April 20, 2012

Coggeshall Elementary School

Coggeshall Elementary School

NEWPORT -- When the new Claiborne d. Pell Elementary School opens in the fall of 2013, for the first time in memory, Newport’s entire elementary population will be housed under one roof; the four remaining elementary school buildings shuttered and presumably put on the auction block.

But what if Newport's school age population rises?

City Councilors and School Committee members discussed just that during a recent meeting of the Newport School Committee and City Council Liaison Subcommittee on Wednesday, April 11.

Though it's still months before any action is taken on the properties, according to City Manager Jane Howington, she and Supt. John H. Ambrogi have already begun planning for the eventual disposition of the schools.

To that end, Howington explained that upon examining the four closed schools, “[the city] does an assessment on the possible reuses of the buildings, which may shed some light on what buildings are more marketable, or which buildings would bring in a greater amount of revenue … which would help inform [the school department] which one would be best to keep.”

One of those options, according to Ambrogi and school committee member Robert Leary, should include the school department keeping at least one of the school buildings for future use.

When the Sullivan School was demolished to clear the site for the future Pell School, all students were moved to the Triplett School on Broadway for the interim. However, before the students and teachers from Sullivan could relocate, it meant moving the existing Aquidneck Island Adult Learning Center from Triplett out to the Kennedy School Annex in Middletown.

If the school department were to keep one of the school buildings, Leary pointed out that the adult education program would be able to come back into Newport.

Another reason the school department would need to keep a building is for the possibility of another surge in student enrollment. Such a scenario is not without precedent. 

As recently as last month, the School Committee voted to construct two additional classrooms at the Pell School after it was revealed that a bump in Newport’s student population put the school on the brink of being undersized.

Adding to the enrollment issue, Leary pointed out that a fenced-off area in the city’s north end is the future site of a new public housing development that would potentially bring in many families and children.“This is going to be one of the big issues coming up in the next election,” Leary said, regarding how many schools, and which ones, the school department should keep.

City Councilor Naomi Neville confirmed there will be future housing developments in the north end, saying, “They will build it as some point. It’s always been known, so those [enrollment] numbers should be accounted for. That housing has always been planned.”

Adding to concerns, it was also noted that the capacity of the Pell School was decided during a time when the general enrollment in Newport’s schools were on the decline, a trend that was reversed this past summer when a late jolt in enrollment came as a surprise to the school department.

“The question is whether or not the information we got during the [planning] process was the information that ultimately comes to reality a couple years from now,” Ambrogi said. “The need to keep at least one of the schools for a number of different reasons might be something the school committee may want to do.”

April 20, 2012

Comments (9)

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taking responsibility

My anger is hardly misplaced. I have heard statements from Newporters about the schools for years and frankly, I have a right to be angry. People say things that are flat out wrong. Instead of JUST looking at test scores, one must look deeper to see value in a system where people work diligently to educate all of the children in Newport

We mustn't be flippant with our statements. Our kids, teachers, and schools deserve much better.



resident more than 1 years ago

RE: WHATEVER

1. Real estate agents are not experts on schools, but they interact with potential renters/buyers, many of whom have children or are starting families. This information is important, because it demonstrates how the NPS is perceived and if we blithely dismiss it we are going to be no better off than we are now. And right now we are not well regarded in this area.

2. I never stated that I think NPS are bad, merely what the perception is. It's not negative to examine what's bad in our community: it's about being proactive and tackling our problems by identifying them. What I post here is not going to change anyone's perception of the NECAP test results.

3. No one but YOU brought up poverty, blamed teachers, programs or the administration, much less disparaged the kids/children. Your second paragraph flat-out states that because we have a diverse population with a high poverty level that the test scores are low. Ergo, you are blaming the kids who are victims of poverty, thereby disparaging them.

4. Whether or not it's economical to build a new school or retrofit an old one, the matter of property will be a determining factor. Given the historic price of real estate in Newport, if we lose these buildings and the land they're on, we're going to face a serious problem in the future when we might want to build a new school because we'll have nowhere to put it.

Finally, I haven't been negative in this thread at all - in fact, I've been quite positive and am pointing out something(s) that ought to be considered before we act rashly. This town can only grow as a community if it invests in itself and the future. You seem very passionate about the issue, but your anger is misplaced and damaging, and you're not going to persuade people to take up your cause by flaming others and accusing them of "spewing crap" and being negative, when they're not. We all need to come together on this if we care about the future of Newport, its' families and the children of tomorrow, which I know I do.

