Warwick school mentors fight for program ousted from budget

A $6 million budget deficit is forcing the Warwick School Committee to slash funding and one thing being cut is a valued mentorship program for kids.

At Tuesday’s school committee meeting mentors came in numbers hoping to sway the committee in coughing up the $102,000 needed to run the program.

Warwick Mayor Joseph Solomon offered $1.75 million to cover principle and interest but the program Mentor Rhode Island is still on the chopping, as the committee still needs to cut $4 million to balance the budget, a requirement under state law.

One mentor who showed up to the meeting was Douglas Schobel, who’s been a part of the program for 17 years and has mentored ten kids.

"Their mentor is their biggest support structure," Schobel said. "It means the world. It’s such an important program that I felt compelled to come."

Schobel and President and CEO of Mentor Rhode Island, Jo-Ann Schofield, said the program offers something unique that not every kid has the privilege of having.

"If this budget goes through, we won’t have a program," Schofield said.

Although the mentors work on a volunteer basis, funding is needed to pay program coordinators, training, and to run background checks on potential mentors.

"Remind the school committee of the difference that that elimination makes for 160 young people that are expecting to see their mentors in the next few weeks," she said. "We don’t want them to forget that they made this cut and we want to be at the top of the restoration list when money becomes available."

After a meeting that lasted more than four hours, several mentors spoke publicly about how the program has personally helped young people they know.

The school committee still plans on asking the city for more money to help cover more of the deficit, which could save the program.