Message of hope: ‘Better times coming’ vows interim superintendent

William Holland
Posted 10/16/15

Editor’s note: This is a condensed version of William Holland’s remarks delivered Tuesday at the School Committee meeting at Toll Gate High School.

I would like to thank the school …

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Message of hope: ‘Better times coming’ vows interim superintendent

Posted

Editor’s note: This is a condensed version of William Holland’s remarks delivered Tuesday at the School Committee meeting at Toll Gate High School.

I would like to thank the school committee and other members of the Warwick community for the opportunity to be your interim superintendent for the last three months.  It has been a great privilege to serve as your superintendent.  

It has also been a whirlwind experience.  I have seen things in Warwick I have never seen before in 46 years in education. I inherited so many serious problems and challenges in Warwick so fast that at times I wondered why I accepted such a job.  After two weeks, I felt like I had been here for two years.   

Three months as superintendent is not much time to understand what’s really going on in a school district the size of Warwick.  I don’t claim to have all the answers.  All I have are perceptions based upon my time here and my prior experiences.

If you asked me what title I would give to my last public statement to the Warwick community, I would call it a “Message of Hope.”

These were many issues that contributed to the negativity that surrounded the school district when I arrived on July 17th.  It wasn’t a warm welcome, and then an unexpected powerful storm that caused a four day power outage didn’t help things either. 

But hold on! There is hope, and believe me better times are coming.

Even in the past three months, with tremendous effort by many people, progress has been made. More progress will not come easily and it will take a while. But better times are ahead. With a full effort from all parties, the district’s problems are solvable over time.  Keeping that in mind, here is a list from my message of hope:

 1. I hope that the public, parents, teachers, taxpayers, and politicians will realize the school committee has an extremely difficult job. The committee is focusing on what is best for children while at the same time respecting the need to keep school costs reasonable and affordable for Warwick residents. The school committee is an easy target, in many cases an unfair target. No one knows how hard and long this school committee works at doing what they feel is right.  Whether you agree with them or not, they are totally committed people.   

 2. I hope the school committee’s and school district’s communication with the public improves. This is needed to meet many challenges.  We’ve made progress on this in the last few months and there are plans to keep going in this crucial area. 

 3. I hope people will see the positive value of changing the outdated and outmoded class size weighting system.  I understand why parents are concerned but, believe me, I have never heard this school committee say at any time that it wants to increase class size for special education students.  Warwick has a fine special education program and will continue to have one. However, it is time to take a good look at old contract language to see if it is the best way programmatically and financially to serve our special education students. We feel the old language is hurting students, denying them their civil right to be in their “least restrictive environment” to quote the federal law. Also, we can adopt better language from other districts’ teacher contracts that will keep our class sizes at the current levels.   

 4. I hope that consolidation is an impetus for positive change. It is a real opportunity where measurable school improvement can be realized.  A tremendous amount of effort in planning for consolidation is underway. That planning needs to keep going but it is essential that there be frequent communications to all parties and that input from the community is sought as implementation plans and details emerge.   

 5. I hope a contract agreement can be reached through good faith bargaining in the current mediation process. Both sides will lose if the teacher contract goes to arbitration.

 6. I hope that greater civility will prevail in public meetings and general discourse in Warwick. Personal and public frontal attacks are often politically motivated or are cases of passion gone astray. I have seen a lot in my career, but what I have observed on this front during my short stay in Warwick I have not seen anywhere else. People tell me, this is Warwick politics, get used to it. Sorry, but this much persistent contentiousness should not be the case. This is Warwick, Rhode Island, a prideful city with a long reputation of being a key part in making Rhode Island a wonderful place for families to live and raise their children. You deserve a more positive, constructive atmosphere. Everyone can do better.

 7. I hope the school district leaders and the city council and mayor will exercise patience, let tempers subside, and find ways to reconcile their differences. For example, this is not the time for actions to get rid of the school committee and place the schools under city council control. It is time for healing. The current governance system has lots of room for improvement, but tell me what government system or structure is perfect. Its success depends upon the degree of mutual respect, trust, understanding, and cooperation. 

 8. Finally, I hope the teacher’s union will seize the opportunity to work collaboratively with the new superintendent, Philip Thornton. I hope there will be the type of dialogue and joint exploration of new ways to usher in a better era in public education, as has happened elsewhere between strong unions and school leaders. As our current contract mediator has told us, it’s like a marriage between school leadership and union leaders where they have to live together. They can’t get divorced.  They have to resolve our differences.

I call on Dr. Thornton and his leadership team and union leaders to jointly find a collaborative process that works so that we can Warwick schools can return to the glory they once knew and again be education pacesetters in the state.

My last words should be Go Warwick! Or better still, Go Warwick Schools! Thank you so much.         

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