Cranston School Committee member Steve Stycos provided the following update:
Several issues are heating up.
1. Elimination of tracking in middle schools: The superintendent is apparently pushing this idea. My position is that this has to be approved by the school committee and I think it will be a tough sell to get by the school committee. At the request of Mike Traficante and Donna Tocco-Greenaway, this will be discussed at the Monday May 21 school committee meeting at Western Hills Middle School. If your child is in elementary school, pay attention to this. Currently, children are tracked as “above grade level, at grade level and below grade level.” Since we have not received a formal proposal, I am not sure what Mr. Scherza wants to do. His proposal for high schools, dead at least temporarily, was to maintain an upper “honors” track for the top ten percent and then merge everyone else into bottom ninety percent.
2. Cranston West Auto program: Like number one, the superintendent unilaterally decided to close the auto program at West due to low enrollment and lack of certification. The school committee knew nothing of this decision. I also believe the process is in violation for annual reports on vocational programs (not done, says the state, because they do not have the staff), the vote of an advisory committee that is supposed to include school committee members (not done, says the supt, because he was not aware of the procedure), and a vote of the school committee in the district that runs the program (that’s us). At my request, this will also be on the May 21 agenda. Contrary to what was said to the city council, the money (about $140,000 for a teacher and tech) for this program is in the budget. Of course the budget is another story…
3. The budget. The council passed a budget which includes about $2 million more for the schools than the mayor proposed, but about $1 million is contingent on the sale of the old police station on Atwood Avenue. A small victory was passage of my suggestion to waive sewer fees for the schools, a savings of $117,000 per year. A budget hearing/discussion will be held by the school committee Thursday May 31 at 5:30 at Western Hills Middle School. People who are concerned with cuts in library secretaries, family & consumer science teachers, technology teachers and booming class size need to attend and speak up. The budget is now about $3 million short. Even if $3 million appeared, the budget calls for eliminating 14 teachers, 5 custodians, all the library secretaries, the head of physical education and health. Some tough decisions will have to be made.
Kmareka.com 
Kiersten,
Do you know if any increase in state aid in the budget is being assumed? Unfortunately, it’s looking increasingly like no increase at all is coming.
Andrew, I believe that, when I met with Mike Traficante a while back, he said that the budget was premised on the assumption that we would get a 3% increase on the amount of state aid provided last year. If this is not forthcoming then there will be another hole to fill. I am wondering if this is the only way that municipalities think they can get any leverage over the teacher’s contracts — by creating massive shortfalls and burgeoning class sizes — kind of the crisis before the opportunity. Unfortunately, the crisis gets meted out on the kids.
A few things concern me about Mr. Stycos’s report, but the main one has to be Mr. Scherza’s unilateral decision-making. I can not believe that someone who came in to replace Catherine Ciarlo (herself a 30-year veteran of the school department) would claim ignorance of a policy, especially for the career & tech center, which operates under such a unique set of standards.
It’s also unnerving that Mr. Scherza seems to be playing the old game of passing the burden along to the school board and/or city council instead of making real changes in the administration of the school department. I would gladly trade one or two “school finance clerks” (whose jobs are duplicative of those at City Hall) for teachers.
Interesting observations, Jesse, which remind me of another part of my interview with Traf in which he said that the effort to consolidate departments between the schools and city hall needed to be revived. He said that every mayor going back to DiPrete has tried to restructure things so that human resources and other departments for the schools and the city are shared, but this never happens. Why? Why can’t this effort be forwarded? Has the school department ever drafted legislation to put this through? I’m pretty sure the city has — I remember Ellen O’Hara speaking in a council meeting about a draft bill on this issue coming from them, but then nothing happened.
My experience with the consolidation issue goes back to the O’Leary administration circa 1999. A lot of noise was made by JO about consolidating purchasing and oversight of school properties, but stalled because of (in my view) institutional resistance from the school department.
As I’m sure you know, school departments cling pretty fiercely to the idea that they are, in essence, sovereign organizations independent of municipal oversight. So Catherine Ciarlo made noises about looking into the idea, but essentially killed any chance of bringing it to the school committee — particularly when it became clear that O’Leary was going to try and hold back huge spending increases.
That said, if anyone is going to move this political football further up the field, it’s Traf.
Need for automotive technicians rise, state closes program ?
