Hope Valley Elementary closes as Chariho plans student transition and building review

Hope Valley Elementary School will close at the end of the 2025–26 school year, changing the elementary-school landscape for families in Hope Valley and beginning a separate public discussion over the future of the school building at 15 Thelma Drive.

The Chariho Regional School District has documented the closure as part of a long-term transition away from Hope Valley Elementary. The school is identified as Hope Valley Elementary, 15 Thelma Drive, Hope Valley, RI 02832.

For students and parents, the immediate effect is the end of elementary instruction at the Hope Valley facility after the current school year. The approved records do not identify a confirmed receiving-school assignment for all affected students, and they do not provide exact enrollment, transportation or staffing figures.

District transition

Chariho serves three member towns: Charlestown, Richmond and Hopkinton. The district’s June 2025 e-newsletter stated that Hope Valley Elementary would close at the end of the current school year as part of a long-term transition.

The closure is a school-facilities decision as well as an education change. Families will need to follow the district’s transition process for information about where students will attend school next, but no complete assignment plan was located in the approved source material.

Hopkinton seeks public input

The Town of Hopkinton sought resident input regarding the closure in an official announcement published May 5, 2026. That outreach places the future of the building and site in a broader local discussion involving residents and town officials.

A Rhode Island Executive Office of Housing document dated Dec. 1, 2025, lists Hope Valley Elementary among school properties considered in a housing-related context. The listing indicates a potential transition or redevelopment context; it does not establish that the building has been approved for conversion to housing.

What remains undecided

No final disposition, sale price, reuse plan or confirmed conversion has been identified in the approved records. The next known step is public and governmental consideration of possible reuse, sale, conversion or another disposition of the property.

That process could determine what happens to a prominent public building after the school closes, but the available records do not establish which option will be chosen. For now, the verified change is the school’s planned closure at the end of the 2025–26 school year and Chariho’s transition away from the facility.