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Dear North Smithfield Families and Staff,
At noon today the Governor announced that all Rhode Island Public Schools will transition to Distance Learning for the next two weeks with a potential return date of Monday, April 6th at the earliest. North Smithfield Schools has prepared for this and is ready to continue instruction and support our students and families during this time.
All NSPS staff are fully committed to continuing instruction and to do the work that is needed to support our students and families during these challenging conditions. The past few weeks have seen among our teachers, staff, and administrators a release of creative energies and ideas as to how we can best serve our students in this evolving situation. We do, however, ask for your patience and cooperation as we walk this path together. We will keep communications open and we assure you that we will be here for our students. Please, everyone remain healthy. Michael St. Jean, Superintendent Dear North Smithfield Families and Staff,
Before we enter the uncharted waters next week and beyond, I want to share a timeline and extend my thanks and appreciation to everyone Timeline North Smithfield has been ready for this for a long time. Four years ago North Smithfield Schools began to refine our infrastructure, increase investments in educational technology, expand and streamline our resources, services, and applications, and focus our professional development to support Any Time, Any Place, Any Path, Any Pace Learning Two years ago North Smithfield Schools submitted an application along with comprehensive virtual instruction plans to the Rhode Island Department of Education in support of new legislation to offset snow days. We rescinded that application when it became apparent the Department of Education was not ready to approve any plans. However it did not change the fact that North Smithfield was ready. On Tuesday, in anticipation of a possible school closing, we re-opened our plan from two years ago and revised to accommodate emergency school closures for an extended amount of time. North Smithfield was ready. On Wednesday, our principals met with our department heads, team leaders, grade-level leaders and teachers to notify them to start ramping up for virtual learning possibilities. On Thursday, the Commissioner of Education sent an email to superintendents to submit virtual and distant learning plans by the following Friday. We did not wait a week. An hour later, North Smithfield submitted a comprehensive 30 page plan.. At 12:30pm on Friday during an emergency conference call with the Rhode Island Department of Health, we learned the Governor was going to announce schools are to close starting Monday. The purpose of the closure was to limit exposure to the Coronavirus and allow districts time to work on virtual instruction plans if school closures needed to be extended. By 1:00pm on Friday, as the rest of the State was learning of the imminent school closure, North Smithfield teachers had already prepared learning packets, issued students additional textbooks and workbooks, and distributed additional chromebooks to send home with our students at the end of the day. These physical materials will supplement the extensive online systems and services that our teachers and students have been using routinely over many years. North Smithfield was, is, and will be ready if needed. Thank you’s and recognitions I want to expand on my early thank you’s to our custodial staff for their diligent cleaning and disinfecting, and to our nurses for their knowledge, practice, and support of our students and families. Additional thanks goes out to Clare Arnold and Tracey Nangle and the dozens of teachers who developed our original Virtual Learning Application and plans. Thank you to our Technology Department who, even though many of our Chromebooks are now over 5 years old and in desperate need of replacing, have kept our equipment, networking, communications, and technical infrastructure finely tuned and at the ready. I thank our School Committee who have done so much to improve student learning opportunities, expand access, and made 1:1 computing a reality by continuously advocating for our students and helping to hold onto funds to push our programs and plans forward. I thank our principals and teachers for the work they did to prepare our schools for closure even before we knew we would close. I want to give special thanks and recognition to our senior employees, especially those teachers, instructional assistants, administrative assistants, and custodians whose long careers and age places them in a higher risk category yet they still came to work everyday to teach, support our students, run our offices, and clean and disinfect our classrooms. Your dedication to North Smithfield and our students is exemplary. And finally I thank our students and parents and the community of North Smithfield. Even as anxiety around COVID-19 increased every day, there remained a sense cooperation and community even as it became increasingly difficult to hold onto the calm. We will see where the coming weeks take us, but I am confident that North Smithfield will be okay due to our combined talents, capacity, and mutual support. Michael St. Jean, Superintendent Dear North Smithfield Families and Staff,
