SAVE NORTH KINGSTOWN
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56% of Registered NK Voters are Independent
This is just an example of what the North Kingstown students, and their parents, have had to deal with over the last thirty years.
Are you ready for change yet??
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https://www.wpri.com/target-12/former-north-kingstown-coach-aaron-thomas-pleads-not-guilty-in-naked-fat-test-case/ utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=referral&fbclid=IwAR0gTeSAVifJgBzjzFguyzBmJaAxQWTmUezamdMPiPbHlfrf3iwecm7vEsQ
School Committee Investigations
By now, you are probably all aware that the SC hired Attorney Matthew Oliverio to conduct two different investigations in regards to the Aaron Thomas allegations. Phase 1 was completed and the report turned over to Auger/NKSD/NKSC on 6/18/21. On 11/6/21, the SC voted to have Oliverio conduct a Phase 2 investigation, (mostly due to media and public pressure) “to determine if any actionable information regarding violation of district policies came to the attention of the district administration prior to 2021, and, if so what, if any, appropriate action was taken.”
Unlike what most think of when they hear the word “investigation”, everyone should be aware that THIS is not THAT. Oliverio has been hired (paid) to do exactly what he is told to do in terms of what he can and can’t look into. For example, his Phase 1 investigation focused only on “Aaron Thomas’ conduct”. Phase 2 is ONLY focused on “if any actionable information regarding violation of DISTRICT POLICIES came to the attention of the DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION prior to 2021, and, if so what, if any, appropriate action was taken.” “Appropriate” is a subjective word that was probably used to leave room for interpretation.
Just as important as what they tasked him to investigate is what they DID NOT include in the scope of the investigation: looking into THEM (their actions or inactions as SC members), violations of state reporting laws, and investigating other key players (coaches, former ADs, other staff who may have known & whose names were specifically mentioned by a whistleblower in Oliverio’s Phase 1 report).
So when members of the SC and the community suggest that we all be patient and wait for Oliverio’s 2nd report to come out at the end of January, I hope they understand what exactly he was tasked to investigate. I suspect that many will be confounded and upset by that report, given all that we now know from every other source BUT the NKSD.
Remember: it has been 7 months since the SC received that report and its recommendations and to date, not one recommendation has been discussed or implemented, to the public’s knowledge. In fact, the report was only released to the public 6 months later because the SC was compelled by others to do so, not out of a desire for transparency.I am grateful that the Feds are now involved, because this is where the real investigating will occur.PS- If you live in NK, your tax dollars are paying for these investigations and the $25k review of those investigations by the judge hired by our town council. There is a gentleman in town who has filed an APRA to get the NKSD/SC to release to the public the cost of these investigations. They are now legally bound to do so.
McGuirl Report (https://legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/1421307/Judge_McGuirl_Report.pdf?fbclid=IwAR27kPkk7WWKjJeosBSuT16lWSVus49zgvHuMj6eKK4tpC3InBQpZx1PbfY&mibextid=vgW32m&fs=e&s=cl)
Click on each picture to enlarge it.
Oct 2022
In April, which was declared by Biden to be National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month, a resident asked you all during a TC meeting to create a resolution to support a bill before the GA which would protect children from sexual abuse at the hands of those in a supervisory role. Mr. Mancini, part of your response was “The TC needs to stay in its lane” with regards to writing resolutions on bills before the General Assembly. And yet, with your support, Katie Anderson has done just that with this gun violence awareness resolution. Ironically, one of the Judge’s recommendations was to encourage you all to work alongside our legislators to create legislation that will prevent this abuse from ever happening again.
You have 4 school employees who have now been placed on administrative leave due to student allegations against them, 4 other employees who have resigned or retired early, 2 pending lawsuits, 6 investigations into these allegations and inevitably much more fallout to come. But instead, just as the McGuirl report is released, you put forth this new resolution. The timing is suspect and it really seems like political theater and an effort to distract us from the many ways in which our administrators and elected officials have failed to keep our children safe. Even now, the fact that you wouldn’t release Judge McGuirl’s report until 2 hours before this meeting makes you no different from the SC members. When will the leaders in this town STOP trying to minimize and be willfully blind to all of these sexual abuse allegations and accept that major mistakes were made? According to the Judge: “when a school fails, they lost the trust of the community they serve.” Not one of you will help rebuild that trust and fix this system if your focus continues to be on your own reputation, your re-election campaign, the reputation of the school or town and acting in your own interest to save your seat.
Our District is on fire, but let the focus continue to be on gender neutral terms. I’d like to see just one post pertaining to fixing, healing this district.
Real “inclusivity.”
P.s. - I wouldn’t appreciate being addressed by most of the below nor would I want my child to address anyone as “niblings.”
Unreal!!!
