Warwick teachers ratcheted up demands that the school administration negotiate a contract and fix consolidation of secondary schools before acting to consolidate elementary schools. On Monday, the Warwick Teachers Union staged an informational picketing at the school administration building on Warwick Avenue.

They charge the administration has “botched” secondary school consolidation and violated the terms of the contract that expired in August 2015. The union contends the contract remains in force until a new one is reached. More than 120 teachers, candidates for public office as well as a few parents and their children showed up to support the union the day before Warwick’s primaries.

Meanwhile, the school administration showed no intention of deviating with plans to consolidate elementary schools. The first of three public forums will be held Oct. 6 at Vets Junior High School. Superintendent Philip Thornton said last week he believed the committee would be able to vote on a plan as early as November.

“I personally, as a school committee member, was horrified when I found out that they wanted to do this so quickly, because the secondary process is a complete disaster in my mind,” said School Committee member Karen Bachus, WTU sign in hand. “I was angry that [my motion to table elementary consolidation] didn’t go through because we have so many issues to iron out at the secondary level. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread, as Alexander Pope said.”

At last Tuesday’s School Committee meeting, after the public had already expressed disappointment with secondary school consolidation, a subcommittee announced plans to close John Wickes and Randall Holden Elementary Schools and re-purpose Drum Rock Early Childhood Center at John Brown Francis Elementary School. The Warwick Area Career and Technical Center would use Drum Rock. The move drew virulent criticisms during public comment. In a release Monday, WTU president Darlene Netcoh called the plans “an elaborate scheme” to be carried out “despite their inability to properly consolidate the secondary schools for the start of this year.”

“Superintendent Philip Thornton and the Warwick School Committee need to immediately rectify conditions in the secondary schools, postpone any attempt to consolidate the elementary schools, and drop all costly legal proceedings and instead negotiate a fair and educationally sound contract with the Warwick Teachers Union,” she said in a statement.

“Thornton and the school committee are wasting the taxpayers’ money on their poor, ill-conceived decisions about consolidation and on their numerous attorney’s fees because they would rather litigate and arbitrate than negotiate.”

At the picketing, she elaborated, saying Thornton was “sucking up to the mayor” by showing him shiny gyms and nice auditoriums” rather than the incomplete classrooms. She said Mayor Avedisian told WTU he would meet with them but has yet to do so.

“I want to sit down with [the mayor] and show him the rosters. I want to take him into the schools and show him the parts that Phil Thornton has not shown him,” Netcoh said. “I want to show him the conditions that the students are under right now, especially at Pilgrim and Vets.”

Netcoh also claimed the administration doesn’t care to solve a contract because they “enjoy violating it.” She cited an alleged violation of waiting clauses, which make students with special requirements count as an extra student to keep class numbers lower, and challenged Thornton and Special Services Director Jennifer Connolly to teach an intensive academics class.

Ian Simcoe, whose daughter Carolyn attends Holden School, joined the picketing teachers.

“We should be a model school for the rest of the city,” she said of Holden. She said the school has the highest test scores in the city. Simcoe acknowledged the school had a relatively small enrollment at 209 students, but the school is a “family” and could easily accommodate more students.

In an e-mail response to Netcoh, Thornton said consolidation plans had been in the works for some time and that the school community knew it would be eventually necessary.

“Consolidation is not new; the community has known this had to happen for several years. We’ve heard from many, many people who are quite pleased with the first stages of this process,” he said. “There have been a few minor issues at the start of school – some of these issues pop up every year at the beginning of school. In less than a week we have addressed most of them. As items are brought to our attention, we continue to address each and every item.”

In terms of teacher contracts, Thornton said he and other school administrators are “just as eager to finalize a new contract” as WTU. “We continue to meet with the union anywhere, anytime, to negotiate a new contract. Just a week ago, we met for four hours with the WTU’s leadership and will continue to do so.”

Thornton also responded that court rulings have largely been in the administration’s favor.

“We’ve gone to court on several issues where a timely decision was needed to move our schools forward. In each of these instances, the court has ruled in our favor,” he said.

School Committee Vice Chair Eugene Nadeau observed the picketing and said he spoke with teachers there to hear their concerns. Though he isn’t sure if the committee will be swayed to delay consolidation, he said it “needs” to happen considering Warwick’s decline in enrollment. In contract talks, he said the School Committee has met with the WTU numerous times and that they will do so until a fair contract agreement has been made.

“We don’t want this disruption. We’ll meet another 50 times if it takes,” he said.

Netcoh is prepared to continue talks as well and said the teachers only have the best interests of their students in mind.

“That’s why we got into this profession,” she said. “We love kids and want the next generation to be better than the previous one and to succeed and do great things in the world.”