NEWPORT, RI — Administrators, faculty, and students from Newport Public Schools joined U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee, RIDE Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green, Treasurer Seth Magaziner, and other local elected officials, alongside representatives from Gilbane Building Company, Downes Construction, and SLAM to celebrate the official groundbreaking ceremony for the new Rogers High School.

Designed by SLAM to meet the New England Collaborative for High Performance Schools criteria, the new, approximately 166,000-square-foot facility will encompass three floors and integrate existing career and technical education programs currently located on the school campus, including STEM and media design labs, along with cosmetology and culinary centers.

The school will be constructed adjacent to the existing high school, which will remain fully operational and accessible by vehicles and pedestrians during construction. Upon occupancy of the new high school, the existing vacated school facility will be demolished to allow for development of new driveways, parking areas, and landscaped areas.

“We’re so excited to have reached this milestone and mark the official groundbreaking of the new Rogers High School with the City of Newport,” said Steve Duvel, Senior Vice President and Business Unit Leader for Gilbane in Rhode Island. “Our experience as a leading builder of K-12 facilities throughout Rhode Island and the country, coupled with our ‘student and community first’ mindset, empowers us to deliver a new high school that citizens of Newport can truly be proud of.”

Rogers High School is set for completion in 2024.