This is not the only coach that NK has passed along . We complained in 2018 about a coach who used his physical presence to intimidate my daughter…over and over…he carried on for over 1 year. I’ll spare you the disturbing details, but let’s just say we filed a formal complaint against this person and Dr Auger never as so much as called me or my husband to ask questions, he just handed down an unfavorable decision. I had to push further and threaten an order of no contact from NKPD. That was when they listened and removed this coach from his job…BUT he was passed along to a neighboring district, how?? Why?? He lasted 18 months and has landed another coaching job…same disturbing behavior. This needs to stop, admin needs to step up…we tell our students “see something say something” when they say something we need to listen!
An assessment of the current state of the NKSD:
With the abrupt departure of so many in the NKSD, the inner workings have now been exposed.
The reality is that there are currently 3 people running the show: Jen Lima, Brian Lally (Director of HR/Title IX Coordinator) & union president Sue Warburton. No superintendent, no assistant superintendent, Blasbalg and Hildebrand checked out long ago, Hoskins keeps quiet & Case just moved here.
Lima & Lally work closely together on the DEI subcommittee. In fact, that subcommittee and promoting its agenda items seem to be their top priority, to the detriment of everything else that should have higher priority at this point in our district.
Don’t believe me? Go back & read the meeting minutes from their meetings and then line them up with what is put on the SC meeting agendas. I have included the September meeting minutes below.
While the district is in dire straits, Lima & Lally have spent hours in DEI meetings discussing changing names on district forms (to not be so “offensive”), changing the mission statement of the DEI, proposing changes to NKSD job descriptions to attract more diverse applicants, and the numerous requirements that come along with the equity audit.
I don’t know how Lima and certainly Lally have much time for anything else. In fact, maybe he doesn’t; we have, after all, had to hire a separate Title IX consultant so what exactly is he handling as Title IX coordinator? Furthermore, in McGuirl’s report, which came out in June, she mentions that Aaron Thomas left his office with various materials that should never have been allowed to happen, but did. The NKSD was supposed to inventory those items and report back to the NKPD last year—to her knowledge, no one in the NKSD ever did. (See screenshot below from her report.) Is this not the job of the Director of HR? Instead, Lally is apparently spending most of his time on the DEI subcommittee initiatives. And recruiting members of the administration to help, thereby taking their time away from their other responsibilities to the district.
For example, to change the language on district forms (to be more inclusive or sensitive) requires both manpower and money. First, the forms need to be identified, then the language agreed upon & changed. Ultimately, it will then need to be changed back in order to submit it to RIDE or the Federal government as all forms need to be consistent (they will not accept the language of some people from North Kingstown). In the DEI September meeting minutes, the committee even admits that “the work is very involved”.
I could provide many more examples and encourage everyone to research for themselves. The gist is, our SC meetings and NKSD actions have been dominated by the goals of DEI subcommittee. While our district is facing lawsuits, sexual abuse allegations, mental health crises, upcoming contract negotiations and budget season, and the inability to attract quality hires due to the mess we’re in, the main focus of those in charge is way out of whack.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record: ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES!
We need to fill the 2 open SC positions with people who will challenge these 3 to refocus and do what they were hired or elected to do. Students’ testing scores are abysmal, they and the teachers are dealing with 2+ years’ of learning loss, students and NKSD employees desperately want to be able to trust their leadership again. Voters can help improve upon all of these issues, but not if we vote in the same old same old & more “yes men”.
In less than a month, we either right this ship or we’re sunk. It’s as simple as that, and the choice is ours to make. ~MCR
There are 6 candidates running for 2 SC positions.
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Karen Kuzminsky (I)
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Krystle Simas (I)
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Robert Jones (R)
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Jamie Gallo (R)
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Erin Earle (D)
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Tom Briody (D)
As you can imagine, I
have researched them all. I knew the least about the 2 Dems & one of the reasons is that they haven’t joined this page (Fixing A Broken System: https://www.facebook.com/groups/341680677544966) and shared any comments. So I reached out to them each directly to ask pointed questions. Both refused to answer me via email and instead wanted to meet with me. For me, that was a non-starter. On the other hand, I see that the Independents have both been asked similar questions that I had by others in the community and have taken the time to answer those questions directly and publicly. Those questions can be viewed on their page: Independents of North Kingstown. I encourage anyone with direct questions to email or reach out to these candidates prior to the election. In the case of our district these days, the silence is DEAFENING. ~Megan Collier Reilly
The following information is all factual, based upon direct conversations and/or emails with current SC members and hours of research including public records requests.
In addition to all of the sexual abuse issues, investigations and lawsuits our district is facing, are the following:
1) In a candid admission, a SC member stated that the entire committee was receiving bad legal advice while at the same time admitting that she did not know that Atty Carroll was the SC lawyer. In writing, I had to correct her and explain the process whereby any SC member can revisit their choice in counsel and request a discussion/vote to obtain new counsel. Shortly thereafter, this did happen (although Carroll is still working for them behind the scenes).
