Committee candidates address school issues

Matt Bower
Posted 10/30/14

Three of the five School Committee seats are on the ballot this year. Committee members are elected to 4-year terms with two at-large seats and three – the ones on the ballot this year – district …

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Committee candidates address school issues

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Three of the five School Committee seats are on the ballot this year. Committee members are elected to 4-year terms with two at-large seats and three – the ones on the ballot this year – district seats representative of three wards each. Committee seats are non-partisan.

DISTRICT 1

Eugene Nadeau

Incumbent School Committee member Eugene Nadeau is seeking re-election to represent District 1 on the committee in the November election.

Nadeau, 83, has lived in Warwick for 50 years and was first elected to the school committee in 2010. He attended Cranston High School and Williams School of Banking. In addition to amassing 47 years of banking and management experience, Nadeau has been involved with education and Warwick Schools in a voluntary capacity also for 47 years. He is also a decorated war veteran.

Nadeau has served on many community groups and organizations. He is the co-founder of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Warwick, past president of the Warwick Jaycees, and previous head of commentators, previous head of Youth and Family Committee and top vote getter for the Parish Council at St. Peter’s Church. Nadeau is a past member of the following organizations: Warwick Arts Foundation; Warwick Community Caucus; Speakers Bureau for the Thibeault Commission Report on Education; various Warwick PTAs; and a charter member and past president of the New England Adjustment Managers Association. He has also served as Speaker for the United Fund; a budget panel member of the United Way of Southern New England; and a corporate member of the R.J. Philharmonic, as well as the Warwick Community Mental Health Center, Inc.

Nadeau currently serves as the vice president of the Providence Public Speaking Association, as well as both a discussion leader and Steering Committee leader for the Rhode Island Conference on Intergroup Relations.

During his next four years in office, if re-elected, Nadeau said he hopes to accomplish All-day Kindergarten at all elementary schools throughout the district; establish middle schools, with sixth, seventh and eighth grades; consolidate schools “wherever possible and meaningful”; and upgrade conditions of schools and athletic fields.

“The maintenance of our schools buildings must be a continuous priority,” he said. “The deterioration must stop. The safety of our students depends upon it.”

Nadeau said the quality of education in Warwick must continue to be raised and stop the exodus of ninth grade students.

“This can be accomplished by reducing the stress and unpaid mandates now being experienced in the classrooms. The caring and qualified teachers deserve better, and so do the students, loving parents and taxpayers,” he said. “Our students should be expecting and receiving the best education possible. It’s up to us to provide it.”

Dean Johnson

Dean L. Johnson, 37, a retired veteran of the U.S. Army, is challenging Eugene Nadeau.

Johnson attended Pilgrim High School before attaining his Bachelor’s Degree from Rhode Island College. He is a member of the Holliman Parents Teachers Association as well as a group called the Ocean State Dice Devils, a group that gets together to play games and holds a charity event each year at the Warwick Crowne Plaza to benefit the Rhode Island Food Bank.

After returning home from serving in Bosnia in 2000, Johnson lost his legs when he was struck by an 18-wheeler traveling at excessive speed in a snowstorm outside of Albany, N.Y. While assisting a family who was stranded on the side of the road, Johnson said the 18-wheeler jackknifed and his legs were crushed between the trailer and the guardrail. He also broke his back.

“I got the family out of the way. It’s just something I did,” said Johnson, who didn’t want the attention focused on him.

Johnson said he spent months in the hospital recovering and now uses a wheelchair.

If elected, Johnson said he would like to open up communication between the mayor and the schools and he believes it’s time to work on school consolidation.

“They’ve had four years and nothing’s been done. They want to farm out the decision they were elected to make,” he said of the school committee’s decision to hire an outside consultant to examine the district regarding how to move forward with consolidation.

Johnson also feels infrastructure needs to be updated and modernized. He said the last time a new school was built was in the 1970s.

“We need to build new schools, modernize technology and look to the future,” he said. “If we don’t, others will.”

With taxes going up and school enrollment going down, Johnson said the school committee needs to look for areas where savings can be achieved.

“Infrastructure is a major problem. We need to look at shutting down the old buildings and building new ones,” he said. “School committee members were not elected to be popular; they were elected to do the best for students, parents and taxpayers.”

