Warwick Schools Resignations Claim Finance, WELC, Wyman, Curriculum Tech Chiefs

WARWICK, RI – The school district was rocked by high profile resignations Thursday, including Timothy McGrath, the Director of Finance; Julie Martin, the Principal of Warwick Early Learning Center (WELC); Denise Milburn, the Principal of Wyman Elementary, and Dawn Manchester, the Curriculum Technology Coordinator.

Noelle Wright, a Special Education teacher at WELC, also submitted her resignation.

“I’ll miss you because I think you were very good at what you did,” School Committee Chairman David Testa said during Thursday’s Warwick School Committee meeting, addressing McGrath, who will be departing at the end of the school year.

McGrath has served as Finance Director since December 2021, following the departure of Robert Baxter, who left to take over as Business Administrator for the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School District in Dighton, MA.

“With the resignation of Julie Martin, the faculty and staff at WELC are devastated,” said Roberta Musservie, a teacher assistant at WELC. “We have been beyond fortunate to have Julie as our leader. To say the last few years have been rough would be a gross understatement. The COVID years were difficult. Post COVID years even more so. (Martin) did her very best day after day to keep us doing our very best all the while having little or no support from outside our doors. It has become our mission to make sacrifices and make sense of the untenable situations that we face daily.”

Musservie added Martin had navigated the last few years with “integrity, honesty, and perseverance.”

Noelle Wright, a Special Education teacher at WELC, also submitted her resignation.

No explanations were provided for the resignations.

The committee voted 3-2 to hire a Controller for the Finance Department. Testa, Karen Bachus, and Michelle Kirby Chapman were in favor, with Shaun Galligan and Leah Hazelwood in opposition.

“This position is vital to the financial operations of the district,” Superintendent Lynn Dambruch wrote on March 8 to the school committee. “A financial controller essentially is a district’s lead accountant. They oversee accounting activities and ensure that ledgers accurately reflect money coming in and out of the district. Strategically, controllers also impact decision making, forecasting, and budgeting at the district level, based on accounting data.”

“When Mr. McGrath was promoted to the Director of Finance in December of 2021 and vacated the Controller position, we posted the vacancy in February of 2022,” Dambruch noted. “Four applications were received, none of which were qualified. It was reposted again in May of 2022 with six applicants who were also not qualified. Having no viable options for the position at that time, we worked within the current staff to try to meet the needs of the department. The staff has done a tremendous job during this transition, and have stepped up to support the department’s needs.”

“It’s definitely a necessary position,” McGrath said, adding he believes it will take two people to replace him.

Hazelwood was concerned about the uncertainty of the next budget cycle.

“It’s hard for me to approve a position without even knowing what we’re going have to do yet,” Hazelwood said.

“I think the position is needed because I think it’s going to be a bit of a struggle to find somebody,” Testa said. “We’ve always had a controller in (the finance) department. It’s a $170 million budget. There’s a lot of expenditures that go through it. I think it’s pretty dangerous knowing what the landscape is like for those positions. It’s going to affect students, it’s going to affect staff, it’s going to affect staff up and down the chain.”

Galligan said he still felt “anxiety” after discussing the budget with McGrath.

“To have an un-budgeted expense at this point in the year, especially when we have a couple of line items that are over budget, and the position not 100 percent support the educational needs of the kids in the classroom, I’m not going to be able to support this this evening,” Galligan added.

Bachus DUI arrest draws criticism

A Warwick resident demanded Bachus resign from the school committee due to her arrest last month for driving under the influence. Bachus was charged with refusal to submit to a chemical test, DUI, and also simple assault.

“If you cared about this city and the children like you say you do, you would resign and you would do it now,” said Cindy Wilson. “Driving while intoxicated was a danger to everyone, not just you. Assaulting a police officer was showing no respect and is indicative of the kind of person you are. You should show respect for this city and resign immediately.”

Bachus did not comment.