Superintendent's Update
Newport Public Schools | October 1, 2025
Dear Newport Schools Parents, Families, and Staff:
Welcome to October! What a fun time of year with the leaves changing, cool crisp air, harvest festivals, and our TMS Warriors and Rogers Vikings taking to the field and track for fall sports. Classroom visits are a big priority for myself and our school leaders as we help support and learn more about what is happening in our classrooms. We have amazing teachers and we want to help build strong foundations of learning, curiosity, and thoughtful rich discussions throughout our schools. We want to see teachers guiding the process with students taking an active role in the classroom, doing the work and growing through productive struggle as they learn. Teaching is hard work- and learning, grasping ideas and concepts even more so. So we are all rolling up our sleeves to ensure that classroom teaching, student learning, and student engagement/interactions are consistent with our Vision Of Excellence and Portrait Of A Graduate goals for our students. Let’s help our students know how hard work and dedication can help them have a great educational experience!
With one month of school now under our belts, we are entering the core of the first academic quarter. We need our students in school every day learning key concepts so they can build the foundation for continued growth and success throughout this school year. Help us and make certain your children attend school every day! We need all families focused on getting our students to school every day!
While our students are focused on academics and working their brain muscle, we also realize it is the whole experience, not just the classroom instruction that matters. We strive to build community/social emotional skills and build camaraderie with each other. This week is Spirit Week at Rogers, and our Vikings are showing LOTS of spirit! There’s a great vibe in Rogers this week with learning, Spirit Week activities, and students, teachers, and staff all participating.
Finally, I want to give special shout outs to our school principals and hard working custodians. Being a school principal means making a difference every day. October is National Principals Month, and we want to recognize the incredible impact our principals (Traci Westman at Pell, Dr. Michael Browner, Jr. at TMS, and Jared Vance at Rogers) have on students, parents, staff, and our wider Newport community. Thank you for everything that you do!
Tomorrow, October 2nd is National Custodial Appreciation Day. Be sure to thank your school’s custodians for their hard work! We know our plant engineers and their entire staff are busy at work day and night to keep our buildings clean and safe. Thank you to plant engineers Kenny Gremour at RHS, Kelly Turner at TMS, and Will Simmons at Pell - along with John Berube, Quraan Bostic, Stephen Bruno, Nicholas Cooper, Kareem Cooper, Christopher Cudworth, Sal Gualtieri, Robert Harold, Michael Kane, Jose Miller, Timothy Polley, Jacob Robinson, Linette Santiago Robles, William Simmons, Paul Stanwood-Ford, Jorel Valderrama, and Andrew Weed. We appreciate all you do!
