07/05/2009

Classical students petition against fixed-schedule plan
Classical students sign a petition protesting the move to a standard class schedule in Providence high schools.

New education commissioner ‘ready’ to tackle Rhode Island’s problems
New state schools chief Deborah Gist has quickly made her presence felt and plans a hectic schedule to meet groups and tour the state’s public schools.

07/04/2009

Fifth graders meet underwater pen pals
Crew from the submarine Rhode Island visit with students from Elmhurst Elementary School in Portsmouth.

07/05/2009

Civilizing offenders requires community relationships
This is the last of four columns in a series about the nation’s oldest and most mature restorative juvenile justice system.

New education commissioner ‘ready’ to tackle Rhode Island’s problems
New state schools chief Deborah Gist has quickly made her presence felt and plans a hectic schedule to meet groups and tour the state’s public schools.

At the Colleges
Groundbreaking ceremonies for the new Hellenic Studies Center Paideia at the University of Rhode Island were held June 30. The complex will be comprised of the Rodos Educational Building, the Ayios Loukas Greek Orthodox Chapel and a Classical theater. The Rodos educational building will showcase Byzantine architecture, art and history and will contain classrooms, a small lecture hall, offices, a library, archival storage, the chapel and exhibit space. The facility will also serve as home to the URI Humanities Center.

07/03/2009

Sheehan to head E. Providence High School
EAST PROVIDENCE — A Middletown High School administrator will be the next principal of the state’s largest high school.

07/02/2009

R.I.’s higher education chief steps down
Jack R. Warner’s departure marks the third education official to leave the state’s employ on June 30.

07/01/2009

School’s now in session for state’s new education chief
Deborah A. Gist started her new duties a day early as she celebrates summer learning programs for low-income children.

School’s now in session for state’s new education chief
Deborah A. Gist started her new duties a day early as she celebrates summer learning programs for low-income children.

Providence teachers gain contract
The school board approves the three-year contract that calls for teachers to pay a greater share of their health-care coverage.

Brown gets partner in energy center
A noted Cambridge, Mass., laboratory that employs 900 will partner with the university to pursue alternative-energy grants.

06/30/2009

With funding cuts, colleges revamp majors to save money
Money at the state colleges will be steered to the more popular fields, such as nursing, pharmacy, engineering and others.

URI at oceanography hub with grant to oversee fleet worldwide
The grant is to manage a fleet of 22 research vessels operated by a nationwide consortium of oceanography schools.

06/29/2009

RIPEC envisions merging Aquidneck I. schools
That could be a model for other Rhode Island communities, the director of the business-backed organization says.

06/28/2009

Degree programs with low enrollments may be cut at Rhode Island’s public colleges
The Board of Governors for Higher Education will vote on a plan Monday to cut the programs, all of which are at URI and RIC and have low enrollments.

Internet meeting needs as more schools go online
The state public schools’ nonprofit Internet provider says changes to the system is allowing wider use.

Internet meeting needs as more schools go online
The state public schools’ nonprofit Internet provider say changes to the system is allowing wider use.

Degree programs with low enrollments may be cut at Rhode Island’s public colleges

The Board of Governors for Higher Education will vote on a plan Monday to cut the programs, all of which are at URI and RIC and have low enrollments.

06/27/2009

R.I.’s Presidential Scholars recognized in Washington
The students journey to Washington, D.C., where they were honored by Vice President Joe Biden.

Teachers filing complaints over missed paychecks
West Warwick failed to issue paychecks due this week for work already done.

W. Warwick voters reject school budget, adopt municipal one
The town manager had said some police, firefighters and other town workers would be laid off if the budget didn’t pass.

Some Cranston school programs cut, others spared
The Cranston budget eliminates middle school sports, but elementary music and gifted and talented programs will continue.

06/28/2009

Julia Steiny: Vermont’s juvenile justice teaches kids community can help
This is the third of four columns in a series about the nation’s oldest and most mature restorative juvenile justice system.

Degree programs with low enrollments may be cut at Rhode Island’s public colleges
Spurred by financial pressures, the state’s three public colleges are embarking on a major overhaul that includes eliminating 11 degree programs with low enrollments, consolidating more than two dozen small programs and placing another 45 programs under scrutiny for possible elimination or consolidation.

06/26/2009

Providence teachers sign three-year contract
The three-year pact ratified by the Providence Teachers Union is retroactive to Sept. 1, 2007.

Providence teachers sign three-year contract
The three-year pact ratified by the Providence Teachers Union is retroactive to Sept. 1, 2007.

06/25/2009

Summer paychecks for W. Warwick teachers still uncertain
West Warwick’s municipal and school finance directors will meet Thursday to decide how the teachers can be paid for work already done.

