Cranston
It was hard not to give some credit to the union-run New England Laborers/Cranston Public Schools Construction Career Academy when it gave some of its money back to the town to maintain sports programs. Of course, one wondered why it would have extra money — charter schools aren’t fully private schools — but the sentiment…
Two approaches to returning services to Cranston schools have emerged, and it’s conceivable that they highlight the natural line dividing all various budgetary disputes at the town level: [Mike] Stenhouse’s admittedly “more aggressive” stance on political issues caused a rift this week with an earlier local partner, BASICS (Benefiting All Students In Cranston Schools), a…
This is a positive development, for the short-term, but it should be considered a short-term fix before turning around, rather than a short-term transition toward something new in the future: An $88,241 donation from the New England Laborers’/Cranston Public Schools Construction Career Academy, a public charter school, “will just about restore every program except freshman…
Cranston’s recent proposal to merge school sports is currently being weighed by the Rhode Island Interscholastic League. John Gilooly explains why allowing such a merger would set a bad precedent: The problem I see is that as an association of individual high schools, if the Principals Committee allows two high schools from the same city…
Anchor Rising readers shouldn’t have any trouble guessing (let alone discerning) what’s missing from this report out of Cranston: Wednesday night, on what was the first chance for the public to speak on the proposed budget, students, coaches and parents flocked to Cranston West’s auditorium, where the School Committee budget hearing was moved to accommodate…
Cutting or consolidating sports programs is grabbing the headlines as Cranston tries to deal with it’s school budget deficit, but other programs are in danger as well. It’s not just the jocks. The $1.1-million in proposed cuts — which include the elementary school enrichment program along with strings, band and chorus, following the recommendations of…
On Monday night, the Cranston City Council considered a resolution sponsored by Mayor Allan Fung opposing a proposed change to Rhode Island law that would require binding arbitration to occur when a school committee and a teachers’ union were unable to agree upon a contract. During the public comment phase of the meeting, Dan Beardsley…
At Mayor Allan Fung’s town hall meeting last evening on city issues in Cranston, there was much emphasis on the school committee as the area of city government most in need of fixing. You can hear some of the discussion for yourself, by clicking on the links below…Cranston City Council President John Lanni gave a…
Tim White’s got another video of employee malfeasance with taxpayer funded time: The video shows the janitorial office at Cranston’s Western Hills Middle School from the view of a hidden camera looking down at a time clock used by school custodians to punch in and out of their shifts. The first minute and twelve seconds…
Anybody who still believes that public sector union arbitration isn’t the unions’ playroom should take a moment to glance toward Cranston. The contract between the city and the Teamsters (PDF) contains the following language: The City agrees to offer a Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plan for each member of the Union and his family. Each…