2) Through much work (& all in writing), it was determined that former COO Mary King was in breach of her contract by consulting for the Ponaganset School District during her last few weeks at the NKSD…while she was earning an extra $600/day stipend from us. According to 2 members of the SC, after I provided them with all of this information: “We had no idea”. King earned @$42k in stipends from March till her June 30th end date with the NKSD, was suggested to Ponaganset by our NKSC Attorney Carroll, and breached her contract, but the SC—that now knows about this—has not done a thing about this.
3) In the SC’s 9/20/22 response to the Town Council regarding Judge McGuirl’s recommendations, a consultant was mentioned. I personally know of at least 2 residents who emailed the SC for more details like: who is this consultant? What company does s/he work for? How is this consultant being compensated (with our taxpayer $)? What are his/her qualifications? Who hired this consultant? Etc. Other than Lima deferring to Greg Blasbalg and Mike Waterman to answer, not one person has responded. Therefore, an APRA (public records request) needed to be filed and the answers are still pending.
4) Mary King retired as COO/Director of Finance. Immediately, the position was split into 2 and Waterman became COO (earning along with his salary an additional $300/month stipend for “traveling expenses”) & a new person was hired as Dir. of Finance. Yet, upon obtaining the job descriptions for both positions, one can see they are virtually identical. (I have the photo evidence but will have to post it later.)
Has the SC any idea of this? Why wouldn’t they ask—as I did—why one woman could handle all of those responsibilities for years and suddenly now we need 2 people to handle it all?
5) The SC is perfectly content or refuses to act (now that they know) about the aforementioned, but back in March, I spent weeks asking for (and having my requests ignored) extra funding for our teachers for school supplies. The best they would do is to get paper towel rolls and cleaning spray for the classrooms.
6) Jen Lima continues to throw them all under the bus. First, it was her public statement about how they had, in fact, made mistakes regarding the sexual abuse problems (yet with no mention of how they would work toward fixing those missteps) & just yesterday, making a post on the insensitivity of scheduling a SC meeting on Yom Kippur. But the 10/4 SC meeting was announced (and on the books) at least 2 weeks ago (they occur every other Tuesday) & Yom Kippur has been on the calendar, too, so why didn’t she protest this before? Either it was an insincere post or she doesn’t pay attention to the SC calendar.
7) During a one-on-one meeting with Lima in July, she said “at this point, I’m just going to try to push through whatever I can”. She has taken exception to my classification of her as a political activist (I made a post which was shared with her then she posted a retort on her own page). Not sure what the rest of you would call a person who made a statement like that, but that’s my definition. As a parent, hearing that statement made me furious.
Mr Briody is an atty who defends pedophiles. He’s on the same executive committee with the atty defending AT.
I understand the world needs criminal defense attorneys., but this connection is just to close to home.
Am I the only one who sees this as a moral conflict?
Sharing part of a letter:
Tom Briody is a Democrat candidate for School Committee in North Kingstown, a town whose schools have been rocked by scandals of sexual child abuse which was covered up by the school administration. Mr. Briody is a criminal defense attorney whose practice includes defending persons charged with sexual child abuse and possession of child pornography. In fact, due to his aptitude for handling these types of cases, he is often assigned by courts as defense counsel for defendants accused of these crimes. Now, let’s be clear. When Mr. Briody is performing this service inside the court room, it is entirely appropriate and necessary for our system of justice to operate since every accused has the right to counsel and a fair trial. However, change the context to whether such a person is the right choice to sit on a committee with responsibility for overseeing the conduct of teachers and coaches and the responses of school administrators in a community with a sustained history of sexual abuse and cover up within its educational apparatus and the question becomes whether someone who regularly represents accused pedophiles is a prudent choice to fulfill the role of a school committee member in this community, given its history? For this and other reasons, we think not.
It is telling that Mr. Briody chose not to disclose this part of his practice in his June 7, 2022 letter to the chairman of the Democratic Town Committee seeking candidacy for the School Committee. Nor did he mention it in his July 2, 2022 profile to the public, simply describing himself as a criminal defense lawyer, leaving out an important data point voters should weigh in selecting school committee members in November. This is a crucial election and relevant information about the candidates is essential. The voters are in effect “hiring” the equivalent of a board of directors to make and implement policy. If this were a business which manufactures electric cars, would we hire an attorney whose principal practice consists of representing companies that manufacture and market vehicles with internal combustion engines?
More on the MORE page because it is so much.
This needs to be acknowledged as a contribution by the Dems coming from the Teacher's Union. The public needs to see this as a serious conflict of interest between the Dems ( TC and SC) and the teacher's Union when the Democrats on the SC awarded the teachers with a $2,500 bonus and an increase in the contract from the budget of 2% to 2.5% in wages. They can not receive money or advertising from this group. This is a direct violation of buying the favor of the TC & SC with their endorsements and advertising...
