leaving room for a possible November ballot question on regionalization with the Middletown school system.
“We are setting up to look at the applications that were received starting this Wednesday,” Bolan told What’sUpNewp. “We are not intending to hire a permanent superintendent at this juncture. We are waiting to see if regionalization gets on the ballot.”
Jermain told What’sUpNewp the city should know by July 1 whether the regionalization question makes the ballot, with enabling language needing to move through the General Assembly first.
“I’m not involving myself at all in this process because we do have internal candidates,” Jermain said. “I did not open any or look at any of the resumes, nor will I. That’s all. I was just asked a suggestion on process and that was it.”
She said the applicant pool, as is typical of Schoolspring postings, is a mix of candidates from outside the area and local applicants.
A statewide churn
The Newport opening is unfolding against a backdrop of unusual movement in Rhode Island’s superintendent ranks. Tom DiPaola, executive director of the Rhode Island Schools Superintendent Association, confirmed to What’sUpNewp this week that more departures are expected.
“The bench is very thin, so I think the changes we have been seeing will continue,” DiPaola said.
Recent and pending changes documented by What’sUpNewp include the Chariho School Committee’s vote not to extend Superintendent Gina Picard’s contract beyond 2027; East Providence Superintendent Sandra Forand’s announced departure at the end of the school year; the resignation of Smithfield Superintendent Dawn Bartz amid a hazing controversy; the January resignation of Scituate Superintendent Laurie Andries, effective June 30; and the planned retirement of North Smithfield Superintendent Mike St. Jean. Pawtucket recently named Randy Buck superintendent after Patricia Royal’s resignation, and East Greenwich hired former Portsmouth Superintendent Tom Kenworthy a year ago after parting ways with Brian Ricca. In Barrington, Robert Mitchell has been serving as interim since last year and DiPaola said a permanent appointment is likely soon.
DiPaola confirmed to What’sUpNewp that additional departures are coming that he has been asked not to identify yet — a description Jermain echoed Wednesday.
A report released in late March by the national School Superintendents Association put the average tenure of a school superintendent at 5.4 years, roughly double the figure long cited as the standard. Jermain referenced the data Wednesday, attributing part of the lengthening tenure to communities seeking continuity through the COVID-19 pandemic.
She said she supported a recent push at the State House — not currently in legislation — to move superintendent contracts to five-year terms.
“In order to make real change, it’s like you get in there the first year, it’s your honeymoon. The second year you start to make changes and all that, and then the third year you’re hoping you’re going to get renewed,” Jermain said. “A five-year term is not a bad idea for those that are willing to do the job and want to do the job and get a chance to see if they can make the changes and do the supports they want, because it does take time.”
Jermain’s tenure
Jermain, a Newport native and Rogers High School graduate, has led the district since January 2014. She announced on Oct. 14, 2025, that she would not seek to renew her contract, citing the terms of her amended 2023 contract.
Jermain confirmed to What’sUpNewp on Wednesday that she filed retirement papers on April 1, after consulting with advisers who told her she could collect both her salary in a future role and her pension. She said she has not decided what comes next.
“I’m not doing anything in July, nothing about August. I don’t know,” Jermain said. “I’ve had a lot of good friends, a lot of good advisors. I did go and talk to some people I respect, that, you know, my opinion, they’re successful, and they just shook their heads and they said, you don’t take your first offer. You just take time, clear your head, see what you know. You’ll be surprised what you might come up with.”
Before taking the Newport post, Jermain held positions as chief of staff for performance and technology integration at Providence Public Schools, assistant superintendent in Portsmouth, and principal/superintendent of Little Compton Schools. She was Tiverton’s first female assistant middle school principal earlier in her career.
She holds a doctorate from Johnson & Wales University, a master’s degree in administration and a bachelor’s degree in history from Providence College, and has completed professional development at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has served as president of the Rhode Island Superintendents Association and currently chairs the board of the East Bay Collaborative.
The Newport School Committee is scheduled to take up the interim appointment at its May 12 meeting.
