Toll Gate graduation still set for June 3

By TYGER ALLEN
Posted 2/25/20

By TYGER ALLEN Toll Gate High classes have resumed following a flood the morning of Saturday, Feb. 8. Shortly after the water was mopped up, Superintendent Philip Thornton requested a waiver to the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) to allow the

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Toll Gate graduation still set for June 3

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Toll Gate High classes have resumed following a flood the morning of Saturday, Feb. 8. Shortly after the water was mopped up, Superintendent Philip Thornton requested a waiver to the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) to allow the five days of missed classes to be counted toward their 180 days since each student has access to Google Classroom through their Chromebooks. During the school closure, teachers held classes online.

On Wednesday, RIDE granted two days of classes to count toward their required total number. Thornton said school administrators would meet to determine any changes to the academic calendar. 

On Friday, Thornton said that he has a recommended revision to the schedule from Principal Candace Caluori and will look for it to be passed at the next School Committee meeting on March 3.

The suggestion is to move the school year back three days for Toll Gate’s underclassmen, meaning school would end on June 19 instead of June 16. Exams would also be pushed back three days.

Since seniors are required to attend 171 days, the class of 2020 would come in on March 20 for their Senior Project and have that count as a school day. Seniors would also come in on June 2, which was originally scheduled to be their first day out of classes. On June 3 graduation rehearsal would be held in the morning followed by classes. As scheduled, graduation would take place on June 3 at 6 p.m. at the Knight Campus fieldhouse.

“High school seniors should graduate on time,” Thornton said.

The interior of the lower Toll Gate building now has new tiles, which were installed a few days before the school reopened on Thursday. A contracted abatement company removed the old ones because the flooding filled in the cracks, pushing them up and exposing asbestos. Also, as of Friday afternoon art and technology classrooms were being put back together with desks and chairs. Caluori said that art and technology classes have been held in the auditorium and that teachers have been recording attendance of their students. She assured that all students were still attending class even though some rooms were not set up yet. 

“Nobody’s wandering around the building,” Caluori said.

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