School Committee Race: 5 Hope To Win 2 Seats

WARWICK, RI — Five candidates are vying for two at-large seats in the Warwick School Committee race Tuesday, including two incumbents, with four moving to the general election.

Current at-large School Committee members, Vice Chair David Testa and Karen Bachus, will compete against challengers Zach Colon, Anthony G. Corrente and Sean P. Wiggins. The four School Committee race candidates with the most votes will progress to the General Election Nov. 5, vying for the two seats that open when the incumbents’ terms end.

Below are brief profiles on each candidate and links to their campaign pages, starting with the challengers:

Warwick School Committee Race Candidates

Zach Colon

Warwick Post: Warwick School Committee 2024 Election Q&A – Colon

In 2016, Zachary Colón led Toll Gate and Pilgrim High students on a walkout protesting inadequate  special education staffing, and in 2020 he made an unsuccessful bid to rep. Ward 9 on the Warwick City Council.

“Warwick Public Schools gave so much to me, and I believe the best way I can show my gratitude is to do my best to give back to our students and future generations. As a candidate for the Warwick School Committee, I hope to bridge better communication between the City Council, Mayor’s office, and the School Committee, further strengthen our robust Warwick Area Career & Technical Center programs, expand Universal Pre-K to all Warwick Public Schools, and foster a supportive, welcoming, and inclusive space for all students to become their own best self,” Colon wrote on his campaign page.

Colon has also been endorsed by the Rhode Island Democratic Women’s Caucus.

Sean Wiggins

Warwick Post: Warwick School Committee 2024 Election Q&A – Wiggins

Sean Wiggins, an Intellectual Property Manager in the retail industry, is currently the trademarks senior specialist for Energizer Holdings. The lifelong Warwick resident and his wife, Jordan, are parents to three boys, one in Warwick elementary schools, one in the city’s secondary school system and another graduated from the district. He has one child with an IEP.

Wiggins has been a legal professional for 25 years and a baseball, basketball and soccer coach for 20 years.

Wiggins says his experience with his son’s IEP and his insight from his wife’s work as a special education teacher assistant inspires him to ensure special educators in Warwick are provided the necessary resources. Similarly, he said he’ll work to provide all teachers suitable working conditions and the resources they need to succeed.

“These programs need to be given every available resource at both the elementary and secondary levels. We must support our children and we must provide schools, educators and staff with everything they need to be able to give every student their opportunity to learn, grow and achieve their goals,” Wiggins said of his bid in the School Committee race.

Tony Corrente

Editor’s note: Corrente did not progress past the primary, and is not on the ballot Nov. 5.

Tony Corrente, born and raised in Warwick, graduated from Toll Gate High School in 1994. He is the chairperson of West Bay Community Action’s Board of Directors and a former member of the Elizabeth Buffum Chase Center Board of Directors.

On his campaign Facebook page, Corrente said he would:

• Provide teachers necessary resources. “I will work collaboratively with school administrators, the union, and city leadership to ensure that all allocated funds are being used cost-effectively.”
• Work with state lawmakers to fully fund state mandates for schools.
• Work to ensure special education services are “properly funded”  and supported by school administrators so students and teachers have the tools to succeed.

Karen Bachus

Warwick Post: Warwick School Committee 2024 Election Q&A – Bachus

Following a tumultuous first half of 2023, Karen Bachus’s Warwick School Committee term survived news of DUI and assault charges that February that led for calls for her resignation. In May of 2023, the assault charge was filed until May 2024, and the DUI charge against her was dropped.

Since 2023, Bachus has quietly served the last year of her four-year term.

Bachus, a clinical social worker with the RI Department of Behavioral Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Hospitals, was first elected to the Warwick School Committee in 2012, then reelected in 2016 and 2020, earning either the most votes of candidates on the ballot or the second most votes.

During her time on the board, Bachus has distinguished herself as an outspoken and often contrarian voice, standing up for Warwick Schools’s caution when Gov. Gina Raimondo shamed them for not returning to school more quickly in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, and joined efforts to disclose the publicly-paid Ragosta Report to the community.

“I believe that I shine a light on matters that the public, and often the Committee, are not aware of (i.e., the Atoyan/Ragosta Investigation, Consolidation Issues in the Schools, Special Education teaching supplies, etc…). It is important to bring things to the table so that the Committee has the information and can make decisions when it comes to students, teachers, schools,” Bachus said while running in the 2016  School Committee race.

David Testa

Warwick Post: Warwick School Committee 2024 Election Q&A – Testa

First elected in 2016, David Testa, of Narragansett Parkway, has been a Warwick citizen since 1992. He’s a category manager for Gordon Food Service in Taunton, MA. His three kids with Laura, his high school sweetheart, all attended Warwick Schools. He has IEP experience, and spent 15 years studying the district before his initial bid for a Warwick School Committee seat.

Testa, whose campaign website is available at davidtesta.com, has alternated in recent years between School Committee president and vice president roles, this year serving on the board as the vice president.

“In my professional life I manage a $125 million category and lead a team of 28, so I understand budgets and I understand what leadership means. I know how to work with people. I think people can trust me to be fair and honest and those three things – leadership, trust, and honesty – are among the qualities I bring to the School Committee,” Testa said in a 2016 interview/ Q&A  for the School Committee race.

Tuesday Primary Polling Hours & Places

All polling places in the state open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m., with the exception of New Shoreham, which opens at 9 a.m.

You will be allowed to cast your vote if you are in line at your polling location by 8 p.m.

The city of Warwick has listed polling places by precinct on Board of Canvassers website.

This is the first election during which legislation introduced by Rep. Patricia A. Serpa and Sen. Leonidas P. Raptakis allowing independent voters an auto primary disaffiliation option, passed by the General Assembly in June, takes effect. Starting with this primary, disaffiliation is automatic for all independent voters, solving some long-standing issues for voters.