The #MiddletownRI Town Council appoints six members to the Academic Integration Advisory Commission, a group studying the potential to regionalize schools in some form with the City of Newport.
MIDDLETOWN APPOINTS SIX TO REGIONALIZATION PANEL
MIDDLETOWN, RI (FEBRUARY 2, 2026) – The Town Council has appointed six members to the Academic Integration Advisory Commission.
The move Monday night marks the latest step towards asking voters to weigh in on whether Newport and Middletown should combine school districts — in one form or another.
Named to the AIAC were: Justin Buffman, Aimee Caminiti, Virginia Curtis, School Committee Chair Greg Huet, Kasey Kilbride and Town Councilor Barbara VonVillas.
Following a lengthy discussion about the merits of the proposal, the council held off on setting another meeting with Newport until March after meeting with the School Committee.
The council has also not made a formal decision on whether to put this iteration of regionalization before voters on Election Day, Nov. 3, saying there were a myriad questions before getting to that phase.
“We’re not going to be constricted by any timelines and we’ll always do what’s right for the Town of Middletown,” council President Paul M. Rodrigues said. “There’s still a lot of unknowns, still a lot of financial unknowns for us…and we need to get that information to be able to make those decisions. We can’t make decisions without the information.”
Going back to at least the 1980s, Middletown and Newport have flirted with the idea of merging school districts.
Declining student counts, saving money and providing a better education for every student have been cited as reasons behind the proposal historically.
In November 2022, Middletown voters overwhelmingly approved plans to spend up to $235 million to build three new schools in town at an 80 percent state reimbursement, a new regional school board and combined school administration, among other benefits.
However, Newport residents rejected a similar proposal by less than 400 votes, sending the entire concept to its latest defeat. It was the last time regionalization was put before voters in each community.
The Newport City Council asked to restart the regionalization conversation in August 2025 by requesting Middletown to take the following actions:
- Appointing local representatives to an Academic Integration Advisory Commission.
- Participating in a meeting between the Middletown Town Council and Newport City Council to talk about creating an endowment fund to improve educational opportunities with additional state reimbursement money generated from regionalization.
- Holding a regionalization summit between the councils and School Committees from each community with the Rhode Island Department of Education to go over what regionalization could look like for both communities.
Since then, the councils from each community have met for preliminary discussions about regionalization, what it might look like and how everyone could benefit.
Throughout the talks, the emphasis has not been on savings, but how student outcomes could improve across the board.
That’s not to say that everyone in Middletown is supportive of reopening regionalization, which sparked a wide-ranging conversation Monday night.
Saying Middletown wouldn’t get nearly the same financial return on its investment in November 2022, local leaders have also said they like the direction the school district under the leadership of Superintendent Billy Niemeyer.
Previously, the Middletown School Committee voted unanimously to not engage in the regionalization discussion and prohibited Niemeyer and his staff from doing so as well. The school board leadership has since somewhat backed off that position, saying they could change course if a number of conditions were met.
Document Link: https://mdl.town/NYCU-Appoint
About Middletown
The Town of Middletown is a vibrant municipality located on Aquidneck Island, known for its scenic beauty, historic landmarks, diverse economy and strong sense of community. For more information about all we have to offer, visit MiddletownRI.gov online.
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