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During the council presentation, the council said they wanted the additional funds to go to Books, Computers and Sports. Well which is it... Books, Computers or Sports? The answer to the question is, the money will go to keeping Gorton Jr High School open, to keep the school open cost approximately $1.1 Million according to reports. Multiple members of the City Council, including City Council President Travis and Councilperson Vella Wilkinson appeared before the School Committee demanding they keep Gorton open so a long term plan could be formed. I believe Travis's exact words were, "Blah Blah Blah, Gorton Good, Blah Blah Blah, School Administration Very Bad, Blah blah blah, Vote Travis Next Election", to which she received great applause. It was purely political. This is how I remember it.

The School Committee voted to keep the school open for another year to plan and in doing so also put the programs of the students in jeopardy. Without adequate additional funding programs will need to be cut. The cost of keeping the Jr High school open another year will far exceed the $432,000 in additional funds provided to the school in this budget. If a city council member bothered to look at any of the last several years of school budgets, they would know that the cost of a set of new books alone exceeds $437,000. So, maybe in Warwick imaginary city council land, $437,000 pay for books, computers and sports but in the real world, it doesn't pay for squat.

Sincerely, Patrick Maloney

From: Council approves budget, now schools face cuts

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