The school system plays an important role in the life of our community. Many people chose to live in Richmond because of the quality of our public schools. As local taxpayers and candidates for School Committee, we have the highest expectations for our school district, and we will be vocal in our goal of excellence in public education. We believe excellence can be achieved with accountability, academic transparency and affordability. We are committed to all “A’s” for Chariho!
We believe the Chariho School District can and should be the best school district in Rhode Island, setting the standard for academic excellence. Chariho should be the best in every category – the best in academics and athletics. The best in student safety, transparency and family communication. We should be the recognized leader in career and technical education and marketing Chariho as such. With our exceptional educators leading the way, we believe that the level of academic excellence we envision can be achieved when strong partnerships are fostered and cultivated among teachers, students, parents, staff, administrators and……taxpayers. We envision a school district where each constituency group invests in this goal, recognizing that we all play a unique and critical role in achieving a level of excellence that we’ve never seen before.
We believe that our vision can be achieved in a fiscally responsible manner and our candidacies offer a “life preserver” for you, the taxpayers. We CAN have great schools, AND sustainable budgets. If you share our vision, we would appreciate your support for Chariho School Committee on November 5th.
The pillars of our School Committee platform include all “A’s” for Chariho:
OUR PLATFORM
ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE:
With a $70 million "all-in" school budget, we believe Chariho should be the best district in RI, using traditional curricula with a strong emphasis on the core basics of reading, math, writing and science
We will insist that “Academic Excellence” be listed as an agenda item for every School Committee meeting with metrics-based goals identified and meaningful discussions on strategies to meet those goals
Chariho should be setting the bar state-wide for academic exceptionalism and preparing each student for a productive future
AFFORDABILITY:
We believe Chariho can be the best school district in RI while also being fiscally responsible and accountable to the taxpayers
We will examine the school budget annually to ensure that our goal of academic excellence is being supported, that contracts are fair and financially sustainable, that annual spending is sound and efficient, and that student enrollment is factored in when determining an appropriate and responsible staff size
As the founders of the Forgotten Taxpayers PAC, we believe that taxpayers have a voice and should be respected because after all, you, the taxpayers, fund the local school district
ACCOUNTABILITY & EXPECTATIONS:
We will work collaboratively with educators and administrators to identify “stretch”, metrics-based academic expectations in core subject areas
We will empower the Superintendent to work with the team of educators, parents and staff to achieve those “stretch”, metrics-based goals. It’s not enough to say “we will improve math scores by the end of the academic year.” We believe that a specific goal be identified. For example, “We will improve 8th grade math scores by 10 points by the end of next quarter”
We believe the School Committee must hold the Superintendent accountable in reaching, and surpassing academic goals and maintaining a safe and respectful learning environment
We believe bullying should not be tolerated and distracts from achieving the goal of academic excellence. We believe the Administration and educators must partner with parents to foster a bully-free learning environment
We believe the School Department is accountable to the local taxpayers and should proactively communicate with all taxpayers on topics related to budgets and bond votes
ACADEMIC TRANSPARENCY:
With accountability comes academic transparency. We will advocate for full and open transparency of all lesson plans in the Chariho District. We believe parents and taxpayers should be able to review the lesson plans their children are learning
Academic transparency ensures that lessons are age-appropriate, non-divisive, and focused on skills critical for success in life
We believe in the rights of parents to direct the values of their children and be active participants in their education and should be free from vilification for advocating for such
We believe there is no place for politics or sexually explicit topics in the classroom
PARTNERSHIP & COMMUNICATION:
Academic excellence can only be achieved when all stakeholders - parents, educators, administrators and students are united and partner together in achieving academic excellence
We welcome input at School Committee meetings and encourage and empower all stakeholders to speak, have a voice and be heard. We will advocate for the “sign-up” requirement before the start of each School Committee meeting be abolished – you should be able to speak without this frivolous restriction