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Mr. Scott, Warwick, like many other communities uses NESDEC for their demographic data. Historically, their margin of error has been approximately 1.5% - in other words very accurate. The District has all live birth data as well as the numbers of kids from the city that are enrolled in private/parochial schools at all grade levels, so they have a good handle on the school age population of the city from now through the next 10 years. With respect to the bus ride times, there are state laws that govern that and that should not be an issue. I cringe at the term 'supersize' junior high school. Only in RI can a junior high with roughly 800 students be considered 'super sized'. There are other, higher performing districts that have that amount (Barrington) and more (Coventry). While your experience may have been one where Radnor Township saw population growth, Warwick has little buildable land, airport expansion stands to take another couple hundred homes in addition to the hundreds they've already taken, and RI is one of just a couple of states that is losing population. There is no baby boom, or population explosion on the horizon here. Lastly, the disruption you mention is overblown, in my view. Cranston students attending some of their elementary schools are split from their classmates when they go to junior high and then some of those same students are split from their classmates again when they go to high school. Kids are incredibly resilient, I know because I was one of those Cranston kids and me and my friends were 'no worse for the wear'. The bottom line is that Warwick's school population has declined by roughly 2500 kids since 1999 and will decline another 1000+ in the next 10 years; it has more buildings than it needs; and it's paying the price for not addressing these issues earlier.

From: Look for creative ways to save our schools

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