Town and school officials in Middletown this week had an eye toward the future for education in Middletown, with school regionalization talks getting underway on two fronts, a passionate pitch made to Little Compton to educate its youth at Middletown High School, budget talks already getting underway ahead of a foreseen crisis year, and the optimistic examples of local youths demonstrated with the Gaudet Middle School sixth graders' collection of more than 1,000 food items for the Martin Luther King Center in Newport.

Also this week was the pre-sentencing hearing for a former Middletown attorney who had been arrested in 2009 and convicted of diverting more than $500,000 in real estate closing funds for personal use.

But in the spirit of the holiday season, we're leading this week's top stories list on a positive note:

1. Gaudet Students Score A+ on Giving Lesson

By Don Mosher 

"Lessons at Gaudet Middle School don't always involve math, science or textbooks. Sometimes the lessons involve much more than that. Carol Lopes, a Grade 6 Social Studies teacher at the middle school, decided to focus on a lesson to teach the students that they can make a difference in their own community..."

2. School Regionalization Discussed on Two Fronts

By Angela Lemire 

"Given the uncertainties when it comes to state and federal funding to local schools, "a moving target" was a phrase frequently tossed around Monday morning when the ad-hoc group of the Aquidneck Island Schools/ Municipal Advisory Committee met at the Middletown Public Schools Administration Offices to continue discussions on possibly regionalizing schools that began earlier last year. At these still early stages of discussions--where no one has yet agreed on whether to support any form of regionalization proposal--the group of municipal council members, school committee representatives, planners, and superintendents from Middletown, Newport and Portsmouth had met in hopes of taking a closer look at some of the financial aspects involved with the issue..."

3. Looming School Funding Crisis Sparks Early Budget Cycle

By Angela Lemire 

"Early and engaging: This describes the Middletown Public Schools Department strategy to face perhaps its most challenging budget year ahead. Coming off a six-hour workshop with town leaders and administrators Wednesday, the School Committee on Thursday night laid out the district's plan for facing down whatever budget for the 2011-2012 year emerges over the next few months...."

4. Middletown Faculty and Students Make Case for Little Compton

By Angela Lemire 

"In a nearly two-hour pitch session Tuesday night, Middletown made its case to educate Little Compton's high school students again beginning in 2012, with school officials enthusiastically presenting slide after slide of glimpses into scholastic life at Middletown High School that covered everything from AP classes to virtual high school classes, from discipline statistics to NECAP scores, from the championship football team to the award-winning robotics teams, and more. Middletown School officials also offered the Little Compton School Committee a non-voting seat on the Middletown School Committee to help ensure Little Compton has a greater voice in Middletown. Some of the most compelling insights came from the students themselves..."

5. Former Real Estate Attorney to Be Sentenced for $500K in Diversions

By Angela Lemire 

"A former Middletown attorney arrested in 2009 and convicted of diverting more than $500,000 in real estate closing funds for personal use will be sentenced at Superior Court in Newport on Jan. 10, 2011. The sentencing for Geoffrey Reagan, 52, of 233 Tuckerman Ave., Middletown, was scheduled for Jan. 10, 2011, at Thursday's sentencing hearing conducted by Judge Melanie Wilk Thunberg. The 10-year sentence includes credit for jail time already served and restitution in the amount of $520,295.46, among other punishments. On June 5, 2009, the Rhode Island State Police Financial Crimes Unit arrested Regan on three counts of unlawful appropriation, according to a press release issued at the time...."