School Committee Approves Public Records Request Procedure

During the Feb. 12 meeting of the Coventry School Committee, members approved the first reading of an official procedure to be utilized in the event of a public records request.

Pursuant to Rhode Island General Laws § 38-2-3(d), the procedure requires those wishing to obtain records to fill out the appropriate form (attached) or otherwise provide a written request for records that clearly identifies the records sought and submit it to the Coventry School Department Director of Compliance, Katherine J. Duncanson, Esq. at the School Administration Office, located at 1675 Flat River Rd. E-mail requests cannot be accepted.

Additional copies of this form are available on the School Department’s website found at www.coventryschools.net under “District Information”. 

According to the procedure, there are times when the public records sought are not available at the time of request. In this event, the Access to Public Records Act allows a public body 10 business days to respond and, with “good cause,” may extend the time to respond by 20 business days (30 business days total). 

See the attached PDF document for the complete policy and records request form.

Funding Formula Acceleration

Committee members approved a resolution urging Gov. Chafee and members of the General Assembly to approve a plan to accelerate the allocation of proposed the phase-in of state school funding.

The Rhode Island State Education Funding Formula is supported by a plan to fully fund all underfunded districts over a seven-year period. Coventry was identified as an underfunded district, expected to receive approximately $700,000 for seven years. Last year, Governor Chafee and Legislature supported acceleration of the funding by budgeting an additional $300,000 to Coventry Public Schools.

The Coventry Town Council passed a Funding Formula Acceleration Resolution on Jan. 28, 2013 and, along with the Town's State Delegation, informed the School Committee that passing a Resolution in support of the acceleration will support attempts to bring funds due to Coventry schools in an expedited fashion, thereby reducing impact on the taxpayer. 

The complete resolution is attached in PDF form. 

School Calendar Updates

School Committee members approved the updated school calendar for the 2012-2013 school year, taking into consideration recent school cancellations due to inclement weather events.

The expected last day of school for the district has been changed from June 18, 2013 to June 24, 2013 to reflect closures on Oct. 29 and 30 due to Hurricane Sandy and Feb. 8 and 11 due to the recent blizzard (aka Winter Storm Nemo). Tiogue Elementary School has an expected last day of June 25 because of the Jan. 31 cancellation caused by a school-wide power outage following a severe wind storm.

A copy of the revised calendar is attached to this article in PDF form.