Warwick school committee still negotiating with city for more money

By Brittany Comak

Twitter: @BComakABC6

 WARWICK, R.I. (WLNE) – The Warwick school committee chairwoman and superintendent say they are still in negotiations with the city to get some of the nearly $8 million in funding back that they had to cut – which would eliminate clubs and sports.

They say those negotiations could go past July 1st.

Things started off heated at the latest school committee meeting when Warwick residents were first told they couldn’t talk about the budget cuts during the first public comment period.

“You are not the dictator of our city,” shouted parent Keri Rooney. “You work for us!”

After much outcry, the committee decided to merge the two public comment times and allow anyone at the mic. Parents didn’t hold back.

“You’re cutting sports! What do you think that’s going to do to our children? asked parent Angela LaFauci. “You’re going to ruin this town!”

“Why am I here at this point? You can’t provide them an education. They can’t play sports,” said parent Melissa Murphy. “What are they to do? What do they do when they get out of school?”

The budget cuts approved at last week’s meeting total $7.7 million and get rid of a host of significant items.

“Sports, clubs, textbooks, teacher assistants, many things,” explained Superintendent Philip Thornton.

Since then, the superintendent and school committee have been meeting with the mayor to try to get back some of those things.

At a rally last week when students stormed city hall, the mayor promised them they would still have sports next year.

But the superintendent and school committee chairwoman say even if some funding is restored, the academic things will have to be funded first.

“Our hands are tied but we will not stop negotiating,” said Chairwoman Karen Bachus. “This is not what we want to do to our community.”

The beginning of the fiscal year is coming up on Monday, but Bachus says to get sports back specifically the latest they will have to negotiate would be early August.