•  Colleen Burns Jermain

    Dear Newport Schools Parents, Families, and Staff:

    We are one week away from the reopening of Newport Public Schools on September 8th, and I want to share that we’re excited and ready for another safe year of in-person learning and student growth.

    Like last school year, Newport Public Schools worked closely with the Rhode Island Department of Education and the Rhode Island Department of Health to develop comprehensive protocols to limit the exposure to and spread of COVID-19. That means we will again return to school practicing universal masking, social distancing, vaccination clinics, and regular testing with parent permission. We strongly encourage anyone eligible to be vaccinated to please do so. We will be holding vaccination clinics the second week of school at TMS and RHS. Here is the link for those clinics as well as the RIDOH website for other clinics throughout RI: https://covid.ri.gov/vaccination

    RHS clinic: For students and Employees: COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic @ RHS

    TMS clinic: For students, employees and community members

    COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic at TMS

    Thanks to the hard work of our teachers, staff, custodians, school secretaries, food providers, IT team, administrators, and One Newport community partners Newport Public Schools are ready for the 2021-2022 school year! It has certainly been a very busy summer- and oh yes, our school building projects for both Pell Elementary School and RHS are well underway. Check out our website on the meetings and designs click here.

    Be sure to check out the district website for bus schedules in the coming days. Schedules will also be published in the Newport Daily News on Saturday, September 4 and Tuesday, September 7.

    Finally, I want to encourage all parents to get involved in our schools. This year due to the additional ESSER funds Newport Public Schools has received from the federal government we have the opportunity to explore new initiatives. We welcome your input and encourage you to reach out to my office or your building principal with ideas that you believe will make us a stronger learning environment for all our children. Your voice matters and we would love to hear from you!

    Enjoy this last week of summer fun and we’ll see you on September 8th! I hope everyone has a Happy Labor Day Weekend!

    Sincerely,

    Colleen Burns Jermain, Ed.D.

    Superintendent of Schools

    Contact Dr. Burns Jermain at colleenjermain@npsri.net or (401) 847-2100 Extension 5376
     
     
     
    Colleen Burns Jermain is currently the Superintendent of Newport Public Schools. She has served as Chief of Staff Performance and Technology Integration for the Providence Public Schools in Rhode Island, Assistant Superintendent of Schools in Portsmouth, RI and Principal/Superintendent of the Little Compton Schools, RI. Prior to these appointments, Dr. Jermain worked as Tiverton’s first female assistant middle school principal, principal of two elementary schools and teacher in the Tiverton, RI school district.

     

    Dr. Jermain is co-chair of the Rhode Island Race to the Top Steering Committee, past President of the Rhode Island Superintendent’s Association (RISSA), a founding member of United Providence!- the first educational management organization in the country, a member of the RISSA legislative committee, past Rhode Island representative to the Reform Support Network and State Development Network for School Turnaround (SDN). She received her Doctorate from Johnson and Wales University, holds a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies from Johnson and Wales University; holds a Master Degree in Administration and BA in history from Providence College.  Most recently she attended the Harvard Graduate School of Education program for Change Leadership-Reinventing Leadership in K-12 Education and completed a joint initiative of the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Harvard Business School, PELP-Public Education Leadership Project.

     

    Dr. Jermain is a Newport native and graduate of Rogers High School. She lives in Newport with her husband Tim.