Teacher Contract Ratification Scheduled
The Chariho School Committee is scheduled to meet this Thursday (10/29), 6PM, Middle School Library, to ratify the teacher’s contract. The expectation was that “ground rules” made accommodation for the secret negotiations by having the contract available for public review for 30 days before the ratification vote. It appears that this will not occur. As it stands now, your only opportunity to hear about the new contract and make your feeling known will be at this meeting.
RTC Supports Town Approval of Teacher Contracts
Tonight the Richmond Town Council unanimously voted to support a request from the City of Warwick that would authorize the Cities and Towns to ratify school teacher contracts.
This would be a great step forward to provide checks and balances to the school committee.
Ricci gets new contract
From the Chariho Times:
Ricci gets new contract
Friday, 01 May 2009
Position now will pay $137,682
By ANDREW MARTIN WOOD RIVER JCT. – One vote was the difference in approving the renewal of Chariho Regional School District superintendent’s contract in a closed-doors session Tuesday night.
A 6-5 vote by the School Committee in favor of Supt. Barry J. Ricci’s $137,682 contract came after more than an hour of discussion in an executive session, which went past the scheduled 7 p.m. start time. The minutes pertaining to the discussion were subsequently sealed.
Voting in favor were chairwoman Holly M. Eaves, vice chairman Robert Petit, William G. Day, Terri Serra, Michelle Cole, and Andrew J. McQuaide; voting against were Georgia Ure, Deborah A. Carney, George M. Abbott, Andrew Polouski, and Richard A. Vecchio.
Ricci’s contract, which runs from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2012, represents a 2 percent increase over his current annual salary. The contract language reads that an above-average evaluation warrants a 4 percent increase while a 2 percent increase comes after an average evaluation.
But this contract specifically states that the 2 percent increase is “not reflective of an average evaluation” and that it is a “voluntary reduction.” It also states that those increases could come in the subsequent years pending written evaluation, which is due by May 1 of each year.
The School Committee then went into a continued closed-doors session after its meeting ended at just after 11 p.m. This one was much shorter, though, and the board revealed its 6-4 vote approving the renewal of Assistant Superintendent Carol Blanchette’s contract. Those minutes were also sealed.
Voting in favor were Eaves, Petit, Day, Serra, Cole, and McQuaide; voting against were Ure, Carney, Abbott, and Polouski. Vecchio left before the vote was taken.
Blanchette’s $120,472 contract reads similarly to Ricci’s. And that salary reflects the amount for 2009-2010 with the contract extending from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2012. Her contract also represents a 2 percent raise over her current salary.
And that raise also “represents a voluntary reduction from 4 percent to 2 percent and is not reflective of an average evaluation,” according to the contract. Because in the coming years, she could receive a 4 percent raise for an above-average evaluation or a 2 percent raise for an average evaluation
Sudden Savings Found At Chariho
The following is reported in the Sunday, April 12, 2009 edition of The Westerly Sun:
Chariho to save $112K on bus costs
By VICTORIA GOFF
Sun Staff Writer
WOOD RIVER JCT. — Transportation costs for three Chariho Regional School District students enrolled in out-of-district special education programs could be down $112,500 next year.
The Chariho Regional School Committee gave preliminary approval Tuesday for the school district to opt out of its contract with Warren-based bus company First Student, but just for students bused to out-of-district schools for special education programs.
The vote was unanimous. Committee members George M. Abbott, of Hopkinton, and Andrew J. Polouski, of Charlestown, were absent. The school district would instead join a state-run transportation program, which is expected to begin Sept. 1 for school districts in southern Rhode Island, according to a March 24 letter to the school district from First Student Region Vice President Jim Flahive.
Currently, two First Student buses cost $156,000 to transport the three students for 180 days, Superintendent Barry J. Ricci said. Under the new state-run service, the school district would be charged $14,500 per student — $43,500 for the three pupils — for the same amount of time. (Emphasis added by Richmond RI News)
Ricci, who still needs to finalize plans, said some students might need to be bused for 50 additional days, if they are enrolled in a lengthier program.
He also noted that the state has yet to implement a policy that would regulate things like walking distances to stops and protocol for snow days.
State lawmakers passed legislation in 2006 requiring the state Department of Education, the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority and the state Office of Statewide Planning to develop statewide transportation for students with special needs who are bused out of their school district. The legislation states that the goal of the program is to reduce costs for local school districts that transport students to the same special education schools as others, and offer shorter bus rides.
