Report Inappropriate Comments

David Testa, transparency is the problem! Budget presentations should not be surprises to the city council and tax-payers each spring… extra $12 million here or $7.7 million here. That’s why more oversight is needed by the city council.

I think you may have missed the whole point of the comment, none of the stuff mentioned is “bad”, but it has an opportunity cost. Adding administrators, in a consolidation year, will have an impact on paying the retro to teachers down the road. Adding Chromebooks and Promethean boards, at the numbers Thornton did, will have an impact on fixing major facility issues (like the stage at Pilgrim). Using old bond money to redo “full” auditoriums and entryways takes away the opportunity to use that bond money to fix roofs and fire systems.

It’s a classic case of caviar tastes on a tuna fish budget. Going 1 to 1 when we can purchase carts (like other districts Warwick’s size), putting in a full middle school sports program when an intramural program will do just fine, or renovating and adding air conditioning to Gorton when you had an administration building on Warwick Ave.

I admit I do not know what Mutual Link is or have any idea about curriculum costs but money is money. If the curriculum needs to be purchased now, something else has to go, we can disagree on what that is. Thornton, through school committee, cuts student activities and sports (because that gets people to picket at city hall), I say take a closer look at administration and technology.

I think a “hatred” of Phil Thornton is the wrong word. A better word would be “inadequate”. I have relatives in education, in other parts of the state where he was superintendent, and Phil Thornton is seen as a poor leader and administrator in many circles. They predicted everything that would happen correctly, right down to constant budget issues. Don’t drink the kool-aid, I think you significantly overestimate Phil Thornton’s popularity in Warwick and look at his performance with rose-colored glasses.

The last two springs have been very frustrating from a taxpayer and parent standpoint and deserve some criticism. Consolidation of schools should equal consolidation of budget, that’s how it works everywhere else.