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We have problems in the fire barn!

Please feel free to forward this eNewsletter to all of your friends. Also you can watch a video recording of the December 15th SBC meeting on Cox Channel 18. Check channel 17 for dates and times for the broadcast.  Pour yourself a glass of wine for this one because it lasted 3-hours, 10-minutes.  That's longer than the movie "Ten Commandments" and a further indication of the chaos associated with this project.

Free Money For Wilbur School?
November 19, 2009

Did you know that the Little Compton School Committee wants to spend $37-Million to demolish most of Wilbur & McMahon School and then rebuild it?  Did you know that you are still paying for sections of the building to be demolished?  Did you know that the plan to finance this relies on getting 35% of the cost in "free money" from the State?  Have you seen what is happening to the State's economy lately?  The following appeared in one of the RI Statewide Coalition's (RISC) electronic newsletters...

Perhaps the Little Compton School Building Committee should consider this as it marches down the trail of building a new school expecting the State to provide 35% of the cost ($13-Million).  Perhaps they should ask where the State will get the money from.  Perhaps they should consider repairing what's there now rather than demolishing it and building all over again.

Did you know?
October 10, 2009

“A typical arbitration panel is composed of three professionally trained arbitrators, one chosen by management, one chosen by the union, and one chosen by the first two. They will hear the arguments, consider the issues, and fashion a remedy, a contract. That contract almost never favors management. It almost always favors the union and for a very simple reason. Arbitrators need to work. When they work they always face the same unions on one side of the table, but different governing bodies on the other. Unions keep book on the performance of arbitrators, and they will shun or boycott arbitrators who don't favor union positions. Put bluntly, arbitrators who don't please unions don't work. Arbitrators don't have to fear governing bodies because they very seldom have to face the same one twice, and governing bodies don't keep book on them. Hence, governing bodies enter binding arbitration at a terrific disadvantage and virtually never win.” – Rhode Island Shoreline Coalition, 10/10/09 RISC-Y Business newsletter (Sign up: http://www.statewidecoalition.com)

This is why the Little Compton Taxpayers Association took exception to our local senator’s vote on arbitration (see below, June 21, 2009, Senator Louis DiPalma).  How does Senator DiPalma think this helps us?

The Nefarious School Committee
August 16, 2009

At its August 12, 2009 meeting, the Little Compton School Committee took a vote on renewing the Superintendent's contract for another year.  Just prior to that meeting, the Committee held a closed door Executive Session to discuss the matter.  The meeting's minutes were not sealed, so we were able to find out what went on.  Two primary matters were discussed in the session: Renewing the contract of Dr. Harold Devine, and giving him a pay raise.

Given that Dr. Devine is the best Superintendent we've had in recent memory, the Executive Session should have lasted no more than five minutes with unanimous consent on both questions.  But that's not what happened!

Lynn Brousseau and Micah Shapiro wanted to terminate the Superintendent because they feel he is better suited for a big school and not a small one.  How can these two rank amateurs with no experience in education draw such an astounding conclusion? They should be ashamed of themselves for having the gall to judge a man with 45 years of experience as compared to their obvious lack of experience.

Mike Harrington, the Committee's Chair, expressed an unwillingness to give Dr. Devine a raise as though Dr. Devine had done something wrong and needed to be punished even though every other school employee got a raise including the School Committee!  Harrington insisted that the only way he would vote to renew the contract would be if there would be no raise.  The other two members of the Committee, Joe Quinn and Don Gomez, made two proposals for a $2500 raise and then $2000.  Both proposals were defeated 3-to-2. Reluctantly, they went along with a zero raise rather than face losing Dr. Devine. In the public session, Harrington, Quinn, and Gomez voted to retain Dr. Devine; and, Brousseau and Shapiro voted to terminate him.  Dr. Devine stays but with no raise.

This has to be the most hostile, reckless, and agenda-driven school committee that we've seen in a very long time.  Dr. Devine has made many positive contributions to the school system too numerous to list here - but we will soon be publishing a newsletter that will document his outstanding achievements.

What is driving this?  We'll put it right on the table: It is a revenge campaign on the part of Harrington, Brousseau, and Shapiro directed at those who had a hand in the outsourcing of transportation, an overwhelmingly successful move that has saved the town over $100,000 in its first year and more to come in the next 4 years.  They unseated Cheryl Cady.  They nearly terminated  Dr. Devine.  And now their sights are set on Joe Quinn and Don Gomez in the election next year.  These three are an abomination.  And they keep harping how much they are concerned for the children.  How is denigrating Dr. Devine beneficial to the children or anything at the school for that matter?

