School's Almost In: Johnston's schools prepare for the new academic year

Johnston Sun Rise ·

It may be the middle of summer, but following a successful school year the Johnston School Department is in full swing preparing for school to open on Aug. 30.

Superintendent Dr. Bernard DiLullo Jr. recently provided an analysis of the town’s educational system, its leadership team, facilities and programs as summer break winds down for Johnston’s nearly 3,200 students. With now empty hallways and classrooms, the district is making concerted efforts to prepare its buildings for the students to return to.

“If you walked through any building in Johnston, particularly after the summer cleaning, they are spotless and they shine. We try to keep up with our furnishings, we try to keep up with painting the buildings. You won’t see graffiti or marks on the wall,” said DiLullo. “The buildings always really look great, and that’s attributable to Mr. [David] Cournoyer and his staff.”

DiLullo stated that Cournoyer and maintenance crews do a “phenomenal job” in terms of the upkeep of the school buildings. He added that the state recently completed an evaluation of all school districts and all buildings, and in Rhode Island most school buildings are very old mid-century buildings.

“We tests our schools regularly, and all of our tests come back as acceptable. For example, we do mold testing, radon testing and we have all of those reports on file,” said the superintendent. “We keep up with that and make sure anytime somebody has a question we have an answer. Even as we go through the school year, we will bring in a company called Vortex in to evaluate the air and mold quality in the buildings.”

The district has completed several building upgrades, such as new windows at Sarah Dyer Barnes Elementary, with new furnaces there and at Thornton Elementary that are gas fired and more energy-efficient. Plans for remodeling two more science labs at the high school this year are in place, which will bring a total of four labs that are brand new and updated.

“It allows us to be able to teach 21st century science skills in a new laboratory setting, so that is big,” said DiLullo.

After managing through several administrative changes in terms of principals and support staff last year, DiLullo believes that the district is now on even footing. He said the biggest challenge last year was with the middle school and high school administrative team and getting that into place while making sure there was a smooth transition following a short notice of administrators leaving. He said that by all accounts it was a smooth transition and both schools opened without issues and improved greatly as time went on.

“Our schools are very stable at this point, in terms of leadership. We just appointed a final assistant principal, Rebecca Silveira, for the middle school; that’s a new position that we created a couple of years ago,” he said. “As a result of Mr. [Matthew Stephen] Tsonos being appointed the interim principal last year, and now the permanent principal at the middle school, it opened up a position.”

DiLullo called leadership at the high school level “very stable,” and that students and administrators there had a very successful year.

“Luckily Mr. [Dennis] Morrell was willing to be appointed to the high school as principal,” he said. “He’s done a phenomenal job there along with his leadership team, with both Dr. [Donna] Pennacchia and Mr. [Michael] Mancieri, they have come together as a solid team and really led that school to achieving what they need to achieve. They’re just going to expand there. They’re now talking about our Pathways programs; they’re re-establishing some classes.”

Returning after an extended absence will be French as a foreign language at the high school, and a schedule is in place to hire a part-time teacher to introduce the class as children have already enrolled.

“We continue to focus on developing our business program, and we’re talking about a partnership with Citizens Bank on financial literacy,” said DiLullo. “Both the middle and the high schools continue with the one-to-one computer program; we’re making the transition from MacBooks to Chromebooks. We’re totally Chromebooks at the middle school and we’re moving toward that at the high school.”

While the status of the state budget is still in limbo, DiLullo said the district hopes to expand the one-to-one computer program to the elementary schools. As it currently stands, the state budget impasse leaves $936,573 in state aid unavailable to Johnston as the fiscal year begins.

“That hits us. As we end July, the budget impasse would cause a reduction of $23,000. If it goes to August and every month after that, we’re talking about $89,000 per month,” said DiLullo. “The biggest challenge this year is the unknown surrounding the budget and really meeting our goals in terms of what we’ve set for the coming school year. The focus is always what’s best for kids.”

Funding for Johnston’s schools increased in this year’s budget, as Johnston Town Council approved a budget for education of $54,050,137, an increase of $1.7 million from the previous year.

DiLullo also said that an art teacher position would be added at the high school this year and called the district’s music program “phenomenal.”

“We don’t want to leave any child behind in terms of what their interests are and what their skill levels are and where they shine. Certainly, there’s a group of kids that shine at the arts, and last year we expanded that cadre of teachers at the high school by adding a choral teacher and they’re just doing a phenomenal job,” he said. “So now we have choral, we have band, and we also have technology integrated into the music.”

Beginning this school year, North Providence will be paying rent to use Calef Elementary, which stopped serving as a classic elementary school after the 2007-2008 school year. About 275 students from the neighboring community will soon attend classes there for the next two years as North Providence builds new schools.  

“It looks like that will be a two-year process, although now I’m not sure because there is a holdup on the demolition of their current schools, so I’m not sure what that delay means,” said DiLullo. “But right now it looks like a two-year opportunity where those students will come to school at the Calef building.”

Teacher contracts are currently in year two of a three-year contract, while support staff is in year one of a three-year contract. The superintendent said he is confident in staffing levels and the abilities of the district’s teachers.

Students who live within a mile from elementary schools and a mile and a half from secondary schools are considered walkers to school unless there are extenuating circumstances. First Student, currently in the last year of their contract, will provide busing. A bus schedule will be printed in the Sun Rise prior to school starting.

While students may be enjoying summer fun with friends and family, the superintendent reminds students that there is still work to be done.

“Our schools have summer work that the kids were assigned at the end of last year, so I would suggest that they work on that summer work and get that completed before school opens,” he said. “The whole philosophy around that summer work is that you don’t do it the night before school opens, but that you spend a little time each week on completing those assignments. That kind of bridges the gap around the summer learning loss that happens with most students.”

DiLullo also recommended that as August 30 approaches, students get into a regular routine again with bedtimes and wake-up times, and he encourages reading right through the end summer.

“I think our overall mission in Johnston is to ensure our students become diligent and successful learners, and we want to provide any service that helps them meet that goal,” he said. “Our vision is to have a district that really is responsive to the learning needs of the 21st century student.”