By TESSA ROY Toll Gate and Pilgrim students took their frustrations with the Warwick School Committee to a higher level last Wednesday when they walked out of their classes to picket the administration building on Warwick Avenue. The move garnered
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Toll Gate and Pilgrim students took their frustrations with the Warwick School Committee to a higher level last Wednesday when they walked out of their classes to picket the administration building on Warwick Avenue. The move garnered attention across social media and caught the eye of many news organizations.
After a motion to investigate the special education program made by School Committee Member Karen Bachus was not seconded by her fellow members at the December 13 meeting, many in attendance were audibly annoyed, including students. Bachus claimed the RIDE “review” of special education that’s set to occur won’t suffice and suggested attorney Vincent Ragosta perform an “investigation” instead. Previously, the City Council had unanimously passed a resolution urging the school department to retain an outside investigation.
The rest of the School Committee did not second Bachus’s motion and said they didn’t have enough proof to believe RIDE’s review would not be adequate.
The walkout happened a week later. Bachus said that though she wished the students had protested after school, she understood they did what they did because they cared about their fellow students and the issues facing them.
“I think it was very courageous of them,” she said. “If anyone knows what’s going on, it’s the kids because they’re living it every day.”
Toll Gate senior Zach Colon said he came up with the idea for a walkout with a few friends and sent out a detailed text message to people he knew at the schools. The text then “spread like wildfire” and more than 100 students showed up, some with signs and chants prepared. Most of the signs carried by picketers regarded the special education situation, but others were in support of teacher contracts (Colon emphasized that teachers did not encourage or participate in the walkout in any way).
Social media had mixed reactions. Some supported the students for speaking up while others claimed they were just looking for a way to skip class. Colon believed the majority of people there were there for the right reasons.
“I know a few people walked out and just went home. I feel like that’s expected with anything like that,” he said. “But there were over 100 people there at one point, and I could tell just by the excitement and the energy that they cared, too.”
The students also faced a slew of online criticism for safety reasons – that they were protesting outside the administration building on busy Warwick Avenue was troubling for some. But Colon insisted everyone was safe and organized. School resource officers were also there, he said.
“I had a megaphone so everyone could hear me and I made sure people were off the sidewalk,” he said. “I must have said it every three minutes. I told them to not even lean over the sidewalk.”
Colon knew he’d be facing repercussions (for leaving the building, not for protesting) – at one point he said he was told he’d be suspended, but that the punishment was downgraded to Friday detention. However, he said he hasn’t received any form of punishment yet.
School Committee Vice Chair Eugene Nadeau said that shouldn’t continue to be the case. The students should face some sort of repercussion, and if they wanted to protest, they shouldn’t have done it by walking out of class, he said, also echoing some of the safety concerns parents had expressed.
“For [Colon] to do something like that was, to me, an outrageous act of disobedience to our school system,” he said. Nadeau also said he is “proud of the way we have handled, taught and respected our IEP students.”
Though it’s not clear yet if or when there will be one, Colon seemed willing to take whatever reprimand given. He’s spent plenty of time with special education students both in school and throughout his life – his mother works in special education and he was “always brought up knowing [special education students] were people too,” he said. Though he said he’s in AP and honors classes that don’t have a lot of students with IEPs, he has spoken to friends who are in classes with many IEPs.
“You can just see that it affects everyone,” he said of these classes.
In terms of why he thinks administrators don’t support an investigation as opposed to the review, Colon said, “I think they’re afraid of what the answer would be if they did an investigation.”
In a statement, Superintendent Philip Thornton said Warwick’s Special Education Department is currently implementing practices and procedures that should have been implemented “ten years ago.”
“We are implementing what are fundamentally recognized across the state and across the country as best practices in special education services,” he said. “It is unfortunate that a small group of folks is encouraging others to protest programs that are specifically designed to provide all our students with the best teaching and learning we can provide.”
After the December 13 School Committee meeting, Thornton had said he “welcomed” a RIDE review and said that they were the ones to do the review as they are the “legal and regulatory overseer” on special education.
