There are five candidates vying for seats on the School Committee in the upcoming election, three of which are incumbents and one of which is unopposed. Current School Committee members Karen Bachus and Jennifer Ahearn are not up for re-election this year.

School Committee Chairwoman Bethany Furtado will be entering her third four-year term on the committee, as she does not face a challenger in her bid to continue representing District 3 on the committee. Fellow committee members vice chairwoman Terri Medeiros and Eugene Nadeau, both of whom were elected to the committee in 2010 and are seeking another four years representing Districts 2 and 1, respectively, face challenges from newcomers Stephen Pope and Dean Johnson, respectively.

Pope is a high school math teacher and has been a coach at the Warwick Boys and Girls Club for nearly 20 years and a soccer coach with the Warwick Soccer Association for about six months. Pope would like to raise the level of technology usage for students as well as expand the vocational/technical offerings in schools. Medeiros, an early childhood teacher and administrator, would also like to focus on technology, ensuring the school department stays up to date on the current use of technology equipment available for students.

Johnson is a retired Army veteran and a member of the Holliman Parents Teachers Association. He would like to open up communications between the mayor and the school department, as well as modernize technology and look at closing old school buildings with infrastructure issues and building newer ones to achieve savings. Nadeau, a decorated war veteran who has retired from 47 years in banking and management, would like to achieve all-day Kindergarten in all elementary schools throughout the district, as well as implement the middle school model with sixth, seventh and eighth grades housed in the same building. He would also like to consolidate where possible and necessary, as well as upgrade the conditions of buildings and athletic fields.

Furtado, a logistics coordinator and freight broker with DNS and past member of multiple PTAs and Booster Clubs, also named technology as a priority, hoping to move it forward in classrooms for students. She would also like to achieve an atmosphere and culture of working together among parents, community officials and administrators to utilize resources to the maximum benefit of students.

Regardless of who is elected to the committee, be it seasoned veterans with knowledge and experience or newcomers with fresh ideas and perspectives; there are a number of challenges facing the committee.

Two important decisions await the committee once it’s established in January. With the recent job posting of the superintendent’s position, the committee must undertake a process of finding a leader for the district. The committee will also need to select an outside consulting firm to examine the district and recommend how to move forward regarding school consolidation, as a Request for Proposals (RFP) has already been sent out.

<*C>Superintendent’s position

@T_Basic:Current superintendent Richard D’Agostino has served in the role ever since replacing former superintendent Peter Horoschak in 2012.

D’Agostino first served as acting superintendent when Horoschak was abruptly placed on administrative leave in September 2012 before his contract was set to expire in July 2013. Horoschak, who had served at six other school districts around the country before coming to Warwick, was hired in 2007 for a three-year term. His contract was renewed in 2010 for another three years.

In December 2012, a joint agreement between Horoschak and the school committee announced Horoschak’s retirement, the details of which were not disclosed by either party. As the district was facing a number of critical issues at the time, including long-term facilities planning, teacher evaluations and budget formulation, the committee felt it needed a permanent superintendent right away and named D’Agostino to the position in February 2013 through July 2014. If the committee were to have posted the position and searched for a successor, the process was expected to take approximately seven months.

As D’Agostino was nearing the end of his one-year contract, the committee decided to extend the contract through the 2014-15 school year and post the position in October to conduct a proper search. Furtado said D’Agostino’s contract was extended because the school committee was considering consolidation, as the Long Term Facilities Planning Committee was tasked with coming up with a recommendation to consolidate at the secondary level. If consolidation were approved, Furtado said it would have been difficult to carry that out while simultaneously searching for a superintendent.

Although the position was posted earlier this month, D’Agostino is eligible to apply and he hopes to continue in his role of leading schools.

<*C>RFP consultant

@T_Basic:With enrollment continuing to decline and secondary school buildings being filled at approximately 50 percent capacity, the school committee decided it was time to look at consolidation at the secondary level and the Long Term Facilities Planning Committee (LTFPC) was tasked with coming up with a recommendation of how best to accomplish it.

The LTFPC ultimately recommended closing Warwick Veterans Memorial High School at the end of the 2013-14 school year and making adjustments and upgrades in order to re-purpose the building and re-open it as a super junior high school in fall 2015. Vets students would be split among Pilgrim and Toll Gate. Once the super junior high school was ready, the plan was to then close Aldrich and Gorton junior highs and send those students to Winman and the new super junior high school.

The move was projected to save $4 million in staffing costs. By consolidating, it was also determined there would be room to move the sixth grade up to the junior highs to establish the middle school model, thereby allowing room for all-day Kindergarten in the elementary schools, which was estimated to cost $3 million to hire the necessary staff for all-day K.

Instead of approving the LTFPC’s recommendation, the school committee tabled the vote in December 2013 in favor of hiring an outside consultant to examine the district, a move many upset community members demanded during public hearings.

After a lengthy process of establishing a sub-committee to determine the parameters of the RFP for an outside consultant and eventual approval from the school committee this past July, the RFP was sent out and proposals are being accepted. Interested companies have until Oct. 28 to read through the 17-page RFP document and submit a proposal. Once a consultant is selected, the company will have 90 days to complete their study and present their recommendation. The school committee has set aside $150,000 in the budget to hire a consultant.

<*C>Warwick Teachers Union contract

@T_Basic:Not only will the committee need to select a superintendent and consultant to examine the district, but it will also need to negotiate a contract extension with the Warwick Teachers Union.

A one-year agreement was reached last month for the 2014-15 school year. Both sides desired a longer-term contract but were unable to agree on a number of issues to accomplish that task, so a shorter-term agreement was approved as the two sides plan to continue negotiating the issues preventing a longer-term deal. Neither side has been willing to reveal the nature of those issues, as talks continue in hopes of resolving them.

As part of the agreement, which expires Aug. 31, 2015, teachers will receive a 1.18 percent pay increase at each step level; co-share payments on dental and medical insurance premiums for teachers will increase to 20 percent; the superintendent will endorse each Job Fair assignment/transfer; teachers receiving early layoff notices will be notified on or before June 1, instead of March 1 as has been the case previously; and the teacher evaluation system used in the past two years will remain intact.

It’s a critical time for the Warwick School District as the election approaches on Nov. 4 and decisions made by the newly elected school committee will have a direct impact on the direction of the district going forward.