School Administrators Moving About in EP Schools

The start of the 2018-2019 school year has shown some new administrative assignments in the schools. The department is also gearing up to seek support for a bond issue which will provide the community with a new East Providence High School.

Here is a letter penned by the Superintendent of Schools and sent to local parents:

To The Parents & Guardians of our wonderful East Providence Students:

"We are looking forward to another exciting school year. Here are a few notes to bring you up to date on what we have been doing over the last several months.

One issue on everyone's mind is school safety. Schools already provide the safest environment for most children but we want to make them even safer. For the new year, all schools have had safety upgrades. A security guard has been added to the High School, a new phone system installed in all schools with security upgrades, and sprinklers will be added to three schools. We have applied for a grant from the Department of Education that will allow us to have new intercom systems and identification badges along with other safety enhancements .

The summer has allowed us to upgrade our buildings and sites. Asphalt work has been completed at four schools and we have one more school to complete and four have new gym floors. Myron Francis has been painted as we finish up the interior painting. LED lighting which provides better lighting at much less cost, has been installed in three schools with more coming this year.

And what about education? We are introducing a new curriculum, K to 12, in science, social studies, computer science and health/physical education in our on-going program to update every curriculum. We have the largest number of FUSE fellows in Rhode Island. FUSE fellows work with our teachers to help them incorporate technology into their teaching. Speaking of technology, our Career Center pre-engineering and forensics teacher, Keith Martinous, is the East Providence 2018 Teacher of the Year. Our Pre-K program is building on its successes with another full enrollment.

To keep things fresh we are moving some of our Administrators around to take best advantage of their skills. Myron Francis will have Anne-Marie Scott as Principal and Nelia Milhomens as Dean. Lloydanne Leddy will lead Kent Heights and Karen Goncalo, new to the District, will lead Waddington with Assistant Principal Elaine Allen. Fatima Avila is the Principal with Dena Francescon as the .5 Dean at Silver Spring and David Britto will be adding support to the Pre-K program under Principal Karen Rebello. Whiteknact will have a team of Greg McCarthy as Principal and Laurie Marchand as Dean respectively until December at which time they will switch roles. The high school will have Shani Wallace, Robert Currier as Assistant Principal with Roxie DeBlois. Riverside Principal is Rob Perry with Glenn Salgueiro as Assistant Principal and Brian Petsch as Dean. Martin Middle School has Bill Black as Principal, Shane Messier as Assistant Principal and Richard Small as Dean. Lindsey Reilly is Principal at Hennessey School and Stacey Messier as Dean. Orio will continue to be lead by Yanaiza Gallant with a new Dean, Lisa Pita. Donna Peluso returns to Oldham. We have been fortunate to win a very significant School Improvement Grant that will support the leadership teams at the schools serving our neediest students.

The excitement is building as we move closer to our dream goal of creating a new East Providence High School! The old school served East Providence well for most of its 65 plus years but is now old and tired. We have everything we need going into the November elections when the voters will decide whether we have a new school or not. State government is spearheading efforts to get old schools replaced or renovated. A number of critical components are in place to position us well should voters be in favor of a new school. We will be able to hit the ground running. You can follow our progress on the Building Committee website - epbuildingcommittee.com.

We have been eagerly looking forward to the return of your children to our schools. You can be assured we are doing the utmost to provide your children the best education in a safe, nurturing and supportive environment. We know this will be a good year." - Kathryn M. Crowley, Superintendent of Schools