Superintendent's Message

Dear Newport Schools Parents, Families, and Staff:

I hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend and took the opportunity to thank our veterans for their military service.

Tonight there is a very important meeting before the City Council about additional funding for our new state-of-the-art Rogers High School. The meeting will be held at Pell Elementary School beginning at 6:30pm. Due to the sharp construction cost inflation we’ve seen post pandemic, the cost of completing the new Rogers has increased significantly. That is why we have requested an additional $2.9 million to ensure that we can complete construction. We look forward to the City Council’s positive actions. If possible, please come to the meeting or reach out to our City Council by email/phone to support this request. We want to open the doors in September of 2025 to the new RHS for all our students! Go Newport!

November IS PLANNING TIME FOR EVERYONE!! At this time of year, in and outside of the classroom, all our RHS seniors should be working on their post graduation plans. Whether it is college applications, applying for internships, or wrapping up career tech opportunities. Now is the time for finalizing post graduate plans. Guidance counselors, teachers, and parents/families need to work with our young people during this very important time to plan for their futures. Our juniors should be planning out their senior year and what classes they want to take. They, along with all RHS students, will be selecting their second semester courses soon. Our sophomores and freshmen should continue to work hard to keep their opportunities open in the second half of their high school career by focusing on their academics and getting good grades.

At the middle school level this is a very critical time. What happens in middle school matters for high school class selection. We need our students focused on the critical importance of Math and English Language Arts. We also need our middle school students and families thinking about the Rhode Island Department of Education’s new Modern Language requirements, which require all students to take at least two years of a foreign language before graduating. Why is that important for our middle school students? Because we offer Modern Language classes starting in 8th grade. If a student takes a year of a foreign language in middle school, and does well, it opens up room during high school for other classes like advance placement, career tech or exploratory courses in the arts. High school students will also need to do community internships. So middle school families- be informed and start thinking about high school now.

And at the elementary level, we need our students mastering literacy in reading, the foundational building block to unlock a wonderful education, as well as math. Every night read with your child, or start having your child read to you!

As a reminder, last Thursday was the end of our first academic quarter. Parents and families will be receiving report cards in the coming days.

Finally, a shout out to our Rogers boys football team who will be playing in the Division 3 semifinals this Saturday at 1:00 PM vs. Classical High School in Providence. This Saturday, come out and support our team. Go Vikings!

Congratulations to the 7 highest vote getters in last Tuesday’s election for Newport School Committee: Elizabeth "Beth" Cullen, Stephanie Winslow, Rebecca "Becky" Bolan, James Dring, Robert "Bobby" Leary, Dr. Sandra Flowers and Dr. Robert Power. We look forward to working collaboratively with you to provide our students with the great public education they deserve.

The school department is currently developing our FY 2026 Newport Public Schools budget. Director Gonsalves is working hard with our school leaders and directors planning for the future. Due to enrollment declines, there most likely will be a cut in state funding formula dollars since student population plays a factor in the formula for state allocation. The district will have difficult decisions to make in the future due to less state aid, and making up a $1.9M gap due to taking $2M in funds from our reserves for school funding to support the Rogers High School building project. That’s why we are encouraging all of our parents and families to take this week’s survey question about what you want us to consider as we craft the FY 2026 school budget. Understanding that staffing is about 82% of our budget we have a lot of work to do to balance what we must have and should have for our students. We have provided a list of suggestions for you to consider. If you do not want to consider any of the items on the list please add comments at the bottom. This is all for planning purposes. So please take a moment and select what you consider the top three areas you would like us to consider.

Click here to take the survey. We look forward to and value your feedback.