Summer paychecks for W. Warwick teachers still uncertain
West Warwick’s municipal and school finance directors meet Thursday to decide how they can be paid for work already done.

Cranston school savings figure lowered
The proposal going before the Cranston School Committee is now projected to save $1.8 million over the next three years.

Providence teachers to vote on 3-year pact with 1 percent raises
The proposed contract, not yet approved by the School Board, would raise some teachers’ health-care contributions.

06/24/2009

Easing up the grade; moving from elementary to middle school
East Providence school officials hold a field day to help elementary students make the stressful transition into middle school.

06/23/2009

U.S. to R.I.: Finance charter schools
The U.S. secretary of education says the Assembly’s decision to cut funding for two new charter schools would put the state at “a huge competitive disadvantage” in its quest for additional federal school assistance.

State scholarships for college are shrinking
The current state budget provides $6.3 million for the scholarship program, $400,000 less than the state appropriated for college grants in 1983.

Teachers’ pact vote delayed
CRANSTON — An expected School Committee vote ratifying a new contract with the teachers union was postponed Monday evening when officials learned they had neglected to post the terms of the agreement beforehand.

School, corporate sponsor celebrate
Carl G. Lauro School sixth graders graduate in a ceremony held at the Renaissance Hotel, which has adopted the school.

06/22/2009

Admissions affected by hard times
For Samira Hosseini, the college search was simple. Cost determined where she applied, and where she decided to go this fall.

06/20/2009

Urban districts can apply for grants to develop afterschool programs
The money will help urban districts devise ways for high school students to gain credit for afterschool projects.

06/21/2009

Julia Steiny: Vermont’s juvenile-justice system bucks nationwide trend
This is the second of four columns in a series about the nation’s oldest and most mature restorative juvenile justice system.

06/19/2009

$1.5 million in aid for charter schools cut by House panel
The funding was intended for two new schools — in Central Falls and Cumberland — both of which may now not open.

06/18/2009

Cranston teachers to bear greater share of health costs
By the third year of the contract, Cranston teachers would pay 17 percent of their health-insurance costs.

06/17/2009

Scherza hired as $25,000 consultant to aid transition in Cranston
Cranston’s Supt. M. Richard Scherza will be hired as a consultant to aid in the transition to a new schools chief.

Providence school-building study to get a fresh look
PROVIDENCE — Supt. Tom Brady has hired a new planning firm to review the recommendations of a 2006 study, which recommended a nearly $800-million overhaul of the city’s 42 public school buildings, many of which are at least 60 years old.

Cranston teachers set to vote on contract offer
Approved on a voice vote, the contract offer goes before the School Committee Monday.

Bill would continue expired teachers’ contracts
The bill, which is moving through the General Assembly, has its roots in a contentious dispute over the teachers contract in East Providence.

06/16/2009

Pawtucket art school really performs
PAWTUCKET -- Jessica Jean-Charles is a soprano and a pioneer.

Mayors say schools should play an expanded role
PROVIDENCE — Students spend only five or six hours a day in school, so how do communities keep children safe and engaged during the remainder of the day?

06/15/2009

Teachers union would overhaul peer evaluations
The program, aimed at new teachers, would provide a uniform evaluation and mentoring system in 2010 for instructors in the state’s urban districts.

06/14/2009

Physics First aims to launch interest among high school freshmen
By making it a freshman course rather than its traditional spot in the junior-year curriculum, Physics First aims to encourage more students to pursue the advanced sciences.

Internet changing how science taught in R.I. schools
Even though the Physics First initiative did not encompass changes to the biology curriculum, the introduction of Internet-based activities — and the necessary hardware to bring them to the classroom — has had an impact on all three years of science in the pilot schools; physics, chemistry and biology.

Diner to serve up lessons for Smithfield High School students.
Starting in the fall, the renovation of an old diner is expected to provide lessons across many disciplines at Smithfield High.

East Providence senior class present: A survival guide
A group of seniors put together a DVD of the ins-and-outs of getting through East Providence High School in one piece.

Journal Co. awards 5 scholarships
The Providence Journal Company has awarded $60,000 in scholarships to five graduating high school seniors who are children of company employees. The scholarships will be awarded over a four-year period to:

Julia Steiny: Vermont’s juvenile justice system saves a woman’s life
This is the first of four columns in a series about the nation’s oldest and most mature restorative juvenile justice system.

Physics First aims to launch interest among high school freshmen

Internet changing how science taught in R.I. schools
Even though the Physics First initiative did not encompass changes to the biology curriculum, the introduction of Internet-based activities — and the necessary hardware to bring them to the classroom — has had an impact on all three years of science in the pilot schools; physics, chemistry and biology.