As members of the Advisory Committee for the Automotive Technology Program at the Cranston Area Career and Technical Center, we have been collectively perturbed by the recommendation of the Cranston School Superintendent to close the Automotive Program. Many of us have been involved in the Certification process for three years, overseeing and assisting in the program’s certification process as the program has gone from a neglected “auto shop� to a structured “automotive service training program.� The program had suffered from neglect and support of basic maintenance, leaving equipment unsafe and/or unusable. This metamorphosis has been due to the commitment and hard work of Mr. Richard Iozzi, the instructor of the program. During the past three years, we have witnessed negligible support from the school administration to support Mr. Iozzi in his valiant efforts to transform the program.
The Advisory Committee is comprised of a diverse group of parents, community leaders, existing and former students and representatives of trade organizations, dealerships, business owners, secondary and post-secondary educators and representatives. The committee meets formally and informally numerous times a year, including school vacation times. From the beginning of the process, Mr. Iozzi outlined for the committee what needed to be done. He explained the responsibilities of the advisory committee, administration, program structure, facility requirements and reviewed his credentials as meeting the requirements of certification. We were given a structured game plan of where the program stood and where he saw the program as going. The advisory Committee met numerous hours to solve issues and further the process of getting the program certified. Individual members have sought to reach out to the administration to discuss the needs and the status of the Certification Process. One notable missing factor from the very first meeting was the lack of an attending administrator.
The administration has not been to the table and made the uninformed decision to close the program. We hear at school committee meetings that most decisions are “for the children.� This decision is not. The “children� worked for over a year on their backs because the automotive lifts were not repaired. Whereas the Advisory Committee has worked to understand the structure of the program, the educational process and the student documentation requirements, the representatives of the administration (three different directors in three years) never actively participating and lack of administrative continuity. Mr. William Cilli, automotive instructor from the Warwick Area Career and Technical Center, reinforced Mr. Iozzi’s process as parallel to his school’s achievement of national certification.
The decision to close the program was apparently made in October and although administrators were invited to meetings to receive updates, they snubbed the advisory Committee by their absence. During this time the instructor and advisory committee continued, as rumors circulated within the school system. Students also questioned Mr. Iozzi about possible program closure.
The Advisory Committee is aware of several post-secondary schools and automotive organizations willing to step up to the plate to support the Program. However each time these groups have come to the advisory meetings, it has been observed that the administration was not present and in open support of the program. These interested organizations have expressed their willingness to lend support in presentations and statements to the Cranston School Committee. Members of the Advisory Committee have come forward and donated equipment to support the program when the school department did not respond.
The Advisory Commmittee has representatives from the Automotive Trades and noted the dire need in the State of Rhode Island for entry level automotive technicians. The April 15th Parade Magazine article by Lynn Brenner lists Automotive Technicians as one of the hottest jobs . Manpower lists mechanics, including automotive technicians as the third fastest growing job market behind construction and teachers. A properly trained automotive service technician has a higher beginning salary than a public school teacher .
We witnessed the adminitration’s inability to respond to basic maintenance of the shop areas and programmatic needs of the instructor. The administration took over a year to replace two automotive lifts in the shop. Service of the remaining lifts has not been addressed in three years. Orders for tools and supplies to bring the program to the prescribed levels for Certification were submitted, acknowledged by the Director and never delivered. When the Committee questioned the status of the orders and the instructor sought the status of the purchasing and tracking procedures, answers were not forthcoming.
From the beginning the committee questioned the interest and commitment of the administration based on the report of the previous instructor. Members of the Advisory Committee observed first-hand the interest in the Automotive Program by students and parents at numerous open houses. Members were on hand to lend their support and answer questions about their personal specialties. Contrary to reports from the administration, enrollment was projected to be higher next September. Additionally out-of-town tuition alone brought in more money into city coffers that the costs of the teacher’s salary and program certification. Who will repair our automobiles in the future? The need and student interest exists in Cranston and sending communities of Johnston, Foster-Glocester, and Scituate. It’s the administration that will get a failing grade.
For further information Advisory Committee members can be contacted by email at cactcautomotive@aol.com.
James Clarke Sr.
Harold Crooks Garage
Cranston, RI
401-942-6070
William Cilli, Automotive Technology Instructor
Warwick Area Career and Technical Center
Mrs. Deborah Poland, Parent
Ken Tracy, Service Director
Puritan Chrysler-Suzuki
Cranston, RI
Mr. Glen Stevenson, Parent