June 13, 2012

School Committee to State: Take Over Woonsocket School System

Monique Chartier

So they voted just this evening.

Woonsocket school officials have asked the Rhode Island Department of Education to take control of their schools.

In a meeting Wednesday night, the school committee voted 4 to 1 to draft a letter to Commissioner Gist seeking assistance.

The vote comes after the General Assembly failed to pass a supplemental tax bill that would help fill a $10 million budget deficit.

Incompetence and gross mismanagement on the part of the School Committee (though not all current members) have in large part precipitated the city's likely plunge into receivership. Accordingly, part of me cannot help but wish that the School Comm had taken this vote a good five years ago, especially as this dangerous lack of competence continues to manifest itself even this week in the (in)actions of the Woonsocket school superintendent.

Last week, for example, [Supt. Giovanna] Donoyan said the WED, though already “crucified” by cuts in programs and personnel, could hobble along next year without recalling 42 of the 98 teachers still on layoff.

Yesterday, Donoyan did an about face, saying that all the teachers who were notified of layoffs earlier this year will be needed. But she couldn’t say what they’d be needed for, what schools they’d be assigned to or how much money it was going to cost.

“We can’t seem to get good information,” Commissioner Dina Dutremble, a former business manager for the WED, complained at one point. “We get a lot of stories and analogies. We’re not getting data.”

UPDATE

Such an option might be a non-starter. This morning on the Helen Glover Show, Mayor Fontaine indicated that the Woonsocket School Comm had in the past asked the state to take over their school system and the state's reception to such a proposal was "cool".

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[Supt. Giovanna] Donoyan is a perfect example of the Peter Principle; she has been promoted to a level beyond her competence. So she sits there with a look of smug condescension to compensate for her many inadequacies. How do these clowns get to these positions? Is the labor pool in Ed this poor?

Posted by: Mike678 at June 14, 2012 12:58 PM

What? Didn't the School Committee get the memo that John Ward has a "plan" to solve the City's fiscal mess?

Posted by: Leo at June 14, 2012 10:25 PM

If he could harness the hot air from the Woonsocket Reps in the GA using a wind turbine, Ward could sell the power to National Grid at inflated "green power" rates and balance the budget.

Posted by: Mike678 at June 14, 2012 10:34 PM
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