Newport Daily News: Town will explore regional high school

By Matt Sheley                                            
July 16, 2013
The Middletown Town Council decided Monday night to take the lead in exploring the prospect of establishing a regional high school on Aquidneck Island.

The council voted 6-1 to approve a resolution proposed by Richard Adams and Barbara A. VonVillas instructing Town Administrator Shawn J. Brown to develop a model proposal for a new islandwide high school.

Councilman Bruce J. Long voted against the resolution, saying the matter might be better handled by school officials.

Adams and VonVillas argued that given the struggling state of the economy, reduced state and federal aid, declining student enrollments, lagging curriculum and other factors, the atmosphere was right to push the discussion forward.

“There are a lot of moving pieces and we’ve all talked about regionalization for a long time,” Adams said. “I’ve been struck by something lately. It used to be, not so long ago, that you said the word ‘regionalization,’ you’d better get under the desk because there was a great outcry against it. The whole context has changed.”

No timeline was given for Brown to complete the work, but he is expected to report back to the council in several months.

In a two-page letter to the council, Adams and VonVillas suggest Brown develop specific data on personnel, curriculum, athletics, enrichment programs and facilities based on a 2,000-student school “that would enable all students to achieve future success and independence through post-secondary education or entry-level skilled positions.”

Among more than 30 questions needing answers are the number of teachers, administrators, related personnel, number of academic courses, athletic and extracurricular opportunities and square footage of the school building, offices and amenities.

“There are two major reasons: one is money and the other is education,” Von-Villas said. “There are people who will support regionalization because it will save money and the efficiency and the other factions will support it because of the need for it educationally.

“Newport County communities can no longer afford the constant increases in school budgets. Every one of our communities has suffered this season trying to make things work,” she said. “None of the school committees have been satisfied with the money they’ve been allocated by the towns and we’ve given as much as it’s possible for us to give.”

Sen. Louis P. DiPalma, D-Middletown, said he would support the council in its effort however he could, including seeking financial assistance.

“From a state perspective, there’s not a hearing that we have, where a person comes before a Senate finance or Senate education committee, where myself or someone else on the committee doesn’t ask, ‘So what have you done to try to become more efficient?’” DiPalma said. “The second question, right after that, is ‘What have you done to be more effective?’” According to DiPalma, the state currently provides an additional 2 percent in housing aid costs for each grade level that is regionalized. Also, DiPalma said, the state offers an additional 2 percent under the state funding formula in the first year of regionalization, 1 percent in the second year (there is no additional state aid in subsequent years). It was unclear Monday night what the move could mean in state aid and savings for Middletown, Newport and Portsmouth.

The concept of merging the three public school districts on the island has come up on a number of occasions through the years.

In June 2009, the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council released a report showing the three communities on the island stood to save close to $13 million by consolidating by fiscal 2013, which ended June 30.

To date, the concept has been a nonstarter, with talks gaining little traction, but most on the council said they’d like to see that change.

In voting against the resolution, Long asked, “Is it appropriate for the town administrator to do this? It seems that the expertise lies with the School Department.”

In response, other council members said they had no doubt Brown would use the expertise of educational officials to come up with the best model possible.

A staunch proponent of regionalization in the past, Town Council President Christopher T. Semonelli said he was skeptical that other communities would come forward to participate, but it was worth a try.

“It’s a math thing and it’s real easy to determine financially it’s needed,” Semonelli said. “We reached out to people in the community and we got no one to participate. I’m not being a naysayer. I’m at the point where I think someone from the state has to say, ‘You have to do this.’” But others said the time seemed right to revisit the concept on a local level, starting with a regional high school.

“Those boundary lines need to be broken down at some point of time,” Councilman Paul M. Rodrigues said. “I support Mrs. VonVillas and Mr. Adams for bringing this forward. Certainly, there are a lot of facts that need to be gathered and it takes real leadership to move this thing forward.”

“This is a must now,” said Robert J. Sylvia, council vice president. “We can’t ask our taxpayers any longer to keep tightening their belt. They’re hurting. We can no longer support the services that we have.”

Earlier in the meeting, as part of an unrelated conversation, School Committee Chairwoman Theresa Silveira Spengler said she would be meeting with representatives from the Newport and Portsmouth school districts to see if there were areas in which they could work together, primarily focused on maintenance and related matters. Silveira Spengler said wholesale regionalization was not on the table at this point.

Adams said was excited about the possibility of exploring the issue, wherever the matter took the council and the rest of the community.

“We may not exactly know where we’re going, but we’d better get going,” he said.