Narragansett Regional School Committee forms a District Re-Organization Advisory Committee. One purpose of this committee will be to help guide the administrative team and school committee shape a vision for the future of the NRHS district.

Within this letter, which was distributed through the Town office, as was explained to me. The school committee wished the committee to be made up as follows;

1 school committee representative from each district town (Templeton & Phillipston)
1 select board member from each town
1 community member from each town
1 teacher from each school (5)
1 UFCW member from each unit (cafeteria, secretary, paraprofessional)
1 member from each town's Advisory/Finance committee
Town Administrator or equivalent from each town.

Here in lies my concern; Templeton Advisory Committee did not receive the invitation/notification; not a phone call, no email, no letter, which would or should have come by way of town hall, as in the board of selectmen's office. I found out by way of a newspaper article and then contacted the school district.
There was a deadline of sorts within the original letter; December 11, 2017.

My conclusion is this was a deliberate move to leave Advisory Committee out of the loop and make it appear Advisory did not care or was not paying attention. ( I suppose it could have been a lapse because of the holidays approaching ) :) I draw this conclusion based on past actions by the current town administrator and board of selectmen. Games, plain and simple, as in those calls for resignation and bogus open meeting law violations, which after much bluster and newspaper coverage, never went anywhere. The responses from the Advisory Committee were never appealed to the attorney general's office. Selectmen Fortes stated at a recorded meeting "that we have to be the adults here." - Then he posts a tweet of himself doing a face first plunge into a swimming pool with a beer in hand, now that is an adult!

I was at the BOS meeting when mention of the creation of this district committee was stated and that the district was looking for a member of the board of selectmen to serve on it, no mention of Advisory Committee, even as I sat there at that meeting. Sorry boys and girls, I am now on that committee! I thank the Narragansett School district Committee and the superintendent of schools for their consideration.

School building committee;

Ground breaking should begin/ is planned for spring of 2018. There will be a website through the school district where information will be posted on progress with regards to the project. Residents will also be able to contact town hall, the school district, the school committee as well as attend meetings and or watch the recording on tv. Also mentioned was a planned announcement of when the existing building will come down and that should be sometime after the first of the year.

Actual digging for the new school again will be in the spring, as in warm weather, so the people in the pictures with shovels and such will be comfy.

Missing in action was committee member Diane Haley Brooks, who did manage a "drive by" after the meeting had adjourned, picking up some paper work from committee member Hank Mason in the parking lot. Now that is dedication

Capital planning managed a quorum and conducted some business while agreeing to hopefully have recommendations ready by end of January, 2018 for the upcoming Annual Town Meeting.

Note; While there may be work going on at the site now, I believe the "ground breaking" will include the usual group photo with shovels and the actual work involved in building the new structure rather than site work such as erecting fences, bringing in equipment and probably demolition of the existing building. Feel free to contact the school district for more information.