DISTRICT 2

Terri Medeiros

Incumbent School Committee member Terri Medeiros is seeking re-election to represent District 2 on the committee for another four years. Medeiros, a “youthful” 56, is an early childhood teacher and administrator who has lived in Warwick for eight years.

Medeiros was first elected to the school committee in 2010. She attended high school in Connecticut before attaining her Bachelors Degree in Human Development from the University of Rhode Island.

Medeiros is a communicant of St. Rose and Clement Parish and a member of the following organizations: Volunteer of Warwick Public Schools (VOWS); Riverview Association; a volunteer for the Warwick Service Veterans Organization (WSVO); and an active supporter of the Rhode Island Military Organization (RIMO), especially the Meat Raffle events.

During her next four years in office if re-elected, Medeiros said she wants to make the best-informed decision possible regarding use of school buildings “so our students can have an optimum learning environment that includes classroom space, technology, vocational training and educational resources.”

“I also want to make sure that we continue to stay abreast of current use of technology equipment available for students,” she said.

Medeiros said one of the issues facing the district is unfunded mandates.

“Due to unfunded mandates, the city and school district must work with limited funds. It is of utmost importance that we continue to improve our building usage so our children are safe and secure,” she said. “Their focus should be on learning, having fun and creating memories. We, as school committee members, have the opportunity and responsibility to meet our students’ educational and safety requirements.”

Stephen Pope

Stephen Pope is challenging incumbent Terri Medeiros to represent District 2 on the Warwick School Committee. Pope, 47, has lived in Warwick for 22 years. He is a high school math teacher and this is his first attempt at running for office.

Pope attended School One in Providence before attaining his Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Information Systems from Rhode Island College. He also has a Masters Degree in Educational Media Design Technology from Full Sail University and expects to finish his Masters Degree in High School Education Mathematics at Western Governors University in March 2015.

Pope has been a coach at the Warwick Boys and Girls Club for approximately 20 years, as well as a soccer coach with the Warwick Soccer Association for about six months.

If elected, Pope said he would like to spend the next four years raising the level of technology usage for Warwick students.

“Technology is a less expensive way to do business for the schools and will better prepare our students for success after graduation,” he said.

Pope said he would also like to expand the vocational/technical offerings in schools to provide students with skills they can use to provide for themselves and be successful after graduation.

“One other task I would like to accomplish would be to put the consolidation debate to rest with a resolution that makes sense for our students, while also developing a long-term fix to the problems our schools face – not just a short-term Band-Aid,” he said.

Pope said the schools are faced with a major issue in the discussion of consolidation.

“Money spent on outside consulting services is money better used in other areas,” he said. “The need for updated technologies in all classrooms and in the hands of our students is another major issue.”

Pope said the schools have a huge opportunity to put students in a position to be truly successful.

“The teachers need the tools and support to do the job that they have the expertise to do,” he said. “The school department has an opportunity to strengthen our communities by making common sense decisions that will work for students and save money.”

Pope said any community needs to feel secure.

“Secure with the safety of their children at school, secure in the fact that their children are receiving top notch education with 21st century tools, and secure in the fact that the people in charge are just as concerned with the students as they are the dollars,” he said.

DISTRICT 3

Bethany Furtado

Incumbent School Committee member and chairwoman Bethany Furtado is uncontested in her re-election bid to represent District 3 on the committee for a third four-year term.

Furtado, 50, is a logistics coordinator and freight broker with DNS. She has lived in Warwick for 50 years and was first elected to the school committee in 2006. She attended Toll Gate High School before going on to Providence College and the University of Maine but did not finish her college education. She has been a member of multiple Parents Teachers Associations and Booster Clubs.

“I was the field hockey mom,” she said.

During her next four years, Furtado said she hopes to move technology forward in the classroom for students.

“We have an opportunity to provide updated technology for students and educators and to provide information to parents on a timely basis so they know how their kids are progressing with education,” she said.

Furtado also said she would like to “achieve a culture of working together with parents, community officials and administrators to move the district forward and utilize resources to the maximum benefit of students.”

Furtado said state and federal mandates put on the district and limited available funding are issues that need to be addressed in order to make sure students, “our most precious resource,” get everything they need and are entitled to in order to be successful.

“I look forward to moving the district forward and getting back to greatness,” she said.

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