Answers and a plan are needed

Posted 5/28/15

It could turn into a circus, but not the kind the community can benefit from when the City Council reviews the mayor’s school budget tonight beginning at 5:30 at City Hall.

The School Committee …

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Answers and a plan are needed

Posted

It could turn into a circus, but not the kind the community can benefit from when the City Council reviews the mayor’s school budget tonight beginning at 5:30 at City Hall.

The School Committee has requested an additional $6.9 million in city funding. Mayor Scott Avedisian proposes level funding schools at $159.5 million.

The schools’ request for more funding is a perennial phenomenon and we would expect the familiar arguments that the educational program will suffer dire consequences unless more money is forthcoming. There may even be threats of eliminating programs, including such hot buttons as music and athletics.

But that pales in comparison to the multiple issues the School Department faces and where a budget discussion could lead.

There’s no escaping that school costs are linked to a system that has an excess of aging buildings that are costly to maintain and operate at less than capacity. The decline in student enrollment doesn’t come as a surprise. As early as the mid 1980s school administrators talked of consolidating schools at the elementary and secondary levels and, in fact, a proposal to combine Gorton and Aldrich Junior High Schools at Vets High was suggested then.

A School Committee study group advanced that same plan more than a year ago. The committee balked at the plan and hired outside consultants that now find the city has eight to ten too many schools.

Surely those findings and the savings that could be realized if the committee acted to close one or more schools this year will be a part of the budget discussion. The School Committee should have an outline of how it intends to address this issue and what that could mean to the budget.

What we fear is that the budget hearing could evolve into an inquisition. This is not to suggest questions shouldn’t be asked.

On the top of this list is how the committee is handling the selection of a superintendent. Thus far the process has been conducted in executive session and from what we are told, the field of prospects narrowed to two candidates. Votes taken in those closed sessions have not been reported, as required by law, feeding rumors and generating distrust among the council, the very group the committee is appealing to for added financial assistance.

Seeding distrust of the school administration’s ability to manage the system is the handling of an incident where a Gorton science teacher drew a penis on the arm of one female student and feces on another. The incident only came to light when the teacher was indicted for first and second degree sexual assault involving a 15-year-old North Kingstown girl.

Appropriately, the committee retained outside counsel to investigate how the administration handled the incident. That report is basically completed, but so far has remained secret. It is not known to what extent the current superintendent knew of the matter and what he did, although three council members and a member of the School Committee are sufficiently troubled as to suggest a “no confidence” vote in the superintendent.

These questions are inexorably linked. If the superintendent, who is reportedly one of the two being considered for the job, failed in handling the Gorton incident, is this the person to be leading our schools? If the committee is leaning toward an outside candidate, as we are lead to believe, how will he get up to speed on what needs to be done to consolidate schools and reduce costs? And what can the schools do to trim its budget without impairing the educational program?

Those are some of the questions.

Knowing that, we hope the committee comes prepared with a plan and answers. To do less invites a public excoriation of a system that deserves better and further divides the community.

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  • davebarry109

    CLOSE THE SCHOOLS ALREADY!!!!!! This is a mess decades in the making. If the stupid citizens of Warwick would wake up and see that the school committee is a failed system, we could lower our taxes, not raise them every year.

    Friday, May 29, 2015 Report this

  • JohnStark

    This noble experiment in government-run education has run it's course. Like virtually all government programs, this one is replete with mindless spending, beaurocrats pointing at one another, and embarrassing results for which no one is ever held accountable. Leadership is nowhere to be found. Enough!!! Privatize the whole damn thing and allow children to attend the school that best meets their needs and not the one to which they are linked as a function of their address. Warwick has become a regional educational laughing stock, spending $18,000 per student. The notion that another $6.9M is going to fix anything is laughable, but entirely in keeping with a failing government program.

    Tuesday, June 2, 2015 Report this