Warwick School committee approves over $1 million in contract & bid awards

The Warwick School Committee approved $866,290.57 in contract awards for a wide variety of endeavors during Tuesday night’s meeting at Toll Gate High School. They also approved $415,823.23 in bid awards, covering projects including new fire alarm systems at Norwood and Holliman Elementary Schools, lead testing throughout the district and asbestos abatement at Vets.

Certain approved awards drew open criticism from committee member Karen Bachus, and from members of the audience, such as a $60,000 allotment towards continuing the services of communications and public relations specialist, Justin Martin, of Martin & Associates, who gets paid $70 per hour but does not have a defined schedule.

“I think if the superintendent wants a communications consultant…then he can take it out of his own salary,” said Bachus, earning a burst of applause from the audience.

Bachus attempted to make a motion to cut funding for the communications specialist, and the continued funding of the development of the school’s website, and spend the resulting $120,000 on hiring back elementary level guidance counselors who were laid off. Her motion failed.

Members of the school committee, including David Testa, said that they still saw value in Martin’s position. One resident who spoke during public comment, however, did not agree, saying that “brand management techniques” had no place in a public school district, and that “the best PR is doing things the right way.”

Other awards of note that were approved included:

A bid award of $246,570 to Encore Fire Protection, of Pawtucket, to install new fire alarm systems at Norwood and Holliman Elementary Schools. This was the second attempt going to bid, as the first bid was estimated to cost around $539,000.

A bid award of $51,852 to M-F Athletic Co., of Cranston, to supply new track and field materials, including new hurdles and landing mats for pole vault and high jumping.

l $70,329 was approved from the summer contingency fund to perform asbestos abatement at Vets. There remains $121,783.10 in the contingency fund.

l $23,850 for indoor NEST turf at Pilgrim High School for the athletics department.

l Money to purchase new modern language textbooks for the district, which will not exceed $150,000.

l New kindergarten and first grade classroom furniture for $9,052.92.

l $30,449.30 for 70 new desktop computers, and $18,558.75 for replacement parts for existing Chromebooks.

l $131,736 to renew the student information system program license, which is a program used to track student information, enrollment, class schedules, health records, conduct records and more.

Director of buildings and grounds, Steve Gothberg, gave a short presentation on the status of three major construction projects – the renovation of Warwick Veterans Junior High School, the new café at the Career Technical Center and the relocation of administrative staff to Gorton – and reported that all programs are on track to be completed on time and on budget.

“The changes that are being made at these schools with the money that we have is phenomenal,” said committee member Eugene Nadeau.

Parents reiterate concerns about principal

Later, during public comments, Corey Smith, who one month ago represented a petition of parents seeking the removal of Cedar Hill Elementary School principal, Dr. Colleen Mercurio, expressed his disappointment that nothing tangible had come of the administration’s investigation into the allegations against Mercurio.

“I'm disappointed with your level of interest in mop heads, air conditioners and only financial matters, versus matters of public safety and the true wellbeing of our children,” Smith said. “There are now two active investigations by the federal Office for Civil Rights, and to my knowledge no one who came forward as part of the 70 [originals signers of the petition] has recanted their position. To the contrary this group has grown.”

The petition has since moved online and has 191 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon. Smith said that more stories from parents alleging misconduct on the part of Mercurio have surfaced since the petition was first publicized, and that, “should another child or parent come forward with another incident of bullying or abuse, you will also be held accountable.”

Plea for teamwork

David Testa utilized his final comments of the night to try and unite a school district that is going through a fair share of adversity, including the ongoing contract dispute, serious allegations against an elementary school principal and budgetary issues that have necessitated difficult decisions each year.

“I just want to remind everyone that everything is relative,” Testa said, pointing out that Cranston had to make significant cuts to their elementary and middle school music program, that Barrington had to make cuts to programming and their sports and that East Greenwich was “in middle of a budget mess.”

Testa said that Warwick schools are perennially hamstrung by their unorthodox commitment to paying a large amount of money through their budget to pay off a sizable debt service, which amounts to $1.6 million this year and largely stems from a $25 million bond that was entered into in 2009. Testa likened the agreement to a landlord forcing their tenants to pay for a broken boiler in a rented home.

“I mention this because, despite all the fiscal limitations that we face because of level funding we kept out music programs at the elementary and middle schools, we've added middle school sports and we're adding AP classes,” Testa said, adding that the $1.6 million could purchase 16 full time positions, or 9,000 Chromebooks, air conditioning at all schools or a 2 percent raise in teachers’ salaries.

“Everyone on this stage takes the job seriously. Do we have our differences? Absolutely. But we do take the job seriously,” Testa said. “I truly believe we can improve our schools...and rebuild trust, but we all need to be committed to that. Because of [the bond issue] there’s no choice.”