Skippers Head Back to School and Back to Football

Photo Captions: The Skippers football players overcame heat, dust and dragonflies Tuesday when they hit the practice field with Head Coach Joe Gilmartin and Assistant Coach Bill Piva.

NORTH KINGSTOWN -- The North Kingstown public schools open Sept. 6. Among the changes for he 2016-2017 school year, the high school students will find a new Academy of Business and Finance with classes in insurance and finance.

Kevin Gormley, head of the career and technical education department, said the classes are open to all the students, but the academy youngsters will have priority.

Also new this year, Schools Supt. Phil Auger told WPRI-12's survey, the North Kingstown schools will look for more opportunities to incorporate blended learning into the curriculum, meaning some instruction is delivered online, in addition to the traditional teacher's lessons.

Turning to sports, the Skippers football team hosts the Injury Games tournament on Friday night. The team's season opener is the following week (Sept. 10) when they face the Moses Brown Quakers in Providence.

Assistant Coach Bill Piva said this is the fifth year he and Head Coach Joe Gilmartin have run the program. They've been successful, but they want more, he said.

"For the last two years, we went out in the first round of the playoffs," he said. "We have loftier goals."

Meanwhile, the high school students may have to deal with some traffic snarls Tuesday morning when school opens.

That's the same day the Hussey Bridge in nearby Wickford shuts down for more repair work, and the detour will send some traffic near the high school.

Here is the link to the schedule for the incoming buses.