East Providence
The East Providence Taxpayer Association is getting a lot of well deserved press, lately. The dispute in their city is big news, and the EPTA is keeping a consistent and measured message out there. From today’s Providence Journal: Standing in the cold outside East Providence High School yesterday, a lone spokesman for the East Providence…
Jim Hummel, filling in for Dan Yorke, has had three unionists on the program since 3:00, and as I’ve pulled up flooring and cleaned my jobsite, I’ve been itching to make three points: 1. Regarding the teachers’/union’s behavior at the latest School Committee meeting, NEA lawyer John Liedecker pointed out that the police had said,…
Andrew’s call in to the Matt Allen show, last night, turned into a longer form interview about the East Providence School Committee meeting. Stream by clicking here, or download it. To the conversation about Anthony Carcieri’s microphone volume (or lack thereof), I’d add my impression that Carcieri fully anticipated a disruptive atmosphere and was focused…
East Providence is looking at budget deficits of over $4m per year for 2008 and 2009 and some scary tax increases if spending on the largest portion of their budget – personnel costs – is not brought into line. This fact seems inexplicably missing from too many statements by the teachers union. These include but…
Anchor Rising has received the following: The East Providence School Committee is providing 2 examples of the financial avalanche facing our entire community. Attached is legal action by the Northern RI Collaborative seeking past due payment of $563,214.30 for tuition payments for our special-needs students. It is irrational that the teachers’ union chooses to ignore…
Let’s recap the events that helped bring last night’s East Providence school committee meeting to an abrupt end. The third speaker of the public comment period was East Providence teacher Mary Texeria. As Justin alluded to in the previous post, Ms. Texeria made a tough but fair statement saying that she would be willing to…
The following are some audio clips from the East Providence School Committee meeting. Keep in mind, while listening, that the sound isn’t entirely representative. For one thing, I was sitting near the taxpayer group, so they might be overrepresented in the general sound level (although still greatly outnumbered). School Committee Chairman Anthony Carcieri makes his…
[Prior to the commencement of the meeting] At the entrance to the High School Auditorium As media cameras roll, cheers, yelling and chants of “teachers, teachers”. And down in front, two or three merry bars of Solidarity Forever.
So parking has already spilled over to the supermarket parking lot across the street, and it was clear from conversation that the women standing at the crosswalk with me were teachers from another district. As we crossed, the policeman directing traffic told them to “be loud — my wife is a teacher.” (There’s a six-figure…
Many Rhode Islanders surely share the sentiments that Sharon West expresses from East Providence: Recently, a consultant hired by the committee reported that the average teacher makes $69,000 a year and receives benefits costing $26,000 annually. Yes, $95,000, and many make even more. The consultant stated that this amounts to an hourly wage of $93.…