WW Teachers’ Alliance Takes Legal Action Against an Event that Has Not Yet Taken Place

Is this even legally feasible?

A formal complaint has been filed against the school department and the Town of West Warwick by Donald Vanasse, President of the West Warwick Teachers’ Alliance, citing an impending failure to pay accrued wages and salaries.

He has reason to believe that there will be a failure to pay the wages or salaries to WWTA members on or about June 25, 2009, Vanasse wrote in a May 22 letter addressed to Sandara M. Powell, Director of the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training/Labor Standards Unit.

This potential situation has arisen because the West Warwck Town Council has chosen to observe their state mandated role of setting the amount of funding that the school department will receive

His last direction from the council, [Town Manager James] Thomas said, is that he is not to authorize any more than the amount approved at the Financial Town Meeting in 2008

while the West Warwick School Committee has tried to expand their own role beyond writing a budget based upon a funding amount set by the Town Council.

“As we sit right now, the town doesn’t have the ability to give the school a loan for the $3.3 million that they’re asking for,” Thomas said. “It’s not the town’s responsibility. The citizens of the town on May 20, 2008 made it very clear to the superintendent that they were giving him $49 million and some change. And the school committee and [Superintendent Kenneth Sheehan] have elected to spend $53 million and some change. The responsibility rests on the superintendent to find that money.”