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Committee Votes on Coventry Schools Restructure Plan Tonight

[CREDIT: Rob Borkowski] A slide in Superintendent Don Cowart's review of his Coventry Schools restructure plan, which many critics said did not adequately answer questions raised Jan. 11.
[CREDIT: Rob Borkowski] A slide in Superintendent Don Cowart's review of his Coventry Schools restructure plan, which many critics said did not adequately answer questions raised Jan. 11.
[CREDIT: Rob Borkowski] A slide in Superintendent Don Cowart’s review of his Coventry Schools restructure plan, which many critics said did not adequately answer questions raised Jan. 11.

COVENTRY, RI — Tonight, at 6 p.m. the School Committee will vote on whether to move forward with Superintendent Don Cowart’s Coventry Schools restructure plan, a move parents have overwhelmingly urged them away from for weeks.

The last meeting on the issue Feb. 5 required a vote to proceed past the three hour mark to accommodate speakers for the second time on the issue. No speakers were in favor of Cowart’s plan. Online, Chris Schuler has posted a petition to halt the plan, “STOP the Coventry Public School Reconfiguration Proposal” The petition has 572 signatures.

Prior to the meeting at Coventry High School, 60 Reservoir Road, several parents and students will rally oustide the building as they did Feb. 5, said Dorinne Albright.

“We’ll be rallying outside the high school at 5:30 again, ahead of the 6 p.m. meeting on Thursday,” Albright said.

The Coventry Schools Restructure Plan converts Blackrock School to an early learning center, creating two sister-school pairs: Washington Oak (K-3) / Western Coventry (4-5) and Tiogue (K-12) /Hopkins Hill (3-5). The middle school and high school remain as-is. This approach would eliminate 10-15 elementary teaching positions, saving the district $2.1 million with pending retirements, “allowing the district to maintain intervention and support services for students,”  according to Cowart’s Jan. 19 message to the community.

In that message, Cowart says the ‘status quo’ plan would rely on enrollment data for staffing cuts, eliminating four elementary teaching positions and two interventionist positions, saving the district $1.04 million with pending retirements. This plan would require cutting positions, programs and extracurricular activities at the middle school and high school, according to Cowart’s assessment.
One School Committee member, David Florio, expressed his opposition to the plan during the Feb. 5 meeting.
Several parents have already expressed their doubts about and opposition to the plan, including concerns centering on cost, bussing complications, the negative effects on families’ schedules, PTA reorganizations, and a persistent lack of facts or studies backing up his approach. Parents raised the concerns during both the Jan. 11 and Feb. 5 meetings.
Sasha Dougle said that the resilience of children is not a valid reason to force the change Cowart proposes on the children. She said he had to be resilient herself as a child.
“I have had to be resilient since kindergarten because I looked different,” Dougle said. But, she said her past challenges don’t justify throwing challenges as students needlessly.
“Failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on ours,” “William Milllette said to Cowart during the Feb. 5 meeting. Also, he said, “Just because we’re saving money doesn’t mean it’s going to go back in to the schools.” He also told the Committee, “You were elected because we expect you to convey our wishes for our children.”
Hilary Connors noted the belated disclosure that Cowarts plan is intended to save the district money.
“It is deeply disappointing that this detail was never once mentioned in the first presentation,” Connors said. “All of this is happening too fast to make this magnitude of a change happen smoothly.” She also criticized Cowart for not involving parents or teachers in his planning.
Video of additional comments by parents about the plan have been included below:

Rob Borkowski
Author: Rob Borkowski

Rob has worked as reporter and editor for several publications, including The Kent County Daily Times and Coventry Courier, before working for Gatehouse in MA then moving home with Patch Media. Now he's publisher and editor of WarwickPost.com. Contact him at [email protected] with tips, press releases, advertising inquiries, and concerns.

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