If ever there was a need for a "recall provision" in our election process, it is now.  We urge the Charter Commission to add such a provision in the recommended changes that they are now working on.

THERE THEY GO AGAIN!
Full Day Kindergarten
July 9, 2009

In yet another expansion of the Wilbur & McMahon educational programs, the School Committee, by simple majority has approved changing the present two ½ day kindergarten sessions to a Full Day Kindergarten.

Following a presentation by School Principal James Gibney during which he strongly endorsed the Full Day K concept, committee members held a long debate on the issue. Members Joseph Quinn and Micah Shapiro offered modifications to the program that were summarily brushed aside. 

Superintendent Ronald Devine said that the program would be paid for in FY 2010 by Federal stimulus funds and in subsequent years he was sure that the cost of Full Day K would not exceed the state mandated tax levy. That translates into a tax increase in the 2011 budget request.

The depth of the questions from the public suggested that more analysis was needed; consequently, Quinn and Shapiro moved to table the vote.  Mike Harrington, Lynn Brousseau, and Donald Gomez said no and went on to vote Full Day K in.  It's now a done deal.

Lynn Brousseau and Donald Gomez were charged as a sub-committee to study Full Day K.  The Open Meetings Law says a sub-committee of this type has to pre-announce its meetings to the public, and allow the public to attend.  That did not happen.  Brousseau and Gomez never held a meeting because they said they couldn't find the time.  Instead, they delegated their responsibilities to Principal Gibney.

This action, in our opinion, has circumvented the Open Meeting Law and did not provide an opportunity for ample citizen participation in the process prior to Mr. Gibney’s strong endorsement and the subsequent vote of the committee establishing a Full Day K program.  Switching to Full Day K is not trivial.  Objectivity seems to have disappeared from the majority of this School Committee.

The implementation of Full Day K was a “bag job.” From the outset it has been a foregone conclusion that Full Day K would be provided at Wilbur & McMahon. The two members of the sub-committee have long been outspoken in their support of it. Both have either children or grandchildren who will participate in the program.

So they get their way, and you get the bill.

NEW SCHOOL?  WHO SAYS?
July 9, 2009

Little Compton School Facilities needs Sub Committee suffers major setback.

In the aftermath of a letter from School Superintendent, Dr. Harold G. Devine, addressing the pending School Construction process and timeline, Sub Committee Chairman/School Committee member, Donald Gomez, told a meeting of the Little Compton Town Council that any immediate plans to call for a Special Financial Town Meeting were premature.

Mr. Gomez was on the council’s agenda for an update on the progress of the School Facilities Needs Committee’s proposed “roll out” to introduce its plan to the people of Little Compton.

Dr. Devine's letter stated that he had been in touch with Department of Education (DOE) officials to review the timeline and process for building a new school. According to Dr. Devine, the DOE said that bringing the plan before the public and even our outreach program is, at this time, very premature.  He further outlined an extensive mandated process that apparently the committee was unaware of during its now three year long effort to propose the building of a new school.

Dr. Devine faulted the consulting firm, JCJ Architects, that has been contracted to support the Facilities Needs Committee for not making them aware of the essential steps to be followed if the town is to receive state funds to help pay for the new construction.

The Little Compton Taxpayers Association was also on the July 9th council agenda to present an argument for the hiring of an independent engineering consultant to do an up-to-date estimate for repairing rather than replacing the school buildings. Roger Lord, one of our Board members, provided the council with a detailed example of a repair estimate from a 2006 contracted study being 300% higher than an actual quote for the same job from a reputable contractor obtained the day before the meeting.  He said that this example raises the question, "How many other repair estimates from the report were highly exaggerated to make repair seem unattractive as compared to building a new school?"  The council was spellbound with this information.

The council agreed to support this concept and approved a motion to ask the School Committee to take action to go out for bids for a new repair estimate.

So it is back to square one for the School Committee. Admittedly there are structural and building code issues at Wilbur & McMahon School. We think that it is time to get out the tools and start fixing problems and stop talking about them. There certainly is a large treasure chest of surplus funds that will go a long way towards correcting the situation. An independent estimate of repairs is a good place to start.

