Superintendent's Message

March 19, 2025

Dear Newport Schools Parents, Families, and Staff,

A big shout out to our Rogers High School and Thompson Middle School bands who marched and performed in Newport’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday. They did a great job performing for our residents and visitors! Thank you to band directors Mr. Chilton and Mr. Stanley, and TMS Principal Dr. Browner for marching with his school!☘️

For college basketball fans, March is known as “March Madness” and the start of the big NCAA Tournament. For our students and teachers, March is an incredibly important and busy month of learning preparing for our April state required assessments. We need our students to be training their mental muscles so they can flex what they’ve learned on the RICAS, PSAT, and SAT exams in April and do their very best. Our teachers are working very hard to enable our students to shine. We now need parents and families encouraging and supporting our students every day in their learning- and everyone can start by attending our School Report Card nights. These informational sessions- which are live streamed and only last about an hour, help all the adults that support our children to understand how we can help improve the education in our school system.

All of our community needs to come together so we can improve our students' outcomes. Did you know that parent/family involvement increases a school performance overall? Thompson held their school report card night on Monday. The crowd was small and mighty. Parents and family members asked some great questions and a student shared his experience at TMS. Thank you to the parents/ families and our TMS student leader Gavin Knight for your questions and suggestions.

Remember a big part of understanding how families can help our students and where our schools are in terms of academic achievement and plans to improve student performance starts knowing where we are and where we need to go. Check out all the data so everyone can start discussing Rhode Island Department of Education School Report Cards

We need everyone’s input and support to improve student achievement and our school performances! So come on RHS and Pell parents let’s show our support and attend your School Report Card nights next week:

RHS-Tuesday, March 25th and Pell Thursday, March 27th. Both at 5:30-6:30pm in their cafeterias.

Have a great week of learning everyone!

Colleen Burns Jermain, Ed.D.

Superintendent of Schools

Schedules and Upcoming Events

Upcoming Events and Things To Do

Spring Art, Music, Dance & Theatre calendar
March 20th, Art Literacy Night At Pell, 5:30pm
March 25th, Rogers School Report Card Night, 5:30 pm
March 25th, Free Understanding Anxiety Zoom, 6:00pm
March 27th, Pell School Report Card Night, 5:30pm
March 31st, Parent/Family Teacher Conferences, 12:00-5:00 pm at all schools.
April 3rd, Parent/Family Advisory Council meeting, 9:30am CCRI Newport, Room 233
April 10th, reNewport Community Dinner, Pell Elementary, 5:00pm
April 30th, Unity In The Community Resource Fair, Thompson Middle School, 5:30pm

Athletics and School Committee Schedules

Resources

Rogers Career Fair

Speaking of college and career opportunities, last Friday, Rogers High School held its annual Career Fair featuring employers from across Aquidneck Island sharing with students what it’s like to work in fields as diverse as construction, banking, and hospitality. Students had a great time exploring career options and talking with business leaders. Thank you to all of the businesses who participated in another successful Rogers Career Fair!

TOMORROW: Pell Art Literacy Night

Tomorrow evening from 5:30-6:30pm, families are invited to attend Pell’s Art Literacy Night. Come see student art work and enjoy games, and fun in the Pell cafeteria!

FRIDAY: Rogers Hosts SkillsUSA Rhode Island Robotics Competition

This Friday, Rogers High School will host the SkillsUSA Rhode Island Robotics Competition, which will consist of teams from across the state competing, with the winner moving on to the National Competition. The competition will take place in room 900 and room 924 will be the staging area for the competitors. The NACTC parking lot will be reserved for judges and competitors. Good luck to our robotics teams!

REMINDER: We Need To Hear Your Voices! Please Complete 2025 SurveyWorks Survey!

We need ALL of our Newport Public Schools families to take the Rhode Island Department of Education’s annual SurveyWorks survey. The feedback we gain from survey results is invaluable and the participation rate from families helps us in our accountability. We need to show parent/family participation and feedback. So please help us take a few minutes to complete the survey for your school by the March 31st deadline:

Claiborne Pell Elementary School

Frank E. Thompson Middle School

Rogers High School

REMINDER: Parent/Family Teacher Conferences, March 31st

Being engaged in your child’s learning is key to their success, and one of the most important opportunities to be engaged is to participate in parent/family-teacher conferences. There will be no school on Monday, March 31st as all of our schools will hold parent teacher conferences. See the times below and reach out to your school’s principal with any questions:

Pell - 12-5

TMS - 12-5

RHS - 12-5

Parent/Family Advisory Council Meeting, April 3rd

Newport Public Schools are always looking for engaged parents and family members to provide feedback and with whom we can share information about what’s happening in our schools. Please attend our Parent/Family Advisory Council meeting on Thursday, April 3rd at 9:30 AM at CCRI Newport, Room 233. If you are unable to attend in-person, please use this link to join us virtually.