MIDDLETOWN SCHOOL COMMITTEE

October 9, 2025

SPECIAL MEETING

JOINT MEETING

with the Middletown Town Council

Meeting 5:00 PM

MINUTES

1.0 Opening Items

1.1 Call to Order: Vice-Chair Wendy Heaney called the School Committee meeting to order at 5:03 pm at Michael S. Pinto Conference Room, 26 Oliphant Lane, Middletown, Rhode Island 02842.

1.2 Determination of Quorum: School Committee Members –Chair Gregory Huet, Vice-Chair Wendy Heaney, Theresa Spengler, Tami Holden and Clerk William Nash

Also present – Superintendent Willliam Niemeyer, Assistant Superintendent and Attorney Ben Scungio.

Town Council Members Present: Council President Paul M. Rodrigues, arrives at 6:33 p.m. Vice President Thomas P. Welch, III, Presiding Councillor Peter D. Connerton, Sr. Councillor Charles R. Roberts Councillor Dennis B. Turano, arrives at 5:11 p.m. Councillor Barbara A. VonVillas

Pursuant to the provisions of Article II, Section 203 of the Town Charter and in accordance with Sections 42-46-2., 42-46-4., 42-46-5., and 42-46-6., RIGL, I

1. Executive session - Pursuant to provisions of RIGL, Sections 42-46-2, 42-46-4 and 42-46-5 items: a. Work session related to collective bargaining (RIGL §42-46-5(a)(2))

b. Discussion of Potential Litigation / Legal Strategy - review of statutory obligations, risks, and potential disputes arising from regionalization (RIGL §42-46-5(a)(2)) and legal advice regarding these issues.

c. Collective Discussion of Real Estate and Asset Transfers - potential impacts on ownership/transfer of school facilities and property (RIGL §42-46-5(a)(5))

On motion of Councillor Connerton, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to recess open session and reconvene in executive session at 5:06 p.m.

School Committee reconvened and Sealed minutes.

On motion of Councillor Connerton, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to recess executive session and reconvene in open session at 6:08 p.m. On motion of Councillor Connerton, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to seal the executive session minutes pursuant to Section 42-46-7. RIGL.

Pledge of Allegiance at this time

2. Discussion of Town Administrator’s memo dated August 26, 2025, including attachments (enabling 2022 legislation H8267 for school regionalization and the City of Newport resolutions):

a. Appointment of Representatives to an Academic Integration Advisory Committee – Each community (Town Council and School Committee) would appoint an equal number of members to participate

b. Discussion of Use of State Reimbursement Funds – Both communities should jointly consider establishing an endowment with reimbursement funds dedicated to educational improvements

c. Discussion regarding a Joint Meeting with Stakeholders – A session involving both Councils, both School Committees, both Superintendents, and the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) to discuss the scope, structure, and potential impacts of regionalization. On motion of Councillor Connerton, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to begin said discussion of Town Administrator’s memo dated August 26, 2025, including attachments (enabling 2022 legislation H8267 for school regionalization and the City of Newport resolutions). On motion of Councillor Connerton, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to begin said discussion of Town Administrator’s memo dated August 26, 2025, including attachments (enabling 2022 legislation H8267 for school regionalization and the City of Newport resolutions). Vice President Welch noted the meeting tonight is to discuss the regionalization resolution from the City of Newport and the public may want to know where everyone stands on the regionalization issue.

School Committee Chair Greg Huet read the following into the record:

On behalf of the Middletown School Committee:

1.The Middletown School Committee voted unanimously to NOT support the City of Newport Rhode Island’s Resolution of 13 August regarding the renewed initiative to pursue Regionalization of the Middletown and Newport School Districts.

2. As the Chair of the Middletown School Committee, it is my responsibility – along with my fellow School Committee Members –to establish policies that create a safe and healthy learning environment for our students, teachers, and staff – an environment where students can attain academic success. The School Committee must also enable our Superintendent to focus solely on leading and encouraging our students, teachers and staff members in their pursuit of academic excellence.

