Adventures in Town Government
Dear Tiverton School Committee members: It so happened that, the Friday before you’ll decide whether to approve the arbitrated teacher contract, my boss called me on the construction site to tell me that, after I take my five paid days of annual vacation this week, he and I will have to sit down and agree…
Tiverton Citizens for Change is moving forward from its electoral successes: The School Committee should reject a tentative two-year teachers’ contract at its meeting Tuesday in light of possible unanticipated cuts in state aid to local schools during the current fiscal year, according to the anti-tax group Tiverton Citizens for Change. The committee and the…
Although, as I’ve admitted, I’m not particularly familiar with the laws of those distant Rhode Island municipalities, further information about Bill Felkner’s ouster from the Chariho School Committee seems likely to have involved multiple violations: Bill Felkner of Ashaway, who has served on the School Committee since 2006 and whose term expires in 2010, was…
I don’t know the rules in Hopkinton, so I can’t comment on Bill Felkner’s ejection from the Chariho School Committee dais on the grounds that he’s also a Hopkinton Town Council member, but it seems to me there must be some laws permitting him to sit in the audience of a public meeting: Bill Felkner,…
So here’s what’s going on in other towns while the Tiverton teachers demand retroactive pay for time spent working to rule: As state leaders wrestle with a second-straight year of mid-term budget cuts, mayors and managers across Rhode Island are looking at everything from later bill payment schedules to union concessions to offset expected losses…
Now that I’ve discovered that I already had the technology to record audio at these events, I’ll be able to let Anchor Rising readers better appreciate the experience of sitting in an auditorium surrounded by people with a financial interest in the proceedings. (I apologize for the sound of me typing; I’ll get better at…
So here’s a question on local governance that reaches beyond the town of Tiverton: The letter that Tom Parker submitted to the Tiverton School Committee circulated a bit via email prior to the meeting, and one budget committee member appears to have asked whether others wished to sign on as individuals. When Former Budget Committee…
Tonight’s the night that the newly elected school committee takes up the torch, and I heard rumors that it might vote on an arbitrated teacher contract. So far they’ve elected a new chairman, Jan Bergandy and a new vice chairwoman, Sally Black. Having attended these meetings for a year or so, I’ll say that it’s…
There’s creeping desperation in West Warwick: The Town Council and School Committee agreed to open the lines of communication as part of a settlement of the Caruolo lawsuit the schools filed against the town in April, which seeks a $1.1-million addition to its $49.4-million budget. … … the first step, Thomas said, is addressing the…
Seeing some of the bright spots in the election results for Rhode Island listed on one page gives a sense that things can change, not the least because it shows that I understated their breadth the other day. The nature of the Republican and reform victories also provides some valuable insight for the Republican Party…