At the Colleges
The Alletta Morris McBean Charitable Trust has awarded the Community College of Rhode Island $50,000 to purchase wireless laptop computers and carts to integrate informatics, the science of information and the practice of information processing, into the existing health sciences curriculum at the Newport County campus.

06/13/2009

Pickets protest Head Start layoffs
Union members and a “honey bear” line up outside the anniversary celebration for Children’s Friend, which is now running the program.

At the ACI, inmates who better themselves
Well over a thousand ACI prisoners receive diplomas or certificates for completing educational programs at the state prison.

Flu might shorten Greystone school year
The North Providence superintendent has asked the state for permission to not make up the four days the Greystone School was closed due to swine flu.

06/12/2009

Pawtucket council OKs budget, 8% tax increase
In response to residents’ opposition, the council drops a proposal to charge $2 a bag to dispose of trash.

06/11/2009

’09 Brown University grads the picture of optimism
PROVIDENCE –– In events steeped in tradition, Brown University on Sunday presented 2,115 diplomas in lecture halls, tents, churches and other venues across its campus.

S. Kingstown councilor says not cutting school plan a ‘mistke’
South Kingstown council member James O’Neill was the lone vote against the School Department budget, saying the town cannot cover the cost.

East Providence school board bashed over comment rule
EAST PROVIDENCE — The war between the city’s teachers and the School Committee continued Tuesday night as more than 250 picketed before a committee meeting at City Hall. The verbal sparring continued inside.

06/10/2009

S. Kingstown voters reject $1.3-million schools cut
SOUTH KINGSTOWN — Voters in a special referendum Tuesday soundly rejected a proposal to cut $1.3 million from the $59.6-million school budget that the Town Council had adopted for the next fiscal year.

Students, teachers will dance together at East Providence prom
The East Providence senior prom will see current and former faculty members and students participating in a Dancing With the Stars-style competition.

E. Greenwich principal heads to Scituate
EAST GREENWICH — Michael Zajac, principal of Archie R. Cole Middle School for nearly two years, is leaving to assume the principalship of Scituate Middle School.

Bill to tax Bryant University held by Senate committee
The Finance Committee chairman says he wants to better understand how Smithfield determined its requested tax amount of 20 percent.

06/08/2009

State-aid formula for schools still elusive
Some leaders worry that the lack of a distribution formula could jeopardize additional stimulus money controlled by the U.S. Department of Education.

School budget cut in South Kingstown up to voters
South Kingstown Councilman James W. O’Neill, who has led the campaign, says he is “trying to be pro-kids and pro-taxpayer.”

High court to rule on Caruolo suit in Cranston
Both sides in the case say the court’s ruling could have a dramatic effect on the way schools are funded in this state.

Perry administrator to head Democracy Prep
Jeremy Chiapetta, credited with the success of many programs at Perry Middle School, will head Democracy Prep Blackstone Valley in Cumberland.

School budget cut in South Kingstown up to voters
South Kingstown Councilman James W. O’Neill, who has led the campaign, says he is “trying to be pro-kids and pro-taxpayer.”

06/06/2009

From E. Greenwich to teaching ‘dream team’
EAST GREENWICH — Heather Wardwell, Latin teacher at East Greenwich High School, takes the phrase “carpe diem” seriously. But in addition to her “seize the day” attitude, she’s not afraid to take advantage of happenstance when it presents a good opportunity.

School deficit in Cranston cut to $182,000
The music, gifted and talented and hockey programs won’t be affected, but middle school sports and some positions will be cut.

From E. Greenwich to teaching ‘dream team’
EAST GREENWICH — Heather Wardwell, Latin teacher at East Greenwich High School, takes the phrase “carpe diem” seriously. But in addition to her “seize the day” attitude, she’s not afraid to take advantage of happenstance when it presents a good opportunity.

School deficit in Cranston cut to $182,000
The music, gifted and talented and hockey programs won’t be affected, but middle school sports and some positions will be cut.

06/07/2009

Julia Steiny: Very special kids perform a special show
I happily accepted an invitation to Birch Vocational School’s end-of-the-year production of High School Musical. I needed an up. What with all the rain, the economic collapse and clinically-depressing local news, I was sure Birch’s very special students would produce an endearing version of the Disney-manufactured teen sensation.

At the Colleges
A new law which takes effect Aug. 1 could make it possible for thousands of veterans across the country to attend college. Containing the most comprehensive educational benefits since the original G.I. bill in 1944, the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill will provide for the cost of in-state undergraduate tuition and fees at any of Rhode Island’s public colleges, as well as a housing allowance and up to an annual $1,000 book stipend.