3. The School Committee provided the rationale – stated below – as the basis for its position of non-support for the renewed Regionalization efforts.

a. Decisions have ramifications. The Middletown Voters approved the Regionalization Issue during the 2022 election, but the Newport Voters failed to approve it. Middletown Voters followed up in the next election cycle with the approval of a bond issue to build two new schools. Each respective municipality is now dealing with the ramifications of their Voters’ decisions in the 2022 election.

b. The current environment is vastly different from 2022. The new Rogers High School is opening Fall 2025, and the construction of the two new Middletown schools is underway with a completion date of – Fall 2027. There is no current or pending RI Legislation that guarantees an approximately 80% reimbursement rate for Regionalization. The challenges of creating new legislation with 80% guarantees when the coffers of the Rhode Island Treasury are significantly more strained than in 2022 – combined with the fact that the Federal government is currently threatening to withhold funding to the states for education – makes this scenario more unlikely. Even if guaranteed reimbursement rates were possible with new legislation, the timelines to create and pass that legislation and hold special elections for the Voters to approve new Regionalization Ballot issues would be daunting if not nearly impossible.

c. The City of Newport Resolution that was passed by the Newport City Council and endorsed by the Newport School Committee was not unanimously supported by either elected body.

d. The Newport School District has significant financial challenges whereas the Middletown School District does not face those same challenges.

e. Shared Services was an area of focus in the Newport City Council Resolution on Regionalization. The Town of Middletown and the Middletown School District currently share services in the areas of Facilities and Business Office Operations. It is difficult to comprehend the multitude of challenges that would be faced by either overlaying or entangling additional organizations into this mix. Additionally, Regionalization is not a requirement to conduct shared services, Memorandums of Agreement (MOA’s) could be utilized to conduct operations between the two School Districts where cost saving opportunities exist and could be initiated by mutual agreement

f. The Middletown School Committee and our Superintendent simply do not have the capacity at the present time to undertake a massive Regionalization effort/project. The Middletown Superintendent has received guidance from the School Committee to focus solely on the monumental tasks of managing preparations for the upcoming academic year and ensuring our school construction programs continue to be on pace for an on-time and under-budget finish. The Superintendent is not authorized to engage in any Regionalization efforts until further notice.

4. The Middletown School Committee has taken this unprecedented action with the intent to send a strong message to the Middletown Town Council and to inform the taxpayers as follows: Chasing an undetermined, uncertain funding stream with daunting timelines and questionable outcomes with many significant unknowns while knowing that approval would ultimately result in a loss of School Committee autonomy is unwise and has no support from the elected officials of the Middletown School Committee.

On behalf of the Middletown School Committee,

Gregory Huet, Chair

School Committee Chair Gregory Huet noted that the School Committee position has not changed regarding regionalization.

School Committee member William Nash recused himself from the vote regarding regionalization.

Vice President Welch requested Vice Chair Heaney to give a timeline from the Newport City Council vote to the Middletown School Committee vote regarding regionalization.

School Committee Vice Chair Heaney reviewed the timeline of the School Committee vote once the Newport City Council had passed the resolution, explaining it was a tight timeline. Vice Chair Heaney explained the School Committee meets once a month and if the School Committee had waited until September, they would miss the deadline.

Vice President Welch noted that in 2022 he supported regionalization, and still supports. Vice President Welch explained at this time he believes a committee should be formed to discuss the issue, but does not want to rush the question to the voters. Mr. Welch noted he is in favor of regionalization, but not in this situation; explaining Middletown is on a great path right now.

School Committee Member Holden noted that she supported regionalization in 2022, but now has concerns. Ms. Holden supports regionalization, but not at this time and is open to ideas to move forward.

Councillor Connerton noted that he was also in favor of regionalization and if regionalization is what Middletown wants, then a committee should be formed to be ready. Mr. Connerton does not support rushing regionalization and does not want this to be a money grab.

Councillor Roberts noted the need to vote on the following:

a. Appointment of Representatives to an Academic Integration Advisory Committee – Each community (Town Council and School Committee) would appoint an equal number of members to participate.

b. Discussion of Use of State Reimbursement Funds – Both communities should jointly consider establishing an endowment with reimbursement funds dedicated to educational improvements.

Mr. Roberts noted that it is the voter’s job to decide on regionalization, tonight is only to appoint a committee.

School Committee member Spengler agreed that regionalization would have to be a voter decision, but it is not the time for another regionalization discussion. There is a lot going on with schools being built. Ms. Spengler noted that if the community wants regionalization the Town can begin talking about it. Regionalization is not off the table forever. In 2022 it was a different time and now the voters have chosen a different path.

Council President Rodrigues arrived at 6:33 p.m.

Council President Rodrigues presiding.

Discussion centered around the timeline for the City of Newport Resolution is rushed, regionalization has not been properly vetted, trying to receive money for the Schools from the State with MOU’s and not regionalization, Middletown had a school deficit issue a few years ago but is now all set, if there are financial issues in Newport, not all school committee members were in support of regionalization in 2022, if regionalization now is being rushed, the sustainability of the schools, having a discussion with Newport regarding regionalization, academics for the student, the timing is not good right now for regionalization, and if Middletown and Newport regionalize, the funding for the schools will increase.

