hard deadlines

All Portsmouth schools will be closing early tomorrow in anticipation of the tropical-storm-force winds from Hurricane Earl, according to a note distributed on the District listserv this afternoon:

We will be dismissing our schools early tomorrow due to the weather forecast. The dismissal times will be as follows:

PHS – 12 noon
PMS – 12:30 PM
Elementaries – 1:30 PM

Afternoon kindergarten is CANCELLED. Morning kindergarten will run as scheduled.
All athletics and after school activities are CANCELLED, including the PAY Program.

There was a conference call this afternoon with RIEMA. The severe wind and rain is currently predicted to hit at 5:00 PM. This schedule will enable us to have everyone home safely by 3:00 PM. I am notifying families now so that particularly those with young children can plan and make sure someone is at home to meet their children.

Attached is information on the Portsmouth Middle School Shelter, should anyone need emergency shelter.

Please continue to listen and watch for further updates. If the weather forecast takes a turn for the worse, further cancellations are possible.

Editorial note: I'm really, really sorry about the headline. Sometimes I can't help myself.

Teacher of the Year Kim Cunningham with PPEF president Helen Furriel (l) and treasurer Donna Manning. Photo by Paul Gallagher.

At the Portsmouth teacher orientation this morning, the Portsmouth Public Education Foundation (PPEF) announced their 2010-2011 PPEF Educational Excellence Grant Recipients and their 3rd Teacher of the Year Award recipient, Kim Cunningham of Portsmouth High School.

This year's Teacher of the Year award was sponsored by NewportFed, and nominations were accepted throughout the month of May from the Portsmouth community. Cunningham, in addition to the award, received a $1,000 unrestricted grant from PPEF at the presentation this morning.

Thirteen Educational Excellence grants were awarded totaling $8,743 to teachers in Melville Elementary School, Portsmouth Middle School, and Portsmouth High School:

Elaina Amaral (PHS): Whales – Up Close and Personal;
Kimberly Hancock (PHS): Real World Reading;
Leanne Gordon Perry (PHS): Anatomical Modeling;
Diane Roth (Melville): Center Stage + Math;
Kathleen Beebe (PHS): Enhancing Science Labs;
Sandy Oxx (PHS): Using E-Readers in the Classroom;
Rose Escobar (PHS): Tribute to My Hero;
Donna Powell, Sue Roklan, Valerie Seveney, Bryn Weymouth (Melville): Lights Camera Action – Building Reading Fluency;
Alison Ernest (PMS): Listen to This;
Richard Price (PMS): Listen and See the Music of America;
Carol Strakosh (PMS): Poetry in Performance;
Sharon Raposo (PMS): Building the Skills of Autistic Children
Kimberly Hancock, Marilyn Thompson, Michelle Beaulieu (PHS): Reading SOS, Strategies for Older Children.

In addition to PPEF fundraising, the foundation received community support to help fund these grants. A generous donation came from the Dr. Robert A. Davidson Charitable Fund from proceeds earned in a public concert the held this past January. A Civic Support Grant sponsored by Sen. Charles Levesque and another grant by the Barton J. Carroll Foundation also helped fund this year's grant awards. A new memorial grant, the William "Jay" Humphrey Jr. Memorial Grant, was also created in memory of former PPEF President, Jay Humphrey, who passed away this year.

Grant recipients from the last school year will also get to showcase their projects in the upcoming Fall Social on October 21, 2010, which will be held at Green Valley Country Club in Portsmouth. This event is open to the general public and hosts a silent auction to raise additional funds for future grants.

PPEF would also like to welcome three new board members to PPEF: Eileen LaCazette, Ellen Toner, and Bruce Jones. They bring tremendous talent to our organization and we look forward to a strong future with their contributions.

PPEF is an independent non-profit organization whose mission is to improve, promote, sponsor, and enhance the educational experiences of public school students. PPEF awards grants directly to teachers for events, activities and projects that are not financed by the school or town budget. Since 2001, the foundation has awarded 131 grants totaling over $68,589.00. Learn more at the PPEF web site

Full disclosure: I am a PPEF board member. Yes, this is from a press release.

The Portsmouth school budget referendum has been scheduled for Tuesday, October 5, according to a posting this afternoon on the Save Our Schools web site. Absentee ballots will be available from September 15.

SOS organizer Dave Croston reminded students who are still registered here in Portsmouth to stop by Town Hall. "Students should visit the Canvassers Office before they head-out for school and sign-up to receive an absentee ballot. Emergency ballots will also be available up to the election."

