hard deadlines

Leonard Brown House, photo: Friends of the Brown House.

Portsmouth's first "Heritage Day" will be held Saturday, Sept. 20 at the Leonard Brown House in Glen Farm, and the organizers promise an afternoon of "telling stories of our past to guide our future" at this free, family event.

Three local groups — Preserve Portsmouth, the Portsmouth Historical Society, and
the Portsmouth Community Theatre — are collaborating on the event, which will be held from 1-3pm (The rain date is Sunday, September 21.) Here's what the organizers plan:

Discover Portsmouth’s agrarian roots in a beautiful historic family setting. Period games and activities hosted by Preserve Portsmouth will be offered for the little ones. Portsmouth Community Theatre actors will dress in period costumes and share stories of historical figures who lived and worked in the Glen area of Portsmouth. Members of the Portsmouth Historical Society will teach you how to “card wool” and wash with a washboard.

Those who attend the event will receive walking guides to Glen Farm and a driving tour of historical sites in Portsmouth.

The Leonard Brown House is located at historic Glen Farm, Linden Lane off Rt.138 (East Main Rd), Portsmouth RI.

For additional information, or to join the efforts, contact Gloria Schmidt at Schmidtgh@gmail.com phone 401-683-0787.

Editorial note: Written from a press release.

Click to embiggen. Image: Town web site

The Town of Portsmouth, RI, has issued an RFP for vendors to manage their 153-acre, 123-site campground, located within the Melville Recreation Area, according to documents posted on the town web site. A pre-proposal meeting is set for September 10, and the deadline for bids is October 3.

As described in the Town's RFP, the Melville Pond Campground is located on the west side of Portsmouth, and features a nine-pond waterway, hardwood and pine forest, substantial marsh areas and hiking trails leading to the Narragansett Bay. Melville Campground currently is open Apri1 1 to November 1. The campground contains 123 sites, of which 32 have water, electric, and sewer hook ups for RVs, 34 have water and electric for RVs. Campground includes camp office and store, pavilion, and a single family home that will be available to vendor year round.

The Campground has yearly gross revenues of about $220k, according to Town documents, and has operated in the black in 4 out of the last 5 years. Among the key criteria identified in the RFP is "an Operations Plan that clearly demonstrates the proposer’s plan to provide services and maintain facilities including a capital plan."

Read the full RFP on the Town web site, PortsmouthRI.com.

The Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) and The Learning Accelerator (TLA), a nonprofit organization supporting the implementation of high-quality blended learning, today announced an ambitious initiative to make Rhode Island the first fully “blended-learning state” in the nation. Blended learning is the combination of traditional, face-­to-­face teaching with elements of personalized, online, competency­-based education that leads to improved student engagement and achievement.

“Through our laws and regulations on digital learning, our Innovation Powered by Technology Model School grants, and our Wireless Classroom Initiative, Rhode Island demonstrates our state’s unwavering commitment when it comes to using technology to advance teaching and learning,” said Rhode Island Board of Education Chair Eva-Marie Mancuso. “We are very grateful that The Learning Accelerator has recognized our commitment and will work with us to take digital learning to the next level in our state.”

“This partnership with The Learning Accelerator recognizes and furthers our commitment to basing instruction on the needs of every individual student,” added Deborah Gist, Rhode Island Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education. “Digital learning in all of its forms provides, literally, unlimited educational resources for every classroom, allows our schools to design flexible instruction schedules, and enables students and teachers to work closely together at a pace that is right for each student. With these funds, we will continue our commitment to innovation powered by technology.”

The partnership will initially engage in two major initiatives:

• Development of a an integrated Five-Year Strategic Plan for Rhode Island that will position blended learning as an engine for system change, and
• Creation of a communications campaign intended to fully accelerate blended learning throughout the state.

“States and state actors create conditions—beyond policy— that are critical to high-quality blended schools and innovation,” said Lisa Duty, Partner at The Learning Accelerator. “Together we are pursuing system-level changes and identifying the resources and critical shifts necessary to lay the foundation for more personalized, blended learning.”

Both TLA and RIDE agree that pursuing a student-centered vision of learning and transformative outcomes, with explicit goals in mind, is key. States will need to wrestle with the problems they’re trying to solve, and get clearer about operationalizing the relationship between blended learning — still in development — and their desired outcomes.

Editorial note: Written from a press release.

After ten years at the helm of Aquidneck Island’s regional planning commission, Tina Dolen has resigned as executive director to take another leadership position. At AIPC, Dolen spearheaded numerous regional projects that received state and federal recognition and acclaim, including the West Side Master Plan (2005) and the Aquidneck Island Multi-Modal Transportation Plan (2011). During her tenure, Dolen brought over $3 million to Portsmouth, Middletown and Newport for regional projects.

While serving AIPC and the three municipalities of Aquidneck Island, Dolen received four fellowships to Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, awarded by the Hassenfeld Family Foundation and the Rhode Island Foundation.

In preparation for the release of surplus Navy property, she brought representatives from the Navy; the state of Rhode Island; and Portsmouth, Middletown, and Newport to a weeklong residency course at Harvard’s Kennedy School to build partnerships for municipal acquisition of 225 acres of surplus Navy property. Through the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, Dolen helped acquire funding to support the municipalities through the planning and implementation phases. Final disposition of the former Navy properties has not yet been announced by the BRAC offices in Philadelphia.

“It was a pleasure to work with our local, state and federal leaders, AIPC’s generous funders and the many citizens who helped us develop projects to improve the quality of life on Aquidneck Island.” said Dolen. “Moving to Aquidneck Island in 2004 to assume the position of AIPC executive director was a wonderful decision. I’m looking forward to continuing to serve the citizens of Newport and the island.”

Ray Berberick, CEO of Small Business Solutions from Portsmouth and an AIPC Board member stated: “Tina’s work on the West Side Master Plan, the proposed bike path, and the transportation study demonstrate her commitment and her expertise,” commented Berberick. “She laid a road map for us with many exciting plans to make common sense improvements that will benefit all islanders.”

Gladys Lavine, of Middletown, serving her second term on the AIPC Board, said, "The AIPC will miss Tina as she moves on to new challenges. Tina’s been a vital spirit for the Commission. The bike trail, the island-wide traffic study, the initiation of the BRAC process and more are the results of her tireless efforts. Tina’s vision of what can be achieved when the three island communities work together will remain a guiding principle of AIPC."

Editorial note: Written from a press release.