School Committee Chair Greg Huet read the following into the record:

Let me first say that there have been many poor decisions made by the leaders of both Middletown and Newport over the last 20 years to get us to this point. In the past, the relationship between the school committee and the town council has been unsteady at best and the level of trust between the two bodies was inadequate, to put it nicely. Over the last year or so the school committee has worked very hard to improve the relationship between the school committee and the town council and I believe up to this point in time, tremendous progress has been made. I am concerned that the issue upon us may fracture that relationship, but I am hopeful that it will not lead us in that direction given some of the personal relationships that some of us have established over time. History is important; if you don’t know and fully understand history, you will likely repeat the errors made by past decision-makers. There are few people in this room, who fully understand the history of the regionalization issue better than Councilwoman Von Villas and I because we were leaders in the movement to Regionalize Newport. You also have two members of the school committee who were actively engaged in supporting regionalization along with Barbara Von Villas and I, Bill Nash and Tami Holden. You must ask yourselves why the four people in this room who I just mentioned, went from totally supportive and actively engaged to now opposing Regionalization. These are the same people who went door to door during COVID to get 10% of the Town’s registered voters to sign a Petition to get regionalization put on the Ballot. Without going into detail, during that same period, the Middletown Council refused to honor the petition signed by 10% of the registered voters of Middletown on a questionable technicality. Three Councilors who were sitting members during that time are currently sitting around this table. One of those Councilors voted five times to not even allow the discussion of Regionalization. Yet I now hear from some of these same people that “we have to let the people vote on this”. One must also ask why the change? After the 2022 election when Newport voted against regionalization, Middletown voters/taxpayers voted to authorize $190 million to build new schools. Elections do have ramifications.

Until recently, the regionalization issue was past-history but in December of 2024 through March of 2025 five meetings were held between Newport and Middletown officials to discuss the feasibility of restarting regionalization discussions. No Open Meeting laws were violated as a result of these meetings. The first meeting was held to discuss ground rules. During the 5th meeting in March of this year, I was so disenchanted with some of the issues that occurred over the course of the previous four meetings that I made the following comments to the group. Not all of the School Committee Members or Town Council Members fully aware of the content of the discussions that took place. I think it is important to share some of that information now to help put things into perspective. My abbreviated comments. I started off with this: What I am about to say isn't directed at anyone in particular but, I believe it needs to be heard at this critical juncture if there is any chance of reaching an agreement on moving forward. At our first meeting in December at the Newport City Hall we all agreed to explore the feasibility of moving forward with regionalization and we all agreed to keep the group's discussions confidential amongst the group members. The group was defined as the Newport mayor Middletown council president, 1 council person from Newport and Middletown each town administrator/ business manager and each school committee chair. We added each of the school district superintendents at our March meeting. Since our 1st meeting I have said little but over the course of our previous meetings I have grown somewhat disenchanted and that disenchantment has morphed into disappointment and even anger over some of the things that have happened in the last week. Observation #1: The mere presence of Becky Bolan at our first meeting was and continues to be alarming to me; she was not the chair of the Newport school committee and should not have been involved or invited into this group. In my opinion, she was one of the biggest reasons for the defeat of regionalization during the most recent election in Newport. She was aligned with building Newport's future and contributed money to their organization. Building Newport's future was responsible for producing and distributing false information regarding the regionalization ballot issue in Newport and it was a significant factor in the defeat of the ballot issue by 391 votes. Her inadequate leadership skills have contributed mightily to the Rogers construction debacle, and she is also the person who tried to prevent a Rhode Island taxpayer from speaking at a public Newport school committee meeting regarding regionalization when she was the chair. She is the last person I wanted to see amongst this group discussing how we can move regionalization forward.

Note: Becky Bolan was also the Chair of the Newport School Committee and Building Committee who withheld the information that they were $20 million in the hole with the election on Regionalization issue was several weeks away.

Observation 2: I was disappointed when the Newport City Council passed their resolution by a four to three vote on 12 March to establish an academic advisory committee regarding a potential regionalization with Middletown. This committee was also directed to develop an action plan within 90 days. What angered me with the resolution was that it stated that the Commission will consist of elected officials, education professionals and members of the public from both Newport and Middletown and it is charged with presenting a request for the necessary resources and proposed action plan within 90 days. As an elected official in Middletown and as the chair of the Middletown school committee my immediate reaction was BS, they have no authority to task anybody from Middletown let alone determine requirements. To add to my anger, I received an e-mail from a Newport This Week reporter asking if I would be willing to share my thoughts on the Newport resolution. How does a resolution regarding regionalization all of a sudden appear when our discussions were confidential?