According to an e-mail from Croston, the final tally of signatures validated by the Canvasser's office was 1,871.

Thanks again to all the volunteers who made this happen, and to everyone who signed.

According to Registrar of Voters Madeleine Pencak, Portsmouth's canvassing authority verified sufficient signatures this morning to hold a special referendum election on the school budget.

Pencak said there were "another 600" names left to count, so the Save Our Schools organizers had met the goal with room to spare.

Once the board finishes reviewing all the submitted signatures, the date will be set for the all-day election where the single question will be whether to maintain the budget set by the Town Council or add back $765K of the $1.2M that was cut.

The recently passed Education Jobs Bill will pump $26B in federal aid to cash-strapped states in order to save teacher positions and other municipal jobs, but according to an analysis by education policy blogger Jason Becker, the likely impact for Portsmouth would be less than $40K.

Based on the spreadsheet posted on Becker's blog, Portsmouth would likely receive around $36K if the money is distributed based on the ratio used for Title I (low-income district) funding. If the funds were distributed using the recently approved state education funding formula, the district could get as much as $143K.

According to a RI Department of Education (RIDE) spokesperson quoted in the ProJo, it was "likely" that the Title I scheme would be used. At last Tuesday's school committee meeting, Supt. Susan Lusi said that she had not heard definitively from RIDE which formula would be used, and said, "I do not know what that would mean for Portsmouth."

Obviously, anything that helps in our current crunch is appreciated, and even $40K could help keep or expand time for a teacher. But based on Becker's analysis, this isn't going to be a magic bullet.

David Croston submits signatures to Town Clerk Kathy Viera-Beaudoin as Terri Cortvriend and Nancy Zitka look on.

At 8:40 this morning, David Croston and a contingent of volunteers from Save Our Schools (SOS) submitted nearly 100 sheets containing 2,039 names, according to a count from the Portsmouth Town Clerk's office. It took the staff about 45 minutes to timestamp, photocopy, and tally the sheets, after which they walked them across the hall to Town Canvasser Madeleine Pencak where the process of verifying names would begin.

"This is the first step in supporting and investing in the education system which many of us moved to Portsmouth to experience," said Croston, who added that SOS would now reach out to the whole community to share facts and success stories about the schools. "Voters will see by [the date of the referendum] that we have one of the most efficient systems in Rhode Island, one we can be proud of."

Pencak was not able to estimate how long the verification process might take — according to the Town Charter, they have a maximum of two weeks. From there, she said, assuming sufficient signatures, the Town Clerk would call the special election.

Personal note: Given that the special election could happen as soon as 30 days after verification, if you're not registered to vote yet, please get on down to Town Hall this week. (Hey, you were going to do that anyway, since the cutoff to vote in the September primary is Saturday, right?)

The drive to collect Portsmouth voter signatures in support of a budget referendum reached its goal over the weekend, according to Save Our Schools organizer David Croston. As of Sunday night, volunteers had turned in sheets totalling nearly 1,800 names, providing a comfortable margin over the 1,290 required.

The signature sheets will be delivered to Town Hall tomorrow, Croston said, where the Canvasser's Office will start checking each one. Assuming that enough registered voter names are certified, a date for the budget referendum will be set.

Personal note: I was one of the group that sat around Croston's patio table for several hours last night, scanning the names on every sheet and literally counting everything three times. As it slowly sank in that the goal really had been met, with a good safety buffer, there was a such a feeling of relief and gratitude.

I want to say thank all the volunteers who worked so hard over the past week to make this happen. You were out there walking your neighborhoods, knocking on doors, sitting for hours at tables flagging down walk-by traffic, waving signs, standing (on public property) to catch drivers, mingling with crowds at the high school, getting rained on at the Sign and Drive, and working the line at the transfer station. You got sunburn and stares, maybe had a few uncomfortable conversations, but you persevered. You were out there smiling and explaining, engaging the people of Portsmouth, and bringing back a truly impressive number of signatures. You made this happen. You totally rock. Thank you.

And thank you to everyone who signed. Thanks for your support for the schools and for the democratic process. Thanks for taking the time to stop and talk, to ask questions, to engage in the process, and to put your name down to be counted. We needed every single signature, and you came through. Thank you.

And I want to offer a special thanks to those who plan to vote "no" at the election but who signed anyway. You are showing the true colors of democracy by putting a commitment to listen to the people above position or ideology. You have my respect and thanks.