Colon said he currently has no other protest plans aside from continuing to bring up the issue at School Committee meetings, but that this walkout did its job.
“I believe it got more than enough attention that it greatly needed. Now the School Committee has heard from parents, teachers and students,” he said. “It's in their hands now.”
The Toll Gate School Resource officer declined to comment and directed the Beacon to school administration. The Pilgrim School Resource officer and School Committee Chair Beth Furtado could not be reached for comment.
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richardcorrente
I met Zach Colon at the Mayoral debate. I was very impressed with him as an articulate, intelligent student and referred to him several times afterwards as a "future leader of our city".
Zach, you can now disregard the word "future". Your leadership in this event was both courageous and telling. The School Committee needs to open their eyes to these matters and no one has been able to accomplish that until now. Your demonstration of civil disobedience was respectful, peaceful, and delivered a much needed message that must to be heard. The School Committee NEEDS TO LISTEN TO THE NEEDS OF THE STUDENTS!
Gene Nadeau should embrace your message, not condemn it. If he and the other members of the School Committee were actually doing the job the taxpayers were paying them to do, the number of students would not continue to decline causing Warwick to continue closing schools.Gene says he is "proud of the was we have handled, taught and respected our IEP students".
Gene! You are wrong! The proof is in the ever-increasing decline of students! The remaining students don't agree with you. The parents don't agree with you. The teachers don't agree with you. The teachers union doesn't agree with you. City Council members don't agree with you. I don't agree with you. Except for a couple of the members of the School Committee, NO ONE AGREES WITH YOU! Come on Gene! You're smarter and more compassionate than that! LISTEN TO THE NEEDS OF THE STUDENTS!
Listen to Zach Colon!
Happy New Year to all.
Rick Corrente
Friday, December 30, 2016 Report this
Thecaptain
Once again Mr. Corrente stands on the wrong side of the matter in an effort to gain union favor, but in doing so, also publicly endorses poor behavior and sets a poor example. Once again, having not performed any systematic research of the issue, not knowing the financial ramifications to the taxpayer, not being able to speak intelligently based on facts and financials of the matter, Mr. Corrente ignores the impact to the taxpayer. The fact of the matter is that presently the school system is in shambles, the buildings are deplorable, the teachers average 80 - 100 absentees daily, the teachers benefit package is among the highest in the country, grades are in the bottom 6 in the country, unfunded liabilities in the city are unsustainable, yet Mr. Corrente feels as though we need to offer a better compensation package. His ideology defies any semblance of business logic. Just as it did on each occasion that he commented on the WFD.
The one thing that we can quantify is that there is some sense of continuity with Mr. Corrente's public opinion business logic and his own personal financial business logic.
On Nov. 17th 2016, after avoiding property taxes and living free of taxes and mortgage at 177 Grand View Ave, your motion for temporary restraining order to evict, heard by Judge Rubine was denied. On Nov. 22, 2016 a warrant was granted and issued of Writ of Execution for Trespass and Eviction to force-ably remove you from the property that you have not paid taxes on in more that 2 years.
I am appalled by the idea that an individual who is unable to manage his own personal finances believes that he can manage the finances of a city, comment on fiscal matters in the absence of reading a single document, and attempt to move forward politically. Being unable to make a documented statement of fact on any issue or more simply, on any line item in a budget, and resorting to pandering is unconscionable. Now he applauds the actions of children who clearly do not understand the issue in its entirety and, AGAIN, makes a personal attack on Mr. Nadeau.
Rick, get your personal issues in order, pay some long overdue taxes, then try to educate yourself on such matters before you speak.
Friday, December 30, 2016 Report this
WAquilante
The Captain, are you saying that Warwick Schools are among the 6th worst in the COUNTRY?? Please elaborate. I'm not sure how all these Warwick graduates are getting into college and finding jobs.