Participation in the program had been optional until state lawmakers recently passed a budget-repair bill to close this year’s $357million deficit. The supplemental budget, implemented without the signature of Gov. Donald L. Carcieri, mandates the service for all public school districts, except those that own and operate their own transportation service.
“It’s just a concern that I have that we don’t have a choice on this and these people that may be dissatisfied need to do something other than complain to us,” committee member William G. Day said. “We can complain on their behalf [to the state], but our hands are tied.”
Flahive notified the Chariho committee last month that it could opt out of its contract, which expires in 2011, for transporting the students. However, if the state program should be eliminated, he said Chariho would revert back to its contract with First Student.
This brings to my mind several questions;
- You mean Superintendent Ricci or Finance Director Stanley haven’t know about is prior to this year?
- Why was this never mentioned by anyone in the administration prior to it being mandated by the supplemental budget?
- Why was this not mentioned PRIOR to the budget referendum?
- Was this savings going to be shoved into the surplus for the district after the next fiscal year?
It is no wonder the taxpayers rejected the budget, I hope they continue to reject the budget until this administration and school committee come clean with all of the hidden surpluses and are well within reason with the budget amounts that they have projected. Not until then should anyone from any of the towns vote to pass the any budget put forth from the school committee.
Richmond Budget
According The Westerly Sun, Saturday, April 11, 2009 edition, workshops have been scheduled for the town budget.
Two budget workshops scheduled
By CHRIS KEEGAN
Sun Staff Writer
RICHMOND — The Town Council will host two workshops this month on a proposed, $4.18-million municipal budget that levelfunds salaries for the second year in a row.
The public workshop sessions are scheduled for Tuesday, April 14 and Monday, April 27, at Richmond Town Hall at 7 p.m., according to Town Clerk Tracy Nelson Hay.
Compared to this year’s $4-million municipal budget, the FY 2009-10 proposal represents a $182,090 — or 4.55 percent — increase in spending, and uses $75,000 in education impact fees to offset expenditures.
“Our mantra was ‘level funding at best,’ and that goal has been achieved,” Finance Board Chairman James Trecker wrote in a budget memo the council.
The proposal, however, gives the council $66,028 in contingency funds for wage increases that arise from contract negotiations between the town and the police department’s union, which has yet to secure a work agreement for the coming year. Money has also been set aside to reconfigure staff hours in the town clerk and treasurer’s offices.
In addition, the budget includes funding for two new town positions. The Finance Board set aside $40,000 for a part-time town adminis-trator’s position that could join Town Hall staff as early as the first half of 2010. A $1,500 stipend has also been allocated for a town recreation director, whose pay would be combined the parttime recreation director’s $9,280 salary.
Both positions are envisioned in the town’s charter, which was approved by residents last fall — but has yet to garner approval from the state legislature.
With school spending, the town budget proposal initially totaled $21.71 million. But tri-town voters rejected a $53.32-million Chariho school budget on Tuesday, which will lower Richmond’s projected $17.53-million share to the district.
The Finance Board, which formally handed its budget to the council on Monday night, met 14 times and wrestled with “a variety of difficult challenges as the local and national economies continue to decline,” Trecker said. The group includes members Paul LaCroix,Amy Grzybowski, Mark Merlino and David Cann.
“As we began our work over the winter, we aimed to confront directly the economic realities of the current era and to address them without causing any reduction in town services or personnel,” Trecker wrote. “Our primary purpose from the beginning was to cause no harm to the individuals who work for Richmond, and we are happy to say that we were able to achieve a balanced budget that keeps everyone in place and provides pathways for Richmond to move forward according to the council’s vision.”
The board opted not to use money from the town’s surplus, instead drawing from an account that holds fees collected from developers. The decision leaves the town’s general fund “healthy and able to be tapped if Richmond faces emergencies or budget surprises in the economic downturn,” Trecker noted.
To boost revenues, the five-member group recommended raising rental fees at the town’s community center on the second floor of the Richmond Police Station. “There are substantial expenses against this building, and it seems that the users of its rooms should contribute considerable more to it,” Trecker wrote. “We also discussed but took no formal position on the idea of charging a nominal fee, perhaps $15, for the Transfer Station automobile sticker. Weighted against the cost of private carting, this is insignificant, but the town needs to create revenue streams.”
A final version of the budget will be offered up to residents during the annual Financial Town Meeting in June.
As in the pass, I’m sure public comments will be rather limited during these workshops. We probably won’t be able to get to comment too much until the public hearing for the budget that is usually part of one of the town council meetings. Stay tuned, we’ll let you know what is scheduled and what transpires in the upcoming weeks in regards to the budget.
