At Hope Valley Elementary, School’s Out Forever

By Cynthia Drummond for BRVCA

June 21st 2025

HOPE VALLEY -- For the children, Wednesday was exciting; the last day of school and the entire summer to look forward to, a dance party, and a final send-off, with police cars and fire trucks.

Teachers and staff were trying their best to enjoy the party, but it was impossible to ignore the fact that Hope Valley Elementary School was closing forever.

Why is the School Closing?

Built in 1935, Hope Valley Elementary School, which is in the Chariho Regional School District, is one of two elementary schools in Hopkinton. There was significant opposition to the  proposal to close the school, which, in many ways, has been the center of the rural community. But the old school required expensive upgrades and repairs. Enrollment was also declining.

At a workshop on Feb. 25 2025, members of the Chariho School Committee voted to close the school, reducing the proposed budget by $875,000.

In September, the Hope Valley students will attend the three remaining elementary schools, usually the schools closest to where they live.

The school building will be returned to the Town of Hopkinton and it is not clear what, if anything, the town intends to do with it.

The Hope Valley School Community

Asked what made Hope Valley School special, teachers and staff agreed that the school fostered a strong sense of belonging.

Richard Finlaw, who was Hope Valley’s Principal in the 1990s, commuted every day from Swansea, Mass. He made one final trip on Wednesday.

“This was a community school for the people in Hope Valley, and it was a family – parents and everybody,” he said. “It wasn’t so big that you didn’t know anybody. I always worked in small schools all my life, and this place was the pinnacle of my career. It was anything and everything anybody would want for a school, fantastic staff, fantastic parents, the kids were great.”

Patricia Ciullo, now retired, taught at Hope Valley for 32 years. Like Finlaw, she returned for the last day, as did Frances Smith, a paraprofessional who retired last year.

“Mr. Finlaw was a team player,” Smith recalled. “When there were issues in the building, his door was always open. He would listen to everybody’s issues and then we would al, as a team, figure out how to go about it, and that’s what he was known for.”

Math specialist Kayla Irving said she would miss what she described as a “family feel.”

“I feel like there’s a very unique feeling. I really feel like that’s the only way to describe it,” she said.

School secretary Donna Sunderland, who has worked at Hope Valley for eight years, stood near the door as preparations for the final dismissal got underway.

“It’s a very mixed emotional day, happy that school’s over, but unfortunate that the school’s closing,” she said. “It breaks my heart.”

The district’s preschool will continue until August, but the last day for teachers and staff will be Friday, a day Sunderland said she was not looking forward to.

“Today is going to be emotional, saying goodbye to the children. Friday will be emotional because that’s our last day together, as a family,” she said.

Jeffrey Scanapieco, the Principal at Ashaway Elementary School, has also been serving as Principal at Hope Valley school for the past eight months.

Scanapieco replaced Giuseppe “Joe” Gencarelli, who left Hope Valley school after more than 13 years to become the Principal at the Chariho Middle School.

Asked what was so special about Hope Valley school, Scanapieco said,

“It’s a tight-knit community. I think that that translates across many areas, the students, the families and the staff themselves. They work great together and they’ve been together for a long time, and it’s hard when everyone has to go to different places. I do understand that, but I do want to celebrate all the wonderful things that have been done here and I think everyone deserves it.”

Hope Valley school wasn’t large, and it was located in a village within the town of Hopkinton, but its academic achievements were notable. The school was recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in 2011 as a Blue Ribbon School and commended in 2015, 2016 and 2017 by the Rhode Island Department of Education.

“Academically, it’s been a strong school,” Scanapieco said. “They have won a Blue Ribbon, they have been designated a  four- star, five-star school, and they have a lot to celebrate. And, I think it’ll be passed on as the staff and students move on to other schools. It’s not going to be forgotten.”

The Children

As the adults reminisced, the students were outside in the school yard, enjoying the last-day-of-school party.

Wearing his new sunglasses, a gift to all the children from the PTO, 8-year-old Joe Roland was enjoying the bubbles, balloons, lemonade and snacks, but said he still felt a bit sad.

“I just really don’t want the school to close, because it has the best teachers ever,” he said.

Charlotte LeClaire and Hope Neilson, who just completed second grade, said they would miss Hope Valley school, but they were happy that they would be attending Richmond school together in the fall.

Superintendent of Schools Gina Picard admitted that she, too, had mixed emotions.

“It’s sad, because any time you close a school, there’s memories that are attached, but I also know that every time a door closes, a window opens and I know that the spirit of Hope Valley is going to live on, because it’s within the  students and staff,” she said. “We are excited to welcome everybody into the other elementary schools, but this is where I think we would want to work with the town and think through, once we actually officially close, because we still have Pre-K, that we think about the best way for the community, the families, to really have an opportunity to think about the best way to remember Hope Valley’s history here.”

The send-off ended with a procession of police cars and fire trucks, with full lights and sirens.