Friday, December 30, 2016 Report this
Thecaptain
WA,
As far as getting into colleges, there is no surprise that the vast amount of kids are going to college. However, the vast amount of kids and families are also sucked into to these colleges not based upon grades and scholarships, but based on taking out loans that they have little chance of re-paying. However, having said that, I am referring (as I have many times) to the Rhode Island Board of Education Rhode Island Report Card which was printed in October of 2013 which indicated that the 3 Warwick high schools, out of 40 in the state, are ranked 28th, 30th, and 32nd in the state. With an average graduating math proficiency of 17% and a graduating science proficiency of 11%. Not my numbers, these statistics were produced by the state.
I would like to see the city of Warwick breakdown the numbers on scholarship awards for the 3 high schools individually. As a comparison, last year Hendricken students received just over $25 million in scholarships for the senior class. It is no secret that the Warwick school system has been in decay for a very long time and continues the downward spiral. Thats why i had to pay $120K to put 2 kids thru private high school. Unfortunately, people like Mr. Corrente want to politicize the school issues and every other issue without offering any solutions. Same goes with the administration.
The other fact of the matter is that if we look across the border to MA, we see that virtually every city is building new schools. Having been involved with more than a dozen of these major construction projects in the last 18 months, I am able to identify the differences in how problems are solved and schools are built across the border vs here in Warwick.
I would be pleased if you could offer information, or if Mr. Corrente can, as to what business anywhere would survive with far too many employees, far too many managers, decaying buildings and equipment, massive increases in overhead such as unfunded liabilities, wage increases, increased benefit packages, less revenue and less customers. Could you name any business that would survive those parameters? Probably not. That is the Warwick School system current state of affairs.
The problem is that the unions have been allowed to hijack this community in the name of political pandering. Mr. Corrente is a perfect example of that. Nice guy, fair fisherman, but no fiscal savvy. He bashes everyone on the administration side, (maybe rightly so on some issues) but has been unable to offer any cognitive response when asked for solutions. Case in point his performance at the mayoral debate. Unprepared, unread, unstudied, and the same goes with the school system issue. Now, there is no doubt that if we erected tents with outhouses and an abacus for the math classes, Warwick would still turn out a handful of exceptional students. But clearly, in this time frame, the teachers end product is not very impressive, however, their compensation is more than adequate. In a perfect world everyone would get pay increases every year or with every contract. Too bad our veterans and elderly on Social Security dont get the same treatment.
I will ask you this and hope you can answer it truthfully. Have you every looked a the city's balance sheet and the actuarial forecast of the future liabilities that the city will have based upon its promises to the unions as of this date? The numbers dont work and they are unsustainable. Hence to my bigger point, THERE WILL NEVER BE REVENUE TO BUILD A NEW SCHOOL AND FIX THE EDUCATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE. NEVER !! The math just does not lie, and I for one am not in favor of floating more bonds to repair failing buildings.
Regards
Saturday, December 31, 2016 Report this
Reality
Colon a leader....you have to be kidding. I seen Mr.Colon at school meetings with the Backus cult showing total disrespect for anyone who disagrees with their progressive philosophy. You need ear plugs to drown out their screams.
Since when do we glorify Backus and company with their total lack of decorum at public meetings. Mr. Colon and his pals are known to scream at political candidates as the walk neighborhoods meeting with residents. An act of a true leader....in what country?
If Colon is the future in Warwick...it's time to leave.
Sunday, January 1, 2017 Report this
patientman
As often happens good intentions have unintended consequences. Being the only school district in the state using weighting for special ed students has led to having a disproportionate number of IEP students in the district. These students cost a lot more to educate than their classmates. Parents, wanting the best opportunities for their students move to where their needs will be best met. Warwick should offer the same level of service as the rest of the state. Not anything beyond that. If IEP weighting is the right thing in Warwick then it is the right thing in other districts. If you want to have a thriving housing market, you want to attract families with AP classes and gifted learning programs. IEP students simply cost more to educate than other students. In a district as poor as Warwick's the burden was simply to much. Getting in line with the rest of the state is necessary. Special Education advocates should work with local GA members to make weighting IEP students state law. As it stands now Warwick is attracting families with IEP students from around the state. The city and schools are losing population. We need more families with gifted students and fewer with special needs. It may seem harsh, it's not. It's math.
Tuesday, January 3, 2017 Report this