NEWPORT — Local and state leaders cheered after an elementary school student sliced through the red ribbon with large ceremonial scissors, officially christening the opening of the new addition to Pell Elementary School.

“It feels like such an accomplishment,” City Councilor and School Building Committee member Lynn Underwood Ceglie said. “It wasn’t a difficult project for the building committee because we already had a template, but it’s the space we needed and the welcome center is a nice addition.”

The 12,500 sq. ft. addition to Claiborne Pell Elementary School is the first of the two projects funded through the 2020 School Building Bond to be completed. Although it had originally been planned to open a year later for the Fall 2023 school year, the project was fast-tracked after a series of budget and design setbacks halted progress with the new Rogers High School building.

The $7.4 million expansion to the East wing of the building houses eight classrooms, additional bathrooms and lockers, and a Welcome Center at the main school entrance. The project finished on budget despite rising construction and materials costs early in the design process. 

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In attendance at the event alongside Ceglie was fellow Councilor and Mayor Jeanne Marie Napolitano, Superintendent Colleen Burns Jermain, Pell Elementary Principal Traci Westman, School Building Committee co-chairs Rebecca Bolan and Louisa Boatwright, several members of the School Committee, RI Department of Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green and U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, among others. After the ceremony, parents and officials toured the new addition.

Teal metal cabinet lockers, 188 of them, line the walls of the new addition, complemented by the muted reds, yellows and blues striping the tiles on the walls and floors. Parents Liam and Dorota McDermott ushered their children Marlie and Luke through the halls. This will be Luke’s first year and Marlie’s third at Pell Elementary.

Having grown up in Newport, McDermott said he’s happy his children will be able to attend the larger, newer Pell Elementary School compared to the smaller neighborhood schools of his youth.

“We’re all very excited about the expansion,” Liam McDermott said. 

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The event was not just attended by long-time residents, however. Although parent Jessica Santana and her daughter Harmony Reed had only moved to Newport one year ago, they were equally as excited to see the new building addition.

Reed is headed into the third grade, which has some classrooms inside the new expansion. She pointed out the new wood chips lining the floor of the new playground and that she liked the design of the new Welcome Center.

Both Reed and Santana were impressed at the size of the building, as well.

“I’ve never been in here before, so just in general, it’s a beautiful school,” Santana said. “I like the inspirational quotes. It’s very nice.”

As parents, students and officials roamed the new addition, many poked their heads into Third Grade Teacher Kate O’Neill’s new classroom. O’Neill has worked as a teacher in Newport for 12 years, 10 of which have been at Pell Elementary, so she’s excited to get a fresh start with a brand new classroom.

“I mean, it's been a lot of work to move everything but it’s so nice to have a brand new room, new furniture,” O’Neill said. “I’m excited to start a fresh new school year. It gives me a little refresh in my teaching career.”

O’Neill’s new room has trapezoidal desks with wheels arranged in semi-circles facing toward the front, a screen monitor, two large whiteboards and rounded group tables with extra storage on the bottom. She had been showing her mother-in-law Barbara O’Neill, herself a retired teacher and the 2015 NPS Teacher of the Year award recipient,  the room as people shuffled in and out of the space. Barbara O’Neill shared her daughter-in-law’s excitement about the new space and furniture.

“Change is good,” Barbara O’Neill said. “Change is always good.”

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One of the most anticipated additions included as a part of the new expansion was the Welcome Center next to the main entrance. The window-walled room is designed as a waiting area for parents to pick up students during the school day or as a more private location for family meetings. Christine Arouth, the director of Newport Family & Child Opportunity Zone, said this room can help visiting parents or families transitioning into the school feel more comfortable inside the building.

“It’s something this building has needed,” Arouth said. “In the past, families didn’t have a great place to sit and wait. It was confusing, I think, when families came, where they’re supposed to be. This is going to give a nice opportunity to provide a designated space to feel like it’s for them.”

Parent Christine Radov was equally as excited about the Welcome Center, as she said it will make retrieving her student from school less stressful and difficult.

“(My son is) special needs so he’s in a separate class, and so having to come in and get him was often strenuous because it meant having to wait outside in the corridor,” Radov said. “It was hard, so this is a nice way to help him and help the new guys. It’s nice, I like it.”