To read the entire text of Dr. Devine’s letter click here:

KENNEDY & LANGEVIN - CAP & TRADE
July 2, 2009

ANOTHER BAD SENATE BILL
June 21, 2009

In February of this year, the Senate introduced a bill (S-713) to amend RI General Law Chapter 28-9.3 entitled "Certified School Teachers' Arbitration" with the following:

"In the event that a successor collective bargaining agreement has not been agreed to by the parties, then the existing contract shall continue in effect until such time as an agreement has been reached between the parties."

The Westerly Sun, [Committee opposes bill extending contracts], June 21, 2009 reports:

“It is difficult to understand how anyone with an understanding of how it would operate could support it,” RISC Chairman Harry Staley said of the bill. “Unless a contract expires on its stated expiration date, there would be no incentive… for one of the parties to negotiate, depending upon who will benefit from the proposed extension.”

This basically blocks the town officials' efforts to eliminate or reduce the cost of expensive benefits.  The unions win and the taxpayers take it on the chin again.

Our own Senator, Sen. Louis DiPalma, voted in favor of this bill.  We shall remind you of this at the next election. Senator Louis P. DiPalma Democrat, District 12 Little Compton, Middletown, Newport, Tiverton

FIRE CHIEF RESIGNS!
(From: newsblog.projo.com)
June 11, 2009

LITTLE COMPTON, R. I. -- Fire Chief Robert Hay Wimer apparently resigned Thursday during an annual performance review by the Town Council after only one year on the job, according to Town Council President Robert L. Mushen.

Mushen said Wimer and the Town Council were in a closed meeting, at a routine performance review when Wimer was asked a question. Instead of answering it, "He pushed his cell phone and radio across the table and said, 'Here are these ,and I will turn in my vehicle shortly,' " Mushen said. He would not say what the question was.

Wimer did not give a reason for leaving, Mushen said. He sent Wimer a letter delivered to his house by a police officer that said the council is taking his verbal actions as a resignation. Mushen said he had not heard a reply from Wimer. The previous fire chief had been there nearly three years Mushen said.

Little Compton firefighter Fred Melnyk, the union president, said that Wimer had the full support of the union and the Fire Department. He said the department had not been notified of Wimer's status and could not comment on his apparent resignation.

Mushen said Wimer was a sergeant with the U.S. Air Force for 22 years where his last position was operations chief for a shift of 102 firefighters manning seven stations at the Eglin Air Force base in Florida. His father Herbert "Pete" Wimer had been a fire chief when Robert was a child, Mushen said.

In Little Compton Wimer presided over a Fire Department with 8 firefighters. He earned an annual salary of $50,000, according to Mushen.

"What we are going to do now is interview the eligible members of the department as to their interest in serving interim and or as a permanent roll as well as request assistance from the state Fire Chief's Association to look for someone who might come in at interim," Mushen said.

WELCOME BACK PRINCIPAL GIBNEY!
May 20, 2009

James Gibney, Principal of the Wilbur & McMahon School, attended tonight's School Committee meeting after recovering from a heart attack.  He has been a great asset to the school and we welcome him back.

FINANCIAL TOWN MEETING UNEVENTFUL!
May 19, 2009

Tonight's Little Compton Financial Town Meeting lasted about one hour from start to finish.  The end result is a tax rate that stays the same for another year.  Our only criticism was that the Moderator, Larry Anderson, was somewhat inconsistent with his rulings on what could be done and what could not be done within Robert's Rules of Parliamentary Procedures.  There was a motion to vote on all money-related strokes in a single vote. The voters agreed to that.  As has always been the case, the voters could take selected strokes out of the block and discuss/amend those separately.  There was one attempt to that, but the voters rejected it.  It was at this point that the Moderator allowed discussion of several town departments (school, police, fire) even though the associated strokes were NOT taken out of the block and what they had to say was not germane to the business at hand.  Then the Moderator said the voters could amend any stroke inside the block without taking it out of the block.  In fact, he did just that with one stroke and allowed it to be increased. This was very confusing and has set the stage for future confusion and irregularities.

SCHOOL BUDGET TOO BIG!
May 13, 2009

At the April 8th meeting of the Little Compton School Committee, the 2009/2010 budget (Fiscal Year 2010) was voted on.  During that meeting, Joe Quinn, a member and former head of the committee, proposed a series of budget cuts in an effort to absolutely minimize the tax burden on the taxpayers during these economic hard times.  The other four members ignored the proposals and wouldn't even 2nd the motion in order to debate the issues.  Mike Harrington, Don Gomez, Lynn Brousseau, and Micah Shapiro are the ones who said no.  We made a video clip of this part of the meeting.  Click on the link below to see how these four people chose to keep your taxes higher than necessary.

