As election season heats up, a new hat is being tossed into the ring for the two citywide School Committee citywide seats on the November ballot..

Sean Wiggins, president of Warwick North Little League, announced he would be campaigning for an at-large seat on the School Committee. With two seats on the ballot, a primary would be held should more than five candidates declare.

The two current at-large seats for the School Committee are held by David Testa and Karen Bachus, the committee’s two longest-tenured members. The most recent election for the two citywide spots in 2020 saw Testa and Bachus grab a combined 97% of the votes, with 3% of the votes tallied write-ins.

Wiggins first became interested in the School Committee in 2020, and said that seeing School Committee members in the community more was something that made him think about running.

“Seeing these changes and getting the bond [for new high schools] passed really invigorated me to want to get involved,” Wiggins said. “If there’s anything in the city that you can do where you can have an impact on kids, it’s the School Committee, right?”

As Warwick North president, though, Wiggins already has experience making decisions for a program that has slightly over 300 children, something that he said has shown him the value of decision-making.

He considered running in 2022, but said the timing “wasn’t right.”.

Wiggins is the father of three children- ages 20, 16 and 8- who are a sophomore at the University of Rhode Island, a sophomore at Pilgrim High School and a second-grader at Hoxsie Elementary School. His youngest has an IEP (individualized education plan), which Wiggins said he is grateful for and has given him a passion towards special education.

Helping improve the quality of special education in Warwick is a central pillar of Wiggins’ platform.

“I truly believe that our resources, both elementary and secondary, are very, very important, [as is] maintaining them and making them better,” Wiggins said. “I’m incredibly thankful for all the people that help my son get through his day every day.”

Other priorities that Wiggins said he would have if elected are making sure that Warwick Public Schools retained children living in the city, as well as making sure that Warwick’s new high schools are built with as few disruptions to the students currently learning at Pilgrim and Toll Gate as possible.

One of Wiggins’ coworkers at Warwick North is Shaun Galligan, the School Committee’s chair and a safety officer on their Board of Governors. Wiggins said that thus far, the only conversation he’s had with Galligan regarding the committee was about how much time he’s had to commit to it.

“He said it can be like Little League,” Wiggins said. “Sometimes Little League can bother you all day, there’s things you deal with, but a lot of it is just getting information and reading it, taking it in and making whatever decision you feel is the right one and in the best interests of everyone, whether it’s for the teachers or for the students, for the TAs, for the WISE union.”

Wiggins said that he would be talking more with Galligan and Vice Chair Leah Hazelwood  a friend of his wife’s- for advice about the role he’s seeking.

Outside of his campaign and work with Warwick North, Wiggins is a senior trademark specialist within Energizer’s legal department.

Running a citywide campaign, Wiggins said, will require him to make some contacts in the southern parts of the city- something that he said he has yet to do but is looking forward to.

As the campaign plays out over the next six months, Wiggins said that he doesn’t want to run a divisive campaign, and is looking forward to doing whatever he can to help out the students of Warwick.

“My reasoning for this is not to dislodge anyone or upset anyone- I’m running for myself and I’m running for an opportunity,” Wiggins said. “I’m not saying I’m the next coming of anything, I just want to be able to give back.”

Testa running again, Bachus still yet to decide

Testa confirmed to the Beacon on Thursday that he intends to seek reelection.

A main reasons he gave is he wants to make sure he sees the construction of the new high schools through. Testa is also a member of the School Building Committee, which he has served on since 2019 and been chair of since 2021.

“I’ve been involved with them and all the infrastructure projects from the beginning,” Testa said. “I want to be around- I’ll hopefully be around for them. There’s a whole bunch of stuff going on in the district that I’m interested to see where we are four years from now.”

In addition, Testa mentioned continuing to improve academic achievement in the district as a main priority that he would have for the next four years if reelected.

Bachus did not respond to Beacon request for comment.