Updated: Newport Voters Approve $30 Million School Bond

After months of debate, Newport voters spoke on Tuesday and approved the $30 million bond referendum for Claiborne Pell Elementary School.

Supporters and opponents of the plan were stationed around the city at polling places Tuesday trying to convince voters to sway to their side. In the end, a majority of the voters — 56.3% — decided in favor of the plan to shut down the city's four existing elementary schools and construct a single elementary school for all students on the north side of town, about where Sullivan School currently sits.

"Finally! Finally!" School Committee Chairwoman Jo Eva Gaines proclaimed after hearing the final results Tuesday night.

Gaines, Superintendent John Ambrogi, and School Committee Members Sandra Flowers, Charles Shoemaker and Rebecca Bolan all gathered at Mayor Jeanne-Marie Napolitano's house Tuesday to intently watch the numbers pour in as campaign runners brought back the tallies from each precinct after the polls closed at 9 p.m.

"I am relieved, and ready to finally start on this," Gaines said. "Finally we have the approval to move forward. It's been 15 years."

Gaines said the Pell School Building Committee already has its next meeting lined up for this Thursday at 4:30 p.m. The group will be meeting with Alteris Renewables to hear more about solar power, wind power and other sustainable energies. Gaines said she had prepared Alteris for the chance that the meeting could have been canceled, should the bond have failed on Tuesday.

"Now I don't have to call them," she said with a smile.

Standing steps away, Superintendent Ambrogi shared Gaines' sentiment.

"It's great; what's best for the kids in the city," he said. "The immediate next step is to get with an architect, get a construction manager hired and reach out to parents."

Ambrogi said the parents involved in the Alliance for Neighborhood Schools in Newport — opponents of the Pell plan — would be among the first he reaches out to as they move forward with the project.

"We need to explain it to them, make sure they understand this is great for the kids," Ambrogi said. "Some of it is fear of the unknown."

But over at the election gathering of those Pell No! parents, seven women who were among the most vocal in the group said they were not convinced the School Department truly wants them involved.  

"It's interesting that he wants to talk to us now," said Underwood School mom Cara Lane, noting that Ambrogi did not attend the group's recent forum at the Newport Public Library.

"It's a great gesture, but we've seen it before," added Terri Flynn, "where a stated forum of discussion is more a presentation. It's a great sentiment, but follow through."

The women, gathered around the living room of Kelley Cord, were largely in good spirits after losing their battle to defeat the Pell School bond. While they expressed concern about "bullying" at the polls, the women said they don't see the voters' decision as a defeat to their cause. The Alliance for Neighborhood Schools in Newport will live on, they said, and will begin work on their Plan B: making sure the process was fair and that the public had the information it deserved.

"We're here to be supporters," said Melissa Pattavina, "however, we're also here to review the process and make sure it was fair to the community."

Pattavina reiterated several times in the conversation that she would have a "positive outlook" about "whatever's next."

"Let's have a conversation and be involved," she said.

At the same time, her fellow supporters still expressed their concern about how the Pell School will impact their children.

Jessica Slocum said she's worried about her child "being on the bus that long."

"At a time when the trend is small, we just lost that," added Lane. "That's no small loss. We had it good, and we just lost it."

"It's not our kids I'm worried about," Pattavina said. "It's everybody else's kids who might not find the same support at home. A big school will cut down on parental involvement and the community aspect."

"And they'll try to instate that in community gatherings, but how?" asked Lane.

Back at the mayor's house, School Committee Chairwoman Gaines said the public has to realize that the sketches of the Pell School displayed thus far are not the final product.

"We want to work on the floor plan, ask teachers 'what do you need?'" Gaines said. "What we've seen until now is just a sketch."

The Pell School building committee's Thursday meeting at 4:30 p.m. is open to the public. It will likely be held in the School Department's administrative offices, but for final details call 401-847-2100.

Below are the breakdown of the votes.