School Committee Hears Grant Manager & Teaching Assistant Requests

WARWICK, RI — Tonight’s live-streamed Warwick School Committee meeting at 7 p.m. at Warwick Veterans Middle School features three requests for new full-time positions: a grant manager and two IEP-required teaching assistants.

During the meeting, Brandon Bohl, director of finance for Warwick Schools, will make a case for adding a non-union Assistant Controller – Grant & Bond Finance Manager, making $85K – 95K.  

“In FY23, the district spent $13M in grant funds; the burden of accounting for these funds and obtaining reimbursement for them has become such that a skilled full-time grant manager/ accountant is necessary. There was previously a WISE union member acting as a Grants Accountant who has resigned. The responsibility of grant reporting and tracking has fallen onto the Controller for the time being,” Bohl wrote in his proposal to Superintendent Lynn Dambruch.

“The approval of the city bond for new high school construction adds another workflow that will necessitate someone with experience managing large capital funds. The individual we hire will work closely with our Capital Projects department and our future OPM service provider in order to accurately track expenditures related to the bond, and provide regular reporting on the projects,” Bohl continued. 

IEPs Require Two New Teaching Assistants

Similarly, Jennifer Evans, senior manager of student services, notified Dambruch in a Jan. 2 memo that two full-time, one-one teaching assistants are needed, one at Warwick Vets Middle School and Norwood Elementary, respectively, to satisfy individual students’ individualized education program(IEP)s for students with behavioral/safety needs.

Veterans Middle School HVAC repairs

Kevin Oliver, director of facilities, maintenance & operations, is requesting $60,000 for Delta Mechanical, which is assessing and repairing the HVAC system at Veterans Middle School. Each new teacher assistant costs the district $32,320, according to Dambruch.

The agenda also includes the following reports:

• Bond Project Status Update
• High School Project Update
• FY2024 Monthly Financial Report and Year End Review, delivered by Bohl

The full Warwick School Committee Jan. 9, 2024 agenda and documents filed for the meeting are posted to the School Department’s Google Drive folder.