Furtado ready to lead School Committee again

By Matt Bower
Posted 2/4/16

Following one of the most tumultuous years for Warwick Public Schools (WPS) in recent memory, yet also one of the most prolific in terms of the amount of initiatives tackled by the School Committee, …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Furtado ready to lead School Committee again

Posted

Following one of the most tumultuous years for Warwick Public Schools (WPS) in recent memory, yet also one of the most prolific in terms of the amount of initiatives tackled by the School Committee, Jennifer Ahearn decided to step down as committee chairwoman.

During the committee’s Jan. 12 meeting, Beth Furtado, who is no stranger to the position having held it previously, was elected as the committee’s new chair.

Reached by phone recently, Ahearn said an extensive amount of work went into the position last year, as many initiatives were moved forward and that took a lot of time and energy.

“That was tough to sustain along with having a full-time job,” she said.

With Ahearn at the helm, the school committee addressed a myriad of school issues.

Probably the largest initiative tackled by the committee was school consolidation. The process started with conducting a search for an outside consultant to develop a long-term education and facilities master plan for the district. That search ended nearly a year ago with the selection of Symmes Maini & McKee Associates (SMMA) at a cost of $238,243. SMMA conducted a series of public school facilities workshops toward narrowing down school consolidation options, which saw much debate from the community before the committee made a final determination to close Aldrich and Gorton, re-purpose Warwick Vets as a super junior high, and split Vets students among Pilgrim and Toll Gate, and initiated that transition (including the establishment of new district feeder patterns).

Another matter that required a great deal of the committee’s time and attention was the investigation into Gorton science teacher Mario Atoyan regarding the drawing of phallic symbols on two female students and how that matter was handled by administration. While that matter was being investigated, school committee member Karen Bachus joined with City Council President Donna Travis and council members Camille Vella-Wilkinson and Kathleen Usler in calling for a vote of no confidence in then superintendent Richard D’Agostino, then director of secondary education Dennis Mullen, and then director of human resources and legal counsel Rosemary Healey regarding how the matter was handled. Although Ragosta completed his investigation, those results have not been made public. Both D’Agostino and Mullen have since retired from their positions and Healey was relieved of her duties as legal counsel in an effort to split up the offices of Human Resources and Legal Counsel, which required the hiring of attorney Andrew Henneous to handle legal matters for the district. Healey was eventually suspended from her position as human resources director.

As if that wasn’t enough to keep the committee busy, the department was in need of a permanent superintendent, as a proper search had not been conducted following D’Agostino’s appointment on an interim basis, which was extended in the midst of the large-scale changes occurring in the district at the time. The committee actually conducted two separate searches, first hiring William Holland as an interim superintendent after the first search yielded no viable candidates. With Holland’s assistance, a second search was carried out and the committee eventually selected Philip Thornton to lead WPS.

In addition to searching for a superintendent, determining consolidation plans, and investigating the administration’s handling of the Atoyan incident, there were a number of budgetary issues also facing the committee. After approving a school budget, the committee went back and cut $6.6 million in order to balance it after being level funded by the city. Although the committee was able to successfully negotiate a three-year contract with the Warwick School Independent Employees (WISE) union, the same could not be said for talks for a new contract with the Warwick Teachers Union (WTU).

What began with signs of solidarity among teachers, and in some cases parents joining them, with picketing and gathering in front of school buildings or filling the auditorium with large numbers during regular school committee meetings, continued to get more contentious as time passed. Teachers started exhibiting what some believed was “work to rule” behavior and there were a number of heated exchanges between teachers and committee members during meetings, including one instance where public comment was cut short early and committee members walked out of the meeting, leaving an angry crowd of teachers, parents and community members. Terri Medeiros was not present for that meeting, and Bachus was the only committee member to stay and listen to comments from the public. With the matter currently in arbitration, the two sides don’t seem any closer to a deal.

Finally, and most recently, the committee investigated spending discrepancies and irregularities in the maintenance budget, which led to the suspension and eventual firing of former buildings and grounds director David LaPlante.

Ahearn said she was also heavily involved behind the scenes in the school budget audit process.  

“What feels like would happen in four years, happened in one year and it was my first year on the job,” she said. “We’ve never had a year where there have been that many initiatives and I spearheaded a ton of that work, so I felt I needed to step back a bit this year.”

While Ahearn said there’s no handbook explaining the position, forcing you to learn on the fly, she said bringing Holland on board was a big help and kept her going.

“He supported me in the transition and helped us find the right superintendent,” she said.

Now that a superintendent is in place, Ahearn said she hopes for a slower year in 2016.

When asked what accomplishments she was most proud of, Ahearn said the Atoyan investigation and the hiring of SMMA.

“I’m really happy with the job we did on the Atoyan investigation to ensure the best outcome for the district,” she said. “And brining on SMMA to get a full scope of district assessment, understanding the direction we’re headed and what it will look like.”

When asked what she learned from the experience, Ahearn said how to multi-task.

“My multi-tasking skills are off the charts,” she said with a laugh.

Although tensions have existed between the city and schools, as well as between the committee and the teachers union, Ahearn said everyone is in it for the right reasons.

“I fully believe everyone is in it for the right reasons, administrators, teachers, school committee members, and city council members; we’re all in it for the right reasons, but we may not always share the same opinion about how to get to that final best outcome,” she said, adding that putting trust in others and keeping an open mind can help to bridge that gap.

During a phone interview, Furtado, who previously served as clerk and chairwoman on the school committee, said she was ready to return to the position.

“I was elected to do a job and if that entails being chairperson, that’s exactly what I will do,” she said. “I’m all about the district. I believe in it and want to continue moving in a positive, forward-thinking direction.”

When asked how she would assess Ahearn’s performance as chairwoman, Furtado said, “I think Jen did an outstanding job. There were a lot of initiatives undertaken, talked about and moved forward, and she was a catalyst for that work.”

Committee vice chairman Eugene Nadeau agreed with Furtado.

“Jen is one of the best members the school committee can be associated with,” he said. “The year went well, with everything we had to go through. We accomplished a great deal, more so than any year I can remember, with the changes that we had to go through.”

Nadeau said Ahearn did a remarkable job and he would look forward to her continued leadership, but he understands it was difficult trying to balance a family, working full-time, and leading the committee with everything that needed to be addressed.

“We had an excellent interim superintendent [William Holland] and I think it was an excellent decision on our part to hire Phil [Thornton], especially with what we’re going through the next two years,” he said.

Furtado said she and the committee are fully behind Thornton as the new superintendent.

“I believe it’s his job to run the district and it’s the school committee’s job to assist him in any way we can,” she said.

The school committee’s next meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 9 in the Toll Gate High School auditorium.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here