Superintendent's Message

Dear Newport Schools Parents, Families, and Staff:

A reminder that Newport Public Schools will be holding a Town Hall meeting TOMORROW, October 24th at 5:30pm. I look forward to giving everyone an update on what’s happening in our classrooms, district-wide initiatives, and taking questions from parents and family members. Click here to register and receive a link to participate in tomorrow’s online Town Hall meeting.

One of the important topics we will be addressing is RICAS scores, which were just released by the Rhode Island Department of Education earlier this week. We are pleased to see small improvements in English Language Arts and Math proficiency, and improved NGSA Science assessment scores at the high school level. RICAS and State Assessment results can be found on the Department of Education’s website. You will also be receiving mail from your child’s school with assessment results and helpful information on how to understand the results.

Our students' performance on RICAS, the SAT, and other state assessments are directly related to attendance. This is why we continue to focus so heavily on Attendance Matters, Every Day! We need our students in the classroom every day, learning the elements of our rigorous curriculum that are designed to build towards English Language Arts and Math proficiency.

Speaking of improving attendance, our Attendance Working Group is looking for parents, family members, and community partners to join and help us develop better community-wide awareness of the need to promote Attendance Matters, Every Day! If you are interested in participating, and sharing ideas on how to improve student attendance please respond here by November 1. Our partners at reNEWPORT have also been working on raising community awareness about the need to reduce chronic absenteeism. You can learn more about their work and get involved here.

Brick and exterior work is anticipated to be completed in December, and many interior spaces are now coming together with flooring, doors, and interior windows being installed. We are on track to welcome students into our brand new, state-of-the-art Rogers High School for the start of the 2025-2026 school year!

Thank you to the 68 parents, family, and community members who responded to last week’s survey question: IF space is available at Pell next year (September 2025), would you like to see Grade 5 be relocated to Pell? Results:

Yes - 69.10%

No - 23.50%

Other - 7.40%