EAST PROVIDENCE — The East Providence School District received a few of pieces of good news over the last couple of weeks, the School Committee learned at its meeting Tuesday night, May 14.
According to Superintendent Kathryn Crowley, the graduation rate at East Providence High School year-to-year saw a very respectable uptick upon release of the figures by the Rhode Island Department of Education. The EPHS graduation rate for 2017-18 was 88.2 percent up from 84.8 from the previous year. The state average was 84 percent.
“We hope this year it reaches 90 percent or better,” the superintendent said. “The high school has been working very diligently on this the last few years.”
In addition, Superintendent Crowley said RIDE officials have indicated the first influx of reimbursement payments by the state towards the construction of the new East Providence High School will soon be provided to the city. She said the upfront money, some $15 million, should be received in approximately two weeks.
Also, about the new EPHS, a groundbreaking ceremony with both city and state officials in attendance will take place on site Wednesday, June 5, at noon.
One last note from the superintendent’s report to the committee last week, Mrs. Crowley said RIDE has informed the district it will fund an additional Pre-Kindergarten classroom in city for the upcoming 2019-20 term, bringing the total of state-backed rooms to eight with one more funded by the district itself.
Facilities update
District Facilities Director Tony Feola updated the committee on the status of a number of projects, telling the body the fire alarm and sprinkling system upgrades at Kent Height, Orlo Avenue and Silver Spring elementary schools are moving along ahead of schedule with a completion date of early June instead of later in the month. Also at Kent Heights, replacement of the roof has begun.
Demolition work for the installation of a new elevator at Martin Middle School is completed. The preparation process of putting a new roof at Riverside Middle School started last week.
And lastly, the Request for Proposal (RFP) seeking bids from contractors to install new intercom systems throughout the school is out. Mr. Feola said he hoped to provide the committee with more information at its June forum.
Middle school notes
The respective MMS and RMS principals, Bill Black and Rob Perry, presented the committee with updates to the handbooks and program of studies for the 2019-20 term, the latter of which the body eventually gave initial approval pending submission of the final version in June.
Mr. Perry said there “were not a lot of changes,” adding the “biggest difference was we (the staffs at each school) had more time to work together.”
The most significant changes were with the English Language Arts and Computer Science curriculums. Mr. Black said the technology updates are to meet the requirements of the state initiative of Computer Science “For All.” He also pointed to the Social Studies curriculum implemented last year with an emphasis on Geography that will continue into seventh and eighth grades.
Of note as well, students will meet with guidance counselors four times per quarter. And Superintendent Crowley said RMS will have its own devoted English Language Learning teacher so students there will no longer have to travel to MMS for instruction.
“It the most consistent I’ve ever seen it. It’s the most we’ve met, the most cooperation between the schools, the teachers in the schools,” Sandra Forand, Assistant Superintendent for middle schools, said of the curriculum. “It’s probably the best I've seen in terms of cooperation and sharing between the schools. I’m very proud of that. The department chairs and principals have worked very hard to get there.”
As far as the schools’ handbooks, Mr. Perry said the RMS version was taken very closely from that at MMS with some “autonomy” for each building. Following a discussion on a few topics, Superintendent Crowley said updates to the attendance and dress code policies as well as disciplinary matters can be included in the final edits before the handbooks are made public in time for 2019-20 term.
The committee took no action on the item, deciding to await revised versions to be presented at its June meeting. A similar decision was made by the body during a separate, brief discussion about an updated handbook for EPHS.