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Many are obviously and understandably concerned about many issues in the Warwick schools. The best way to manage change and concerns is to have continuous community meetings to hear, respond and address issues. There hasn't been enough information communicated to the public regarding teacher layoffs/reassignments, newly appointed leadership positions (vice principals, department heads), scheduling, additional course offerings, sports/extra curricular activities, coaching assignments, school building, traffic and transportation concerns, etc. The school co. meetings are not the proper venue to openly discuss these, should not be the only outlet/forum to update parents, and there has been some, but not enough opportunity for dialog. The school consolidation website has limited specifics which is what everyone is looking for with only three months before full implementation. Parents do not care how or who is moving boxes (although I am sure staff does) they want to know:

Who are the teachers in each school next year or when and how will that be decided?

What is being done to offer more EEP/AP classes? Are teachers being encouraged/assisted in obtaining requirements to teach those classes?

What is going on with special ed/what do our neighboring districts do? What are their outcomes?

What is being done to understand and address student scores in Math and Science?

Who are the coaches?

Who are the vice principals?

Who are the department heads?

What is the schedule for rolling out chromebooks?

Who is their guidance counselor? Will continuity try to be preserved?

What is my child's schedule/will they get the classes requested or do they need to rethink them?

What are the anticipated class sizes by subject next year?

When will i be able to view my child's grades online - Will interims be done in a way that doesn't take away four full class days/year?

What is the plan/timeline for all the needed building improvements?

Why are some improvements needed everywhere only occurring at one school/is there a plan/timeframe for each building?

How will the parking/traffic be addressed/improved?

What extracurricular activities will be offered next year at each school?

What middle school sports will be offered and where will they play/practice? How do my kids sign up?

Will there be the same opportunities for courses, sports and extracurricular at each school? if not, will kids have the opportunity/transportation to take class/join another school's group?

How can we improve the transportation so buses are better utilized?

What is the transportation schedule/times?

Even if there are not specific answers yet for everything, families should be given a plan/timeline for each question so they can have confidence they will be addressed and will understand when the information will be provided to them.

My fear is that absent constructive forums for the discussion of issues and better information dissemination, parents and staff are turning to media/social media outlets to vent, try to understand/get any information they can, and it is creating greater distress - and leading to even more families opting out of the school system and our city, which hurts everyone. There are a lot of things to be addressed right now but there is also a lot of good things going on that we should be aware of - ie. I hear there is a new technology director (who is getting great feedback) and this should be widely announced. The Beacon could help with this by asking and publishing updates on the specifics regarding consolidation (see questions above) and the school department could be better in creating open dialog forums and providing specific information to the community.