It’s been two and a half months since the School Committee approved a Request for Proposals (RFP) to hire an outside consultant to examine the school district and make recommendations as to how to …
This item is available in full to subscribers.
We have recently launched a new and improved website. To continue reading, you will need to either log into your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.
If you are a current print subscriber, you can set up a free website account by clicking here.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
Please log in to continue |
|
It’s been two and a half months since the School Committee approved a Request for Proposals (RFP) to hire an outside consultant to examine the school district and make recommendations as to how to move forward.
The RFP was approved by a 4-1 vote, with committee chairwoman Beth Furtado dissenting, at the committee’s July 15 meeting. Since then, 23 companies of expressed an interest in the role and have requested a copy of the RFP, said Superintendent Richard D’Agostino.
“The RFP has been advertised and mailed out. Twenty-three companies have inquired and requested a package,” he said.
D’Agostino said companies have until Oct. 28 to go through the 17-page RFP document and submit a bid proposal.
“We’re waiting for the returns,” he said, adding that they aren’t usually received until a few days before the due date.
“Once the deadline to submit proposals is up, the school committee will go through the bid packages,” he said. “If 23 companies send in proposals on a 17-page RFP, the bid process could be quite involved.”
D’Agostino said he doesn’t anticipate it being a quick process.
“After the proposals are returned, the school committee will determine a date and time to open the bids and go through the process,” he said. “With a 17-page RFP, there’s a lot of information to be viewed, scrutinized and compared.”
Once a bid has been selected, D’Agostino said the company has 90 days to complete their study and return with the requested information and present their recommendation and findings at a future school committee meeting.
The school committee decided to go the route of hiring an outside consultant instead of following the recommendation of the Long Term Facilities Planning Committee (LTFPC), made up of school officials, city officials, parents and community members, to close Warwick Veterans Memorial High School for a year while it was prepped to become a super junior high school to house students from Gorton and Aldrich junior highs, both of which would be closed, and splitting Vets students between Pilgrim and Toll Gate high schools.
That recommendation was tabled by the school committee when it came up for a vote, in favor of hiring an outside consultant to look at the district as a whole and make recommendations, a move many in the public called for as they felt the LTFPC process was tainted and that a decision made from the start by administration members on the LTFPC had been forced on the rest of the committee members.
After holding two public hearings late last year following the LFTPC recommendation, the school committee unanimously voted to table the matter and hire a consultant during a meeting on Jan. 14 of this year.
The committee set aside $150,000 in the budget to hire a consultant and determined that a sub-committee would be responsible for drawing up the requirements of consultants in the RFP. The RFP committee first met on March 15 to begin that process and presented a recommended draft RFP to the school committee for approval at its July 15 meeting.
1 comment on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
Pmaloneyjr
I was on the school committee from 2008-2012. It was mentioned on Facebook that administration is top heavy and should be cut. I would like to give a response to this comment. It is one that I responded to often while on the committee.
I can only think of one administrator position that could be cut and that is the director of transportation. I suggested the position be cut when transportation was outsourced several years ago. Administration responded that there wasn't a need for a director but there should be a manager to organize the department and make sure that routes and students were being managed properly with First Student. When I left there were only 2 positions left in the department. With consolidation it was important to have someone very familiar with the routes and to coordinate with First Student.
The director of transportation and administration realized things needed to change and the director took a substantial pay cut to remain with the schools in this reduced capacity as a manager rather than director. I believe he took a pay cut of approximately $20,000 to keep the job. I will say that during the time I worked with Mr O'Haire, he was extremely professional and helpful despite being aware of the situation. There are times of the year when the department worked non-stop and his input was extremely valuable and well worth the salary.
There are several administration positions that are funded through grants with the Federal and State government so their pay does not come through city funding. Removing the positions would not save us money but may, in fact, cause us to lose money.
I don't know if you have you seen the Organization chart for the schools, you will be surprised to know it fits on an 8x10 sheet of paper. I took my job seriously while sitting on the school committee and worked to reduce staff and eliminate redundancies. Many of the administration positions were cut over several years and the remaining people have taken on several additional roles and responsibilities without additional pay. The administration positions were cut by the same percentage or more than teachers and/ wise union members. They were also the first to accept the 20% co-pay as they are not under contract the unions followed soon after. The school budget is essentially the same as it was in 2008. The city budget has gone up $30 million annually since 2008. Who really has the budget that is out of control?
As far as teachers being cut, we have several hundred less than we had years ago. On my last 2 years on the committee we sent lay off notices to 40 teachers each year, laid off 20 and ended up recalling all 20 when retirements were announced. We had 20 retirements (or more) each year. If consolidation occurs and I think it will, the schools will be able to get down to the number of teachers it needs to natural attrition through retirement. We also have new all day kindergarten and we may see an influx of new families. One can hope, AND PLAN to make the city a place where people would like to move to in the future.
I am running for city council and plan to help get the city budget under control. It is time the city stops using the citizens of Warwick as an ATM. Please vote for Patrick Maloney Jr in Ward 1 on November 4, 2014. Thank you.
Tuesday, October 7, 2014 Report this