The Governor has announced that April Vacation Week, originally scheduled for April 13-17th, is being moved to next week, March 16-20th. The following week, March 23rd - 27th MAY become a distant learning week. North Smithfield Public Schools has submitted extensive plans to the Rhode Island Department of Education for continuation of instruction at home in the event of a school or district closing. As part of these plans, today students will be bringing home a mix of instructional packets, workbooks, and textbooks depending on their grade level. These materials are for use only IF the Governor, or the DOH, calls for a week of distance learning. For our older students, again, only IF March 23-27th becomes a distant learning week, assignments will be posted to Google Classroom. Although not ideal, North Smithfield Schools have made strategic investments in instructional technology and resources, infrastructure, curriculum, and professional development to seamlessly connect school to home. Distant Learning and Virtual Instruction is not a new concept to our faculty, our families, or our students, it is routine practice. North Smithfield Public Schools can ensure that learning can happen anytime, anywhere, and anyplace. We understand there will be many questions and concerns. North Smithfield Schools, along with the Rhode Island Departments of Education and Health will continue to post additional information as it becomes available. Michael St. Jean Superintendent Dear North Smithfield Families and Staff,
With the rapidly unfolding news and concerns about the spread of the Coronavirus, I wanted to follow up on my messages from the previous weeks with some additional information:
Below are reminders and requests from our Nurses (who have been absolutely wonderful with their attention, knowledge, and communications with our staff, students, and families):
We remind everyone to take the same measures that healthcare providers recommend to prevent the spread of flu and other similar viruses:
Rhode Island Department of Health COVID-19
CDC Talking to Children about COVID-19: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/talking-with-children.html We will continue to share information and practices with the North Smithfield school community as we work together to ensure that our students, families, and staff remain healthy and safe. Michael St. Jean, Superintendent Dear North Smithfield Families and Staff,
With the rapidly unfolding news and concerns about the spread of the Coronavirus, I wanted to follow up on my message from last week with some additional information and assurances that we are receiving regular updates from the RI Departments of Health and Education, as well as the CDC, and we continue to follow their guidance and recommendations. We pride ourselves on all the renovations and improvements you see throughout our schools. This pride includes cleanliness. Our custodians have expanded their already thorough cleaning procedures to include more extensive disinfecting practices such as:
It is important that we all remain informed and that we work together to prevent the spread of diseases. We remind everyone to take the same measures that healthcare providers recommend to prevent the spread of flu and other similar viruses:
Attached is a letter from the Rhode Island Departments of Health and Education with additional information. We will continue to share information and practices with the North Smithfield school community as we work together to ensure that our students, families, and staff remain healthy and safe. Michael St. Jean, Superintendent The North Smithfield Public Schools offers age and developmentally appropriate behavioral and social/emotional supports, resources, and initiatives including:
District
North Smithfield Elementary School:
North Smithfield Middle School:
North Smithfield High School:
Congratulations North Smithfield! Today the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) released the 2019 results of school accountability where every school in the state was assessed across multiple measures and rated on a 5-star system. Based on 18-19 data, NSES, Halliwell, NSMS, and NSHS all earned 4 out of 5 stars and, with the exception of a measure or two, were close to 5-star overall ratings. We are proud of our students, teachers, families and school community, a community dedicated to excellence. Included below are snapshots illustrating where our schools stand across the state and across each measure. Full results are at https://reportcard.ride.ri.gov/201819/DistrictSnapshot…       With the publishing of the statewide RICAS results, we can now assess our student’s performance for the 18-19 school year to affect changes in 19-20 and beyond.
North Smithfield remains strong in English Language Arts as we consistently rank near the top in the State. Math is problematic state-wide. In comparison to the rest of the state, North Smithfield presents itself admirably in Mathematics rankings. However, The RICAS is a very rigorous series of assessments and, even though we are well above the state average for the % of students Meeting or Exceeding the Expectations in both ELA and Mathematics, there is still much work to be done. We attribute our strength and growth to the instruction and systems of supports developed between our classroom teachers and our ELA and math Interventionists. Analyzing the Data: While this summary data presents a snapshot of where we stand in the state, it is the supporting data we are most excited about. With the full range of data provided by these assessments, we are better able to identify our strengths and weaknesses across multiple standards and skills, at the school level, grade level, and even at the individual student level. Our teachers are analyzing the data and adjusting the curriculum and instruction to ensure continuous improvement. |
AuthorMichael St. Jean, Archives
November 2025
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