Central Falls
The Providence Journal editorial board highlights a piece of legislation that, while unlikely to become law, illustrates the potential consequences of consolidation for the sake of efficiency and ease: … Sen. John Tassoni (D.-Smithfield) — a member of the state’s AFL-CIO executive board, former business agent for the state’s largest public-employees union, AFSCME Council 94,…
Presumably, the Central Falls school administration messed up by placing Ms. Legault on leave and then forgetting (or ???) that they did so. And it goes without saying that it would be a rare occurance, indeed, for private sector resources to be squandered in this way. Elizabeth Legault started out the year as co-principal at…
Although writing from Michigan, Kyle Olson has it right when it comes to his perspective on education happenings in Central Falls: Central Falls students deserve a high-quality education. But instead, families are told to be patient as administrators and the teachers union hold meetings and create 45-page reform plans. And now the federal government gives…
John Kostrzewa sees municipal deficits as “the next big bubble,” specifically related to municipal bonds. If cities and towns begin to default, then investors will stop considering them so safe and, per those who support public debt, the sky would fall. In outlining options for Central Falls, Mark Pfeiffer, the state receiver, said bankruptcy should…
It may not add up to a silver lining, but hopefully folks are beginning to see why Anchor Rising contributors have been very suspicious of calls to regionalize or centralize government and its services: [League of Cities and Towns Executive Director Dan Beardsley] also spoke of new limits on municipal contracts to ban: automatic renewals…
This’ll be a useful test case for Governor-elect Chafee: On the snowy steps of the high school, Frank Flynn, president of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers, said he had called Chafee Tuesday morning and asked him to convene a group of teachers, school and district administrators, union leaders and state education officials to “move…
Over on the municipal side in Central Falls, lawyers for Receiver Mark Pfeiffer have made their latest arguments explaining how the suspension of municipal democracy in CF is constitutional. Here is the most thoroughly unconvincing one, from John Hill‘s report in today’s Projo…Pfeiffer’s lawyers disputed the usurpation argument, saying that in May, before Pfeiffer’s appointment,…
Although the majority of the teachers probably just wanted to keep their jobs, observers with a cynical (I would say “realistic”) opinion of labor unions likely foresaw the Central Falls teacher absences issue back when Superintendent Fran Gallo unfired the high school faculty back in May. There is no way union organizers want the transformation…
Former Judge Mark A. Pfeiffer, appointed as receiver for troubled Central Falls, has come out with his recommendation (PDF): merge Central Falls with Pawtucket (via 7to7). “The problems are so severe that they cannot be solved solely through efficiencies and additional revenue at the city level,” he wrote. ” … state action is required if…
Curiously, giving somebody total power over a municipality seems likely to do nothing so much as expand the scope of “total”: The state-appointed receiver who assumed Mayor Charles D. Moreau’s powers in July announced Tuesday that he was appointing a three-member advisory council to act in place of the five-member elected City Council. A mayor’s…