Observation 3: Our group discussions were to be confidential. It became apparent that the confidential part was not honored. One example of this was when I was informed that my high school principal was approached by a Newport official and was told that the career and technical education director of the Newport school district was looking forward to regionalization and leading the CTE programs for both schools. As a result, my Superintendent was placed in a very awkward and uncomfortable position when asked by the principal what the heck is going on and why haven't you shared this information with me? Observation 4: We started these discussions because we all thought that it was beneficial to both communities. I have a great deal of insight and appreciation for the challenges that the Newport school district has faced with a very difficult teachers union with a challenging contract, a school committee that has difficulty working with the Superintendent, and has two camps , the unending money pit related to the construction of the new high school , the uncertainty of their CTE programs and many more. I have many friends in Newport, and I keep hearing that Middletown needs regionalization more than Newport. This perspective is shared by some of your city councilor’s, likely some of those who voted for the recent resolution. The Middletown school district faces challenges as well, but by comparison those challenges, are not nearly as daunting as those faced by the Newport school district. The combination of actions that I have described have caused me to question if it is possible to move forward as a result of the breach of confidentiality and the Newport perspective that Middletown needs regionalization more than Newport. I know for a fact that the opposite is much closer to reality. Those were my comments to the group I mentioned. I made those comments to the group I identified in March of this year.

Why is it important? It speaks to trust, character, judgement and good working relationships. Some of you are businessmen and businesswomen. Would you merge with another business that is falling short on meeting its core mission responsibilities? Would you merge with another business that is not fiscally sound? The Newport School District started this year with a $1.8 million deficit and a projected $2 million deficit next year. Would you merge with another business that has labor issues? Would you merge with another business that is reflecting an overall decline in numerous reporting categories when your business is not only showing significant improve in those same categories, but also is a leader in that same business territory – AND to execute this merger you will give up total control of your operations for a more limited/shared control of operations and policies? Funding. I keep hearing from parties in both Newport and Middletown that funding will not be an issue and promises and agreements have been worked. I have seen nothing in writing or legislation of these guaranteed funding streams. What I do have is a document that states otherwise. I will read it now.

Email between Middletown School Committee Chair and Mario Carreno, Chief Operations Officer, Rhode Island Department of Education dated 26 August 2025 12:18PM EST:

(READ EMAIL) Bottom line is there are no funding or agreements to fund regionalization in spite of what some are stating. Any funding would require new legislation. I have been told that the State would have a difficult time guaranteeing regionalization funding again for Newport and Middletown given the history of non-approval of the previous opportunity and much more challenging fiscal outlook within the State given the loss and or potential loss of Federal dollars for healthcare, education and infrastructure. So that is a big (IF). The other part of this is that a Special Election would need to take place in April and currently, no pending legislation is written or has been negotiated to date. Additionally, both communities would need to approve the Ballot issue another big (IF) and that only happens (IF) legislation is approved. Given today is 9 October 2025. There are 203 days until 30 April 2026. After Federal Holidays and Weekends (65) there are 138 working days left with no enabling legislation in existence, no Special Election date established. By the way, approximately $25K is what the taxpayers of Middletown will ante up for a Special election. Let me ask this question: Should the Council vote to approve moving forward with this regionalization effort how will that be accomplished with no support or participation from any member of the School Committee or employee of the Middletown School District? What has changed since the 2022 election? Middletown voters approved a $190 million dollar bond as a result of Newport voting down the Regionalization issue. State funding is not a given nor is enabling legislation. For over two decades the regionalization issue has been bantered about and in spite of elections, educational forums and literally hundreds of editorials and Letters to the Editor, no progress has been made. Do you really think that a Resolution that Newport officials drafted and passed – not unanimously, was also not supported in a unanimous manner by their own School Committee and was unanimously opposed by the Middletown School Committee has any chance succeeding in solving the decades old conundrum of regionalization between our two communities. I have no confidence that the Resolution and proposed Academic Advisory Group, required to report out within 90 days will come up with a solution that has escaped everyone in both communities for decades. The School Committee stands by our Resolution in not supporting this Regionalization issue. The School Committee offered the Middletown Town Council a politically feasible solution to opting out of this Newport Regionalization Resolution simply by stating we can not go forward when our School Committee has unanimously voted to not support the resolution. I believe the Council has enough on its plate with Potsy Field and the Commons Project. The School Committee has enough on its plate with the current academic year underway and the building of two new schools.

There are other options: MOA’s and tuitioning-in of Newport students.

Discussion centered around legislation for regionalization will contain the reimbursement rates.

The School Committee adjourned their meeting at 7:41 p.m