(See movie clip)   

TAX RATE TO GO DOWN!
April 23, 2009

At the April 23, 2009 Little Compton Town Council meeting, it was announced that the Fiscal Year 2010 tax rate will be reduced by 1-cent.  It's not much, but it is unlike previous years when the tax rate went up by the maximum allowed under the Paiva Weed Act.  The amount of property taxes raised is called the "levy" and that is only going up by approximately $12,000 over the current Fiscal Year total ($9.4-Million); but, the construction of new homes has expanded the tax base (i.e., more places to get property taxes from) resulting in the tax rate going down.  Although there were more cuts that the School Committee could have made (more to come on that), we congratulate the Town Council, the School Committee, and the Budget Committee for doing the right thing during these economic hard times.  That aren't many other towns than can make this claim.

Principal James Gibney Recovering
April 23, 2009

James Gibney, Principal of the Wilbur & McMahon School, is recovering from an unspecified illness.  We wish him a speedy recovery.

Panders In The School?
April 8, 2009

At the April 8, 2009 meeting of the Little Compton School Committee, one of the agenda items was to sign the contract that had just been negotiated with the support staff (teacher assistants, clerks, custodians, secretaries).  We don't think that the taxpayers made out very well in this new contract in that one of the provisions was how much of the health care premium the workers would pay.  While the rest of us are paying in the 30% to 50% range, this contract calls for only 3%.  What an abysmal job the School Committee did in negotiating this stinker.

Each member was asked to voice his or her opinion on the new contract.  Only Joe Quinn made mention of this ridiculously low co-pay.  But the most obnoxious remarks came from Lynn Brousseau when she insinuated that the workers didn't get enough salary out of the deal and that their union let them down.  This is pandering at its worst.  We need this like a hole in the head.  Watch the video clip.

(See movie clip)   

FINALLY!   We Have CAFS
February 21, 2009

After a long struggle and a lot of effort on the part of the Little Compton Taxpayers Association, we now have a modern day Compressed Air Foam System (CAFS) in the Fire Department that will go a long way toward improving the Town's record of saving homes from total loss in a fire. Under the direction of Chief Rob Weimer, the Fire Department purchased a brand new pumper to replace the rusting, inoperative Engine #2.  The new Engine #2 is equipped with CAFS and will be in full operation in April 2009.  For more information, see the CAFS article under "Articles" on the left panel.  There are two remaining steps: (1) retrofit Engine #1 with CAFS; and, (2) try to get the Town's ISO rating lowered in order to get better fire insurance rates for homeowners.

SCHOOL MASSACRE - The Sequel
January 25, 2009

Just watch the video!  (15 minutes)     

CAN I RING THAT UP FOR YOU?
December 21, 2008

Old fashioned cash registers had a bell that would ring every time the cash draw was opened. It was a signal to the store owner that something was going on at the register. It also served as a signal to the customer that they were about to part with some of their hard earned money.  Nowadays, the cash registers are silent. The amount of your purchase is displayed on a computer screen, and, in all likelihood, you slide your credit card through the little slot and don’t give a thought to what you had just spent until you get your bank statement.

Well, it looks like we need to install an old fashioned cash register at the Wilbur & McMahon School House in Little Compton, because we did not have to wait very long for the newly constituted School Committee to start spending our money.

In his first substantive act as the new Chairman, Michael Harrington entered a motion to hire a new “full time” teacher for the balance of the school year to augment the teaching staff for the first grade segment. Guess what? Mr. Harrington has a child in the first grade.

The proposal to beef up the first grade “resources,” as described by the Administration, was introduced by new committee member Lynn “It’s all about the children” Brousseau-LeBreaux who appears to have become the self-anointed Wailing Wall for whining parents and teachers. Our other new member, Micah J. Shapiro, seconded Harrington’s motion, and it was a done deal.

(See movie clip)

Prior to the vote Harrington said that an additional teacher was needed because “there’s a lot of boys in that class and they’re going kind of wild.” Sounds to me like a behavior problem that should be addressed by parents, not the taxpayers.

Back at the cash register, ring up $25,000 for the balance of the school year. The funds just happened to be lying around because Superintendent Dr. Harold Devine had doubled up as principal while we were searching for a new principal following the resignation of Mrs. Blaes.

 But what about next year? The first graders will be moving on up! Shall we change the student/teacher ratio again to accommodate Mr. Harrington’s second grader? And so forth and so on.

