LETTERS

Falling deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole

Posted 1/23/18

To the Editor: The sad saga of poor leadership by the Warwick School Committee and the Superintendent of Schools continues. The latest travesty is the School Committee’s search for $1.3M to …

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LETTERS

Falling deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole

Posted

To the Editor:
The sad saga of poor leadership by the Warwick School Committee and the Superintendent of Schools continues.
The latest travesty is the School Committee’s search for $1.3M to cover teacher’s retroactive pay. The Warwick Beacon published an article ($1.3M in cuts pegged to fund teacher raises) on the areas where the School Committee recommends cuts. Reading the list, we note that the areas they propose to cut are in teacher and student areas: tutoring services, teacher training and enrichment programs, sports supplies, technology.
This is nonsense. It gives the public the impression that teachers’ greed will result in a reduction in education and educational areas. This approach is one of the oldest techniques used by government entities and some businesses: cut emotionally laden areas that will cause a public uproar. Councilman Ladouceur reference to this as “extortion” is appropriate. We mustn’t be sucked into this sophomoric and transparent PR stunt.
I recently wrote a letter to the editor asking the question: How can the School Committee sign an agreement (for retroactive pay) and agree on a date they couldn’t honor? Now we can add: How can the School Committee sign an agreement they didn’t’ have the funds to honor?
Did the School Committee not realize that retroactive pay would be an issue after two years of no contract? When they entered negations did they not do scenario planning, mapping out possible issues that would likely arise during negations and how they would respond? Apparently not, since Executive Director Ferrucci stated, “the extra money was needed to cover unexpected retroactive pay increases in the new contract.” Unexpected retroactive pay increases - seriously?
It feels like we are in a Lewis Carroll novel slowly falling deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole.
The student population is down in Warwick. School consolidation is an unfortunate reality. But how do we justify increasing administrative costs in this same environment? Thornton is working to make the job of administrators easier while the teachers’ job, the ones actually responsible for providing front line services teaching our children and grandchildren, are made harder. What we see is painfully obvious: poor management, poor execution, poor leadership.
We are poorly led. The School Committee Chairwoman doesn’t seem to realize that signing an agreement she can’t honor or pay for is bizarre at best.
And the Superintendent should be embarrassed to put this list of cuts forward. This list is insulting to all teachers, students, parents, and grandparents.
The only thing dropping faster down this rabbit hole is trust. Without trust progress is impossible. As Einstein was credited with saying, you can’t solve a problem with the same mind that created it. The School Committee Chairwoman and the Superintendent created this problem, we need new minds to solve it.
 Challenging times demand trustworthy, competent and strong leadership. We lack all three.
The only way we can hope to achieve progress is to replace the individuals responsible for creating this problem.
The time for change is now!

Tony Kubica
Warwick

Comments

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  • richardcorrente

    Dear Tony,

    I enjoyed your letter. You couldn't be more right.

    The School Committee (SC) receives $160 million tax-dollars every year (ONE AND A HALF BILLION DOLLARS SINCE 2009). Part of that money is supposed to be held aside for teachers salaries, past, present, and future.

    It wasn't.

    Instead, the SC spent a fortune on a public relations firm, tucked millions away in unnecessary "cash reserve" funds, and hired new SC staff like the "Assistant Principal of Teaching and Learning" and the "Assistant Principal of Climate and Culture".

    Now they want to fund the teachers well-deserved back pay by harming our students. That is the perfect description of the word "extortion".

    The only solution I see is an independent audit from a third party outside source with the results being published in the Warwick Beacon. I have said that now for over three years and today, we should all be demanding it.

    Happy Valentines everyone.

    Rick Corrente

    The Taxpayers Mayor

    Thursday, January 25, 2018 Report this

  • CrickeeRaven

    Mr. Kubica:

    Don't be misled by the fake "mayor," who has not yet corrected the many false statements he has made about the school department, and which he repeats above.

    - "Part of that money is supposed to be held aside for teachers salaries, past, present, and future."

    Here, again, is the verifiable and publicly available information about the FY18 school budget that the fake "mayor" does not read before making such statements: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C2grOY8Maga1eENE63c76T285ZMxFiIS/view

    Page 5 of this document shows that, of $165,753,523.86, $3,347,627.61 is listed as "capital equipment and property," representing 2.01% of the budget. This, apparently, is the "much of" the school budget that he insists should pay for the school renovations currently under discussion.

    The rest of the budget [97.99%] is for salaries and benefits and for meeting state mandates and other legal requirements like paying bonds, funding transportation, covering tuition costs for out-of-district placements, providing fire and building insurance, and other items.

    - "Instead, the SC spent a fortune on a public relations firm, tucked millions away in unnecessary "cash reserve" funds, and hired new SC staff like the 'Assistant Principal of Teaching and Learning' and the 'Assistant Principal of Climate and Culture'."

    The facts are: Those two school administrator positions [not "SC staff"] are not new, as explained by Supt. Thornton; the PR budget is $150,000; and a cash reserve us required under current accounting standards to preserve the fiscal health of the school department, meaning they are not "unnecessary."

    - "The only solution I see is an independent audit from a third party outside source..."

    The third-party independent auditor for the city is Parmelee, Poirier & Associates LLP, as shown here in the audited city financial report for FY2016: https://www.warwickri.gov/sites/warwickri/files/uploads/cafr_06.30.16.pdf

    According to Anthony Ferrucci, Parmelee, Poirier & Associates LLP is the same firm that audits the school department's budget. In fact, in June, 2017, according to a local news website: "School Committee member David Testa asked Ferrucci who the schools’ auditor was, and if the auditor was reasonably considered a third party. Ferrucci said the firm is Parmelee, Poirier & Associates and that the firm is a third party auditor."

    https://warwickpost.com/schools-report-191000-surplus-for-2016-announce-31-teacher-layoffs/

    Happy 271 days until the fake "mayor" suffers another election defeat.

    Wednesday, February 7, 2018 Report this

  • Thecaptain

    NAME SICK DAYS TAKEN AMOUNT PAID OVERPAYMENT

    ALSFELD WILLIAM 8 13.05 4.05

    ANDERSEN, ERIK 4 14.61 2.61

    ANDERSON , BRIAN 4 15.00 3

    Friday, July 20, 2018 Report this