From Steve Stycos, member of the Cranston School Committee:
SCHOOL BUDGET HEARING TUESDAY
The sole school budget hearing before the Cranston City Council will be Tuesday April 10 at 7 PM at the Cranston East Auditorium. Supporters of education should urge the council to change the mayor’s budget to add money for the schools.
Mayor Napolitano, who campigned promising not to raise taxes and to support the schools, has proposed a budget which raises taxes by 5.25 percent, but provides no new money for the schools. The tax increase is the maximum allowed under a new state law approved last year by the Rhode Island General Assembly.
This budget would be a disaster for the schools. Increases in salaries due to negotiated contracts, pension payments and health insurance require additional dollars. The budget already calls for increasing class size in the high schools and middle schools.
Meanwhile, the mayor is pushing to install artificial turf at the Cranston Stadium-a $800,000 cost, I am told. Priorities seem a bit askew.
Tuesday’s hearing is both an opportunity to tell the council what you think of the mayor’s budget and to also tell (indirectly) the school committee what you think is important in the school budget. Most, if not all, school committee members should be at the hearing.
The council must adopt a budget by May 15. Once that happens, the school committee will be forced to make huge cuts and decide whether to appeal to Rhode Island Superior Court for additional money, known as “going Caruolo.”
If you cannot go Tuesday night, consider calling a city council member (either your ward councilman or one of the three at large council members) to express your views. Emails are better than nothing, but a less effective alternative.
See you Tuesday night.
I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Stycos on 99% of this. However, I do believe email is an effective way to communicate. The problem is that many people do not know how to use it, and if the person on the other end does not read their email, that is a problem. However, one thing email does that phone calling does not do is create a record of your action. This page provides both email and phone contact information for Cranston city councilors.
Kmareka.com 
When my son was in public school, on several occasions I sent email and left voice mails for former School Committee member Michael “one-reason-my-kids-are-not-in public-schools” Cardarelli. I also wrote to then Superintendent Catherine “the-main-reason-my-kids-are-not-in-public-schools” Ciarlo. The arrogant s.o.b.’s never got back to me.
If you really want to get their attention, you need to go to the meetings, speak your mind and then write letters to the editor about how they respond to your concerns.
Most of these elected officials are not trustworthy and would deny receiving one call that is counter to their position if they received hundreds.
While you’re there, watch out for the cement plant people. They think their issue, which affects about 50 people, is the most important problem facing the city. These people are going to cost the taxpayers of Cranston a fortune.