Although this is not technically an out-and-out conflict of interest because RI law limits ethics violations to financial gain, but it sure smells like one. Mr. Harrington should have recused himself. You had to be there to appreciate the excitement displayed by Mr. Harrington when the measure passed. He loudly applauded and cheered the vote. I do not remember ever seeing a committee chair displaying such glee at the passing of any action.

The new Chairman, Harrington, created an Ad Hoc committee to look into all-day Kindergarten. That ‘ringing’ sound you hear is the cash register to the tune of $100,000 +/- each year. By the way, one of the Ad Hoc committee members, Mrs. Lynn Brousseau-LeBreaux, has a child who will be entering Kindergarten next year. Anyone want to hazard a guess as to what the recommendations of the Ad Hoc committee will be?

(See movie clip)

As the late comic Jimmy Durante used to say, “You ain’t seen noth’n yet.” 2009 promises to be a record year at the Wilbur & McMahon cash register especially in view of the fact that another Ad Hoc committee is close to completing plans to build a new school at a cost reportedly well over 20 million dollars! OMG!

SCHOOL MASSACRE
November 26, 2008

See the Movie (13 min)

In a stunning turn of events today, the newly elected School Committee tossed out experience and accomplishments by electing Attorney Mike Harrington as its Chairman, and rejected incumbent Joe Quinn.  Mr. Quinn, a lifelong educator himself as well as an experienced contract negotiator, has been of tremendous benefit to our school by helping Wilbur & McMahon to be among the best in Rhode Island, attending numerous state conferences and hearings representing our interests, working with the school superintendent to develop fully accountable school department budgets, and taking part in teacher contract negotiations resulting in one of the best contracts ever seen in Little Compton. He also voted to outsource student transportation saving the taxpayers nearly $1 million over a 5-year contract.

In the mean time, Attorney Harrington was frequently absent from the meetings and negotiations, and fought against well behaved budgets and outsourcing transportation.  If you recall, he led the mindless pack at the May 17, 2005 Financial Town Meeting supporting a nearly $600K increase in the school budget with not a clue as to where to spend it.  That meeting dragged on for three evenings due to his misguided antics.  The record shows that the voters rebuked Harrington's senseless proposals.  And now he's the chairman of the School Committee.  Taxpayers beware!

And who caused this?  It was Lynn Brousseau who ran as an endorsed Republican in the November 4th election only to turn against the Republicans by nominating both Attorney Harrington as the Chair; and, new-comer Micah Shapiro, a registered Democrat, as the clerk.  When confronted, her response was that she did not believe in "party loyalty" but was for "the kids".  She also said the teachers are angry and miserable, and so are the children.  She must see something that nobody else does.  She went on to be elected as the vice-chair, and Micah Shapiro became the clerk.  Joe Quinn, Don Gomez, and their combined experience were dumped in favor of two new-comers.  [Click Here for Ms. Brousseau's exact words].

Mr. Harrington  was notorious for not participating in the former School Committee work. He rarely participated in bargaining sessions and allegedly did not read his mail or the agenda before the meetings on numerous occasions.  He refused to participate in the evaluation of the superintendent when invited to do so and left it to the rest of the committee.  How anyone could look at that record, which speaks for itself, and justify the decision to promote such a person to the chair of committee is deranged. And they declare it is "for the kids"! With friends like that, the kids don't need enemies. Duplicity and subterfuge are ugly when dealing with the serious task of the education of our children. The last refuge of scoundrels is to wrap themselves in the mantel of high purpose.

During the last three years there have been many problems of long standing cleaned up by the former leadership of the committee. These deeds were seldom articulated or discussed. Quietly, the problems were simply fixed and they moved on. These problems will be discussed at length in future publications so that the taxpayers of this town can see how badly they were served by the recent election and committee reorganization. 

There was no justification to turn out an experienced educator from the chair - none! And none was offered. To assert that any of them is even close to being as qualified as an educator and leader as Mr. Quinn is absurd. How can they claim it's about "the kids" after pulling such a stunt. The National Education Association vowed to "get" the ones that outsourced the transportation function. They delivered, at the expense of the taxpayers of Little Compton. The taxpayers should be outraged.  This whole thing is nothing more than dirty politics - nothing more.  Nothing! 

What can you do?  Go to the School Committee meetings and voice your opinions loudly and strongly.  They meet on the 2nd Wednesday of every month at 7:00 pm in the school's open court area.