McCaffrey Interim Superintendent, Dambruch On 30-Day Leave

WARWICK, RI  – The School Committee Wednesday voted 5 to 0 appointing Assistant Superintendent William McCaffrey to serve as Interim Superintendent while Lynn Dambruch takes a 30-day leave.

Dambruch, who served as Assistant Superintendent under Superintendent Phil Thornton before being appointed to the position in 2021, is taking the leave to attend a personal matter, said Warwick School Committee Chairman Shaun Galligan. Dambruch has been with the district for 40 years, starting as a teacher in 1985 and later serving as Director of Elementary Education.

McCaffrey has also has served as Director of Secondary Education. A 27-year member of the Warwick Public Schools administration, he has served as director of the Warwick Area Career and Technical Center. McCaffrey is also the son of the late Eugene McCaffrey, former mayor of Warwick, is the father of three.

In other news, the committee also approved early bid packages for the new Pilgrim High School, along with the Stage 3 design submission to RIDE.

The revised design was a “significant milestone,” according to Chris Spiegel of Left Field Management. Galligan said he was pleased with the additional 6,400 square feet of space designated for physical education.

“What’s important to me is that we graduate (children) that are proficient in math, reading and writing but are also healthy and active,” Galligan said. “I’m very appreciative of the modifications you all made. This is a huge night for our community. I’m ecstatic that tonight we’re about to take that step forward.”

“As someone who has been involved with this project from the beginning, I’m very proud of the community,” said committee member David Testa. “Everyone involved in this should be proud of themselves.”

Spiegel said all three bid packages were under budget.

Spiegel said that since there is national discussion about tariffs being placed on steel from Canada, an American company was selected.

Capco Steel will be the steel erectors for the work, Spiegel noted. Capco’s bid was $8.41 million, which Spiegel noted was $699,500 under budget. The committee approved it 5 to 0.

“I believe this is the absolute right way to go considering the market uncertainty coming out at the federal level,” Spiegel said, noting the Canadian companies which did submit bids had been “non-competitive.”

Concrete contract goes to Marguerite

In a 5 to 0 vote, the committee approved awarding the contract for concrete for new schools to Marguerite, which bid $5,597,000 – more than $200,000 below the budget of $5.8 million.

The committee approved Schindler to handle the elevator service in a 5 to 0 vote. The bid was $259,000. The budgeted amount was $375,000.

The construction start has not yet been announced.  The move-in date for the high schools is planned to be sometime between July through August 2027.

Author: Joe Siegel

Joe Siegel is a regular contributing writer for WarwickPost.com. His reporting has appeared in The Sun Chronicle in Attleboro and EDGE.