GLOCESTER – The proposed referendum to help Glocester Elementary Schools financially and potentially bring back the 13 teacher’s aides who were laid off in June is apparently dead in the water.
Town council members said they could not move forward with the initiative due to a lack of information from the School Committee and superintendent, along with other factors. The deadline to submit the request for a ballot question to the Board of Elections is August 19, and the council has no additional meetings scheduled before that date.
“It was the council’s intention to try to save some jobs,” said Council Vice President Walter Steere at a meeting this week.
Steere noted that the council tried to work with the committee to come up with a plan in time to put in place a referendum asking taxpayers to approve an additional 1.5 percent or approximately $350,000 in funding, to help alleviate a district shortfall. Councilors had requested some details regarding how the extra money would be spent – if approved by taxpayers – but were told the answer was difficult due to possible unforeseen expenses, including state and federal aid for the 2025-26 school year, as well as other variables such as unexpected transportation costs, special needs and other expenses, which are hard to determine in advance.
“They haven’t followed through on that,” Steere said. “They said they would have a plan by this meeting; so, obviously, that hasn’t happened. I have spoken to a lot of people, and nobody I have spoken to is in favor of paying more taxes. So, I don’t know where we go from here.”
The committee and council had agreed to sit down and help create a plan after the July meeting, but the School Committee never responded, according to councilors.
Steere said that since the committee hasn’t said what they would use the money for, the council can not ask taxpayers to pay more.
Glocester voters passed an initial $35.5 million budget in a referendum in May, but district officials have said the funding fell short of what’s needed for the coming year – and soon after announced plans to lay off 13 teacher’s aides. The ballot question was expected to read something to the effect that “shall the town of Glocester approve a supplemental tax increase of (*number*) to fund school department operations and avoid the loss of critical town services?”
Councilor Jonathan Burlingame, the council’s liaison to the School Committee, said at the time that he would not want to add any other specifics to the ballot question, but would want to be able to explain to voters how the schools intended to use the funding. Burlingame was not present for the council’s meeting this week.
“Honestly, considering some of the actions that have taken place over the last couple of weeks, I have some concerns about those monies being allocated properly,” Steere said.
The “actions” included a subpoena for town Finance Director Elizabeth Beltram to force her to attend the School Committee’s recent meeting, where Gregory Piccirrilli, a lawyer for the schools, grilled her for over an hour about town finances. According to accounts by those in attendance, some questions asked appeared to be intent on putting the town at fault for not providing sufficient funding for the schools, both in the past and present.
The questions included many about past practices that Beltram, who was hired last year, was not in a position to answer. She pointed out that that information was archived, and she had no knowledge of past decisions. Timothy Robenheimer, the lawyer for the town, instructed her to not answer questions that asked her to give an explicit opinion, since she was not in a position to do so.
“It was terrible,” recalled Councilor Stephanie Calise, who attended the meeting. “He was berating her constantly, for no reason other than the fact he didn’t get the answers he wanted. We talked about working together. There’s no working with them. They’re going to move forward like a train and expect the taxpayers to pick up the bill no matter what. If we have a referendum, there’s still not going to be enough money for them. They are going to go after what they think they’re due. Their whole plan is litigation and going after the taxpayers. That’s the bottom line.”
Calise said that the schools have been running a deficit for years and have not done anything to address it.
Council President William Worthy added that despite the fact they have been overspending over the years, the committee or superintendent has never before come to the council to ask for help.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time,” said Steere. “I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s like we’re in a boat, and they’re drowning, and we throw them a life raft, and they throw it back and torpedo the boat. That’s what it seems like. I don’t get it. We are trying to help.”
“Well, I guess we’re letting it die because that is what is going to happen,” responded Worthy.
At a previous meeting, Supt. Renee Palazzo said the schools are planning on opening with the amount in the budget approved by voters in the May referendum – an amount far below what was requested by the School Committee.
Palazzo was unable to speak on the issue at length this week, but told NRI NOW that she stated at the July 8 School Committee meeting that if the referendum passed, the monies would be spent on rehiring personnel.
This is just another example of the School committee failure. They are clueless as far as budgets go and every thing is someone else fault. They have received more than 4% increases for the past 4 years and cannot make their budgets work. Even with the deficits all they have done is to increase expenses. Their actions show that the school committee really does not care about saving the aides jobs. All they want to do is bankrupt the town.