FRED SULLIVAN more than 1 years ago

whatever

...and real estate agents are now experts on the schools? And do you think by saying that the schools are "so bad" that you are helping to change the perception???????? I think not. You just want to spew crap - and be a negative voice. That's all. You don't want to really UNDERSTAND all that goes on in the schools.

Newport - like it or not - has a diverse population with a high poverty level and that's why the scores are lower than, say, Barrington....POVERTY IS THE ROOT of problems in urban schools ....it had zero to do with the teachers, the programs, or the administration for that matter. But let's not disparage the kids either - or blame them for their circumstances.

And studies have been done....it costs LESS to build a new school. To abate lead and asbestos, reconfigure common spaces to accommodate new fire codes, and retrofit technology into old buildings costs more.

Having an open mind might do some people some good.

resident more than 1 years ago

RE: RESIDENT

If you are referring to me, you might demonstrate some restraint before you complain. I'm not "spewing crap" and did not post based on ignorance.

I merely stated that if you consult real estate agents in town, the general opinion is that, yes, Newport schools are "so bad" that it's off-putting to young families for renting and selling. That's reality and you need to wake up to that. Maybe there are great things happening in NPS, but it's about perception - and the perception is not good.

Anyone can look up the 2010-2011 NECAP test results online and see that NPS fall below the state average, and the Greatschools.org rating is 4 out of 10. You may not agree and you might not like it, but that's what young families go look at and that's determining their choices about child placement. Everyone should be aware of that instead of running around thinking everything is great - because it's not, until those test scores change and the general perception changes.

I didn't post on this topic to blast the NPS, but merely to point out that things are bad and need to change - and I'm confident that will happen. But if we get rid of all the school buildings that we're not using right now, and this town needs them back in the future, after a lot of us are dead and gone, it's only going to be more costly to build new ones - and find the property to do so. We need to think forward - hold at least one or two, rent them to Salve or the the Navy and take them back when we need them. Kind of like what happened with Pell School.

FRED SULLIVAN more than 1 years ago

baloney

"TALES of asbestos, fire hazards" ?????? Have you been in the old schools? Do you know nothing of the new fire laws since the Station Fire? Have you seen how the schools have had to accommodate to these new laws? Come on.

For years all we have heard from the community is declining enrollment and now the enrollment is going up. That's a good thing. Gotta love people who know nothing but pretend they are experts.

taxpayer 2 more than 1 years ago

Schools

Ok, so I do have personal knowledge of the NPS system through my own kids, and I'll agree that the schools, and the teachers, are on the whole pretty good, and in some cases fantastic. The administration is incompetent.

Ambrogi and the rest have no clue what enrollment will be and backed themselves into a massive corner with the "fewer, newer" nonsense. They sold this plan by scaring a tiny majority of residents (about ten percent of the town) with tales of asbestos, fire hazards, and the like, while touting the marketability of these same schools as residences and condos. Now we are all stuck with building a new budget school, AND the potential of maintaining one or more of the older ones.

Military families avoid Newport like the plague because of the flux in the school system and the uncertainty. Many of the other families moving to Newport aren't even considering the school system and send their kids to the private schools through middle school, and then up to Providence, the Abbey, or in only a few cases St. Georges for high school. This migration of students results in a stratified school system, where there certainly are higher performing students, but with a higher percentage of kids with greater needs than might otherwise be expected.

If this is an election topic, then the answer is simple: vote out the incumbents. Certainly their replacements could do no worse.

Concerned Taxpayer more than 1 years ago

Schools

Bob Leary really wants us to save one of these monsters to use for adult education....how many students are you expecting Bob ? How much does it cost just to open the doors on these dogs ? And while we are talking about it where did the extra money come from to add 2 classrooms to Pell ?
I did not want to believe this committee was so bad they really have no idea of the direction they are taking us, and the superintendant is just as bad, they seem to think they found a money tree and keep picking.

Jack more than 1 years ago

schools

I am so sick and tired of Newport residents who have zero personal knowledge of the Newport Public Schools spewing such nonsense that the NPS are "so bad." The problem is that more people are registering their children in the NPS and that is why Newport might need more space....and that's a good thing!

Instead of spewing crap based on ignorance, take a look and see for yourself all of the great things happening in Newport schools. UGH.

resident more than 1 years ago

THINK FORWARD

1. Ask any real estate agent in town: Newport schools are considered so bad, it's hard to rent or sell to young families, who prefer Portsmouth & Middletown.

2. If we lose the properties, what happens if/when we need to build a school in the future? Where are we going to put it?

Hold on to one or two and lease them to Salve or something, at a rate so it's in their interest and ours later.

FRED SULLIVAN more than 1 years ago

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