Monday, May 20, 2013
Eva-Marie Mancuso, the state’s new Board of Education chair, uses courtroom demeanor to try to convince angry teachers and nervous parents that change is necessary.
Eva-Marie Mancuso enjoys a lively debate but is clear about one thing: When it comes to educating Rhode Island’s children, the status quo is not an option. At a recent Q&A session in East Greenwich, the state’s new Board of Education chair, sparred with state Sen. James Sheehan (D-NK, Narr.) over teacher evaluations, cajoled teachers to work with the state, and tried to reassure at least one parent that using passage of a test as a graduation requirement is the right move. The forum, organized by the EG Democratic Town Committee, was held at EG’s Town Hall, the former Kent County Courthouse. The setting suited Mancuso, a personal injury lawyer. Although the new Board of Education for the first time combines all levels of public education …
Sunday, May 19, 2013
EGHS students with disabilities attended EG's prom Friday together with some students from EG and La Salle.
Things are changing in the way students with intellectual disabilities experience high school. Case in point – last Friday night, five such students attended the East Greenwich High School prom without their parents or other adults as chaperones. Instead, they went with high school dates, just like all the other students at the prom. The scene unfolded as it was in backyards all across East Greenwich Friday afternoon, with impossibly lovely young women in bright-colored dresses and impeccably dressed young men in black formal wear smiling for endless photos. It was the work of two students from East Greenwich – one from La Salle and one from EGHS – who were committed to the Best Buddies program and the newer Unified sports program. Best…
Saturday, May 18, 2013
WPRI talks to a few teens and drug abuse counselor Bob Houghtaling about misuse of prescription drugs.
Teens abusing alcohol – that's the typical picture. But EG drug counselor Bob Houghtaling has been sounding the alarm for years now that misuse of prescription drugs is equally, if not more, dangerous. This week, WPRI visited East Greenwich and talked with Houghtaling and some EGHS students about the issue. "This is something that has caught people by surprise," Houghtaling said. WPRI reported that over the past 10 years, Houghtaling and others have reported an uptick in the abuse of medications like Adderall and Ritalin for Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity disorders. However, it's the prescription pain killers most often found in a parent's medicine cabinet, like oxyContin, percocet, zicodin and codeine, that rank as most popular …
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Citizens Who Care has produced a video featuring a recent EGHS grad, the police chief and a former state police officer, all discussing why it's important to make good choices.
The East Greenwich High School prom takes place tomorrow night at the Crown Plaza, but it's what happens before and, particularly, after the prom that a new video is focusing on. Citizens Who Care recently put together a video featuring EGHS alum Ethan Zink, EG Police Chief Tom Coyle, and retired State Police Lt. Kevin Hopkins – all of them talk about the importance of making the right decision in circumstances where it can be tempting to do otherwise. The video is posted here. Check it out! And be safe.
Friday, May 10, 2013
A rigorous after-school program will be offered in the fall.
It's been more than a year since parents were invited to take a survey on foreign language offerings at East Greenwich schools. The results showed wide interest in the addition of Mandarin Chinese. Now, East Greenwich High School is poised to offer an after-school course in Mandarin in the fall. Parent Chris Perrett was behind the survey and she has done much of the legwork required in setting up the Mandarin course. She found that Middlebury College, together with Yale University, has a web-based course that's run by Middlebury Online. She then contacted URI to see if they had any students capable of helping teach such a course. Her work paid off. URI has assigned a native-Mandarin speaker to meet with EGHS students twice a week next …
Thursday, May 9, 2013
School Committee officials won't commit to paying half the cost; Town Council members appear ready to proceed regardless.
Police Chief Tom Coyle wants a second school resource officer for the EG schools and, after a discussion Monday night, it looks like he will get it, whether or not the schools want to help pay for it. "I would support just proceeding with this. It’s worth doing for enhanced security," said Council President Michael Isaacs at a meeting of School Committee and Town Council members at Swift Community Center Monday night. The cost of adding a second school resource officer is budgeted at $60,000 for 2014, but that cost would rise in 2015, since the fiscal year begins July 1 and any new officer wouldn't start until sometime after that. "The full amount would not hit this budget mainly because of timing," said Isaacs. The cost of the first …
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
"Enjoy who you are right now and the tremendous accomplishment we are here to celebrate," is just one of them.
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Wednesday, May 8
East Greenwich's New England Institute of Technology held its 72nd commencement ceremony on Sunday, at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence. More than 1,000 students received Associate in Science, Bachelor of Science, or Master of Science degrees. Basketball legend, author, actor, award-winning film producer and community activist Kareem Abdul-Jabbar delivered the commencement address and was awarded an honorary doctor of humane letters during the ceremony. Among his pieces of advice, Abdul-Jabbar said, “Enjoy who you are right now and the tremendous accomplishment we are here to celebrate.” For more on the New England Tech graduation, click here for a Providence Journal article Here are the East Greenwich students who …
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
The magazine's 2013 rankings came out Monday.
On mobile? You can see interactive map here. Newsweek has ranked East Greenwich High School as the 755th high school in the country. The school's ranking improved from 824 last year. Portsmouth High School (#1244) and Lincoln High School (#1640) were the only other Rhode Island high schools in the top 2,000. For its rankings, Newsweek sent out a survey to more than 5,000 high schools in the U.S., with about 2,500 schools responding in 2013. You can see the details about East Greenwich High School's ranking, and every other ranked high school by clicking on the markers in the interactive map above. The survey scores were then weighted and calculated using several criteria including on-time graduation and college acceptance rates. In …
Thursday, May 2, 2013
They won the state Science Olympiad contest in April for the sixth time in eight years.
Our Lady of Mercy School's Science Olympiad team has done it again – for the sixth time in the past eight years, it has won the Rhode Island Science Olympiad middle school championship. But it's more than that. The OLM team dominated the competition, placing fourth or higher in 21 out of the 23 events. The team, made up of 20 sixth, seventh and eighth grade students, will travel to Dayton, Ohio, for the national competition, which begins May 18. With 8 gold, 3 silver, and 4 bronze medals on the state level, OLM placed fourth or higher in 21 out of 23 events and medaled (placed third or better) in 15 events. "I am extremely proud of this team and all of their hard work throughout the year in preparation for the state Science Olympiad …
Monday, April 29, 2013
EG boys lacrosse team advances record to 8-0 in Division II, 8-2 overall
The Avenger boy’s kicked off a big week of lacrosse when they hosted the Wheeler Warriors last Tuesday. They went on to win that game and two others, against Providence Country Day and Mount St. Charles, by week's end. During the game Tuesday, EG’s offense dominated through the first quarter with goals by Captain Matt Cruise (2), Ryan Trinque (2), Collin Waitkun, and Captain Connor Finn. The Avengers continued with aggressive play through the second quarter with goals by Captain Sam Feinberg, Ben Contreras, Jack Payette, Waitkun (2), Chris Wright, and another by Trinque leaving the score 13-0 at halftime. The Warriors only goal was scored by Augustus Eleftherio early in the fourth quarter. EG came back with additional goals by Colin …
Winston Smith
12:21 am on Tuesday, May 21, 2013
It is so great that after so long, someone in RI is willing to stand up and say our standards have to be higher! Methodology aside, how can anyone say with a straight face that we can make progress by lowering the bar? Losing Deborah Gist would be a huge loss to this state, and its kids' future. more ›