The Narragansett Regional School District Committee

Listed as Committee members:

Melanie Murphy . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Secretary / UFCW
Libby Pittman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .PMS/NDEA
Jessica LeClerc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BES /NDEA
Becky Jillson . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . .  TC / NDEA
Heidi Aukstikalnis . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS / NDEA
Darlene Dickson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Para / UFCW
Cindy LeBlanc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Custodian / UFCW
McKenzie Lyons . . . . . . . . . .  . . . .Resident / Templeton
Jeffrey Marques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Resident / Phillipston
John Telepciak . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . Phillipton Selectmen
Julie Richard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Templeton Selectmen
Kim Pratt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Phillipston Finance Committee
Jeff Bennett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Templeton Advisory Committee
Kevin Flynn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Phillipston Administrative assistant
Carter Terenzini . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Templeton Town Administrator
Vikki Chartier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .School Committee / Phillipston
Rae-Ann Trifilo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . School Committee / Templeton
Chris Casavant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . District Superintendent

This was not a spook committee, it was not a sub committee, rather it was an advisory committee with an intended purpose of making recommendations to the school committee.

It was stated in a document from the NRSD school committee, which Daniel Sanden is listed as a member. Within the letter, it asks if you are interested in serving on it, please respond to the school committee no later than December 11, 2017.

The letter also states the committee will initially meet monthly and may increase in frequency as we draw closer to the opening of the new school.

I will state it was not a very structured entity, more of a very informal gathering to look at how things might evolve with the new school, including funding, staffing, student population, etc. There were many thoughts and ideas tossed about and then the ones that had a general consensus of being acceptable or probably considered by the school committee were listed and grouped together.

It might have been better if all the people who signed up / volunteered would have actually showed up for most or all of the meetings, but that did not happen. Templeton selectmen for example, had to have a second volunteer to serve after the original person never showed up. In the end, only a few were present for all of the meetings In theory, it was a good idea, in practice, not so much.

My opinion is this was another example when a process was put forward, many volunteered to take part, but then refused to take the time to do so. It is like democracy, people say they want it, they just do not wish to give up their free time to take part in the process.