Governor Raimondo tours Portsmouth Middle School

Promotes $250M school construction bond during visit

By Jim McGaw
Posted 3/19/18

PORTSMOUTH — Gov. Gina Raimondo got an earful from teachers, administrators and students on what physical improvements they’d like to see at Portsmouth Middle School during a …

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Governor Raimondo tours Portsmouth Middle School

Promotes $250M school construction bond during visit

Posted

PORTSMOUTH — Gov. Gina Raimondo got an earful from teachers, administrators and students on what physical improvements they’d like to see at Portsmouth Middle School during a whirlwind tour of the building Monday.

The suggested upgrades included everything from a better sound system in the auditorium, improved ventilation and windows in the learning centers and more room for technology programs tied to STEAM-based learning (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics).

The tour, attended by school administrators, School Committee and Town Council members, Sen. James Seveney and members of the governor’s staff, was part of Gov. Raimondo’s efforts in promoting her proposal for $250 million in school construction bonds in the fiscal 2019 budget.

Based upon a formula the state uses in determining how much it will subsidize cities and towns on school construction projects, Portsmouth is on the low end of the state share — about 35 percent, Gov. Raimondo acknowledged. However, the proposal she and General Treasurer Seth Magaziner developed, she said, provides strong incentives for communities like Portsmouth to participate. 

“In the new program, they can go as high as 55 percent, especially if they move quickly,” she said. “We built in an incentive to do this in the next five years. So for the taxpayers of Portsmouth, who shoulder a lot of the burden, this is a really good deal because you can go from 35 to 55 percent.”

The governor stressed there are school buildings that are falling apart in every city and town in Rhode Island. 

“This isn’t just a Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls issue,” Gov. Raimondo said. “We’re trying to highlight that by going to East Greenwich, going to Barrington, going to Newport, going to Portsmouth,” she said, noting that some people may not be aware “that Portsmouth is one of those places that needs a hand to build a new school.”

Middle School Principal João Arruda led the governor around to different areas of the 47-year-old building, including the auditorium, gymnasium, a learning center, a cafeteria, art room, band room and library.

Afterward the principal expounded on some of the priorities for physical upgrades he said are most needed. The school’s electrical panels are “not sustainable” and much work needs to be done on the auditorium and gymnasium and locker rooms, he said.

“We are also looking to create our library as the hub of technology in this school, so we have a long way to go and we are looking for some help on that also,” Mr. Arruda said.

And yes, eventually the school will have to be either replaced or expanded, he said. “Every day we bring forth technology to our students, but we don’t have the physical aspect of it. In the art room we have 3-D printers, which is innovative within the STEAM program, but we have them in a little corner because we don’t have much room for them,” Mr. Arruda said.

“The kinds of schools that were build 40 and 50 years ago are not designed for the kind of learning that happens today,” added Mr. Magaziner. School security is also a bigger priority these days, he said.

Teachers speak

In one of the learning centers, the governor found several teachers going over a learning plan while students were at lunch. 

“We do everything we can do to provide a state-of-the-art environment,” Kyle Spaltholz, a sixth-grade English teacher, told Gov. Raimondo. Despite this, numerous upgrades are still needed, he and the other teachers said.

They noted the learning centers use collapsible walls to divvy the space into four rooms, but they don’t effectively block the noise from the other classes going on. Many areas of the school are also damp and leave a musty smell due to poor ventilation, or snow and rain coming through the windows, they said.

“The treasurer and I have done a lot of these tours and what you see are teachers who are working really hard and being creative to keep the walls bright and do the best for the kids. You see the maintenance team doing an incredible job shining the floors and keeping things clean,” the governor said after the tour. But the middle school, like many of the schools she’s visited, is old and needs to be fixed, she said. 

“We walked into the bathrooms. They’re not nice; you wouldn’t want your kids to have to use a bathroom with faucets that don’t work and tiles coming down. You see a lot of these rooms don’t have any natural light. They don’t have any windows, or a lot of the windows don’t really work — the snow comes in,” Gov. Raimondo said.

Kids speak out

The governor also visited a gym class and asked students what improvements they’d like to see at the school. 

Rory O’Connell, a sixth-grader, had several suggestions. She said she’d like to see more books in the library, or a bigger library altogether. (The school is currently working on replacing book shelves in the library.)

Rory also had something to say about the school’s auditorium, also known as “The Little Theater,” which hasn’t seen any upgrades since the school first opened in 1971.

“We need better sound in the auditorium,” she said. “Sometimes it just cuts out or makes noises.”

Some other ideas from the youngsters: Bigger lunch tables, outdoor learning and a playground (several students complained that they don’t even have recess). One boy even said he’d like to see a waterslide at the school.

One boy even said he’d like to see a waterslide at the school.

Another student said he wanted better school security, which the district is focusing much of its attention on. While the awarding of state subsidies is primarily based on need, health and safety upgrades are among the leading criteria, Gov. Raimondo and Mr. Magaziner said. Some of the others are investments in STEAM and energy efficiency, as well as the district’s speed in making improvements.

“We will dramatically increase the amount of state funding, but only if the districts … move quickly. That’s what we’re trying to incentivize here,” Mr. Magaziner said.

The governor said if her proposal goes through, however, “there will be enough funds for every school to be brought up to a place where it’s warm, safe and dry.”

Mr. Arruda said it was important to see the governor and her staff tour the middle school personally.

“I found the tour to be very valuable in order for the governor to be able to see the structure itself, but most importantly because she was able to talk to the teachers. They told her how it can be improved,” he said.

“To me, it just reaffirmed how much we need this,” Gov. Raimondo said afterward. “This problem is not just going to go away. A year from now, it will be just older. Five years from now, it will be just falling apart that much more and will be that much more expensive to fix. It’s time to take action.”

Portsmouth School Department, Portsmouth Middle School

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