Rants and Raves

Negotiations And Shadows

What we love and loathe about living in East Greenwich this week.

RANT: My life is all about negotiation right now. I live with a teen and a pre-teen. ‘Nuff said. So I get that the teachers' union and School Committee are about to enter so tough discussions. One suggestion though – we try and do the  Oprah and Dr Phil talk: “I feel that when teacher appointments are based on seniority and not performance that you are limiting principals’ and administrators’ control over who gets placed in their schools and that makes me feel powerless.” “When seniority is not considered as a criteria for teacher appointment, you don’t appreciate my expertise and experience and that makes me feel bad and scared.” I am not sure if it helps us solve anything more quickly, but it does make us feel like Charlie Sheen might …

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Student Hurt At Pep Rally From Flying Battery

A couple of students have been suspended following the incident Friday when they hurled D batteries at freshmen.

The annual Spirit Week pep rally, always a raucous assembly, turned dangerous last Friday, when at least one student was hit by an airborne "D" battery that was lobbed by another student. "Unfortunately, after a very successful homecoming week we did have a few students engage in very inappropriate behavior during the pep-rally that necessitated the school take immediate and severe disciplinary action," said EGHS Principal Michael Podraza via email. The father of the student who was hit said his child suffered a "welt" from the battery, but it was not a serious enough injury to prevent participation in after-school activities Friday. "They called me, they called the police. They apprehended the kids, they punished the kids," said the …

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Science Test Scores Up At EGHS, Cole

Results of the NECAP standardized science tests administered last spring show students in grades 4, 8 and 11 all scored higher than in 2011.

East Greenwich High School and Cole Middle School continue to gain ground in standardized science tests, according to 2012 NECAP results released last week by the R.I. Department of Education. Students in grades 4, 8, and 11 were tested last spring. "We've gone up in all levels," said science department chair Nicholas Rath Monday. "The fact that we continue to improve makes me very, very happy." He noted East Greenwich middle and high school students had tested better every year since the test was first implemented four years ago. "As our school improves, the ability to make large improvements gets more difficult," he said. East Greenwich High School juniors showed 62.6 percent proficiency in 2012, compared with 60.9 percent in 2011. Some…

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Note Found At EGHS Speaks Of 'General Threat' To School

School officials notify parents Thursday after note is found.

A teacher at East Greenwich High School found a note containing a “random and general threat to the school community,” school officials wrote in an email to parents Thursday afternoon. The email, written by Principal Michael Podraza and Supt. Victor Mercurio, said the note was “anonymous” and “appears to be unconnected, arbitrary and the work of an individual who fails to appreciate the seriousness of that matter to which we have been responding this week.” They were referring to heightened anxiety at the school following a student’s posting on Facebook April 6 of an essay he’d turned in to his English teacher a week earlier describing a school shooting spree. That student, a sophomore, has been suspended and is facing two charges of …

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EG Lurker

11:27 am on Sunday, April 15, 2012

Time to ask what "why"? Why this town overreacts to situations? Charging this kid criminally is an embarrassment, and the charges will NEVER stick. Was his essay in poor taste? Probably. Was it worth checking him out? Sure. But that's where it ends. Why parents feel that it is ok to stir the pot via email chains, yet posting to facebook is a major offense? Last time I checked, the posting to …   more ›

Judging Behavior By Words Alone Not Enough, Doctor Says

Many factors need to be considered when assessing whether or not someone is at risk to commit a violent act, specialist says.

In the wake of the controversy over an essay depicting a high school shooting spree, many in East Greenwich are at odds whether or not the teenage writer should have been arrested and if he is a threat. One issue many EG Patch commenters have responded to: Can words alone predict a violent act? According to Wade Myers, director of forensic psychiatry at Rhode Island Hospital, they cannot. Forensic psychiatry is a subspecialty of psychiatry that addresses the interface between mental illness and the law, said Myers. Myers refused to comment about the 15-year-old EGHS student who was suspended and then arrested after turning in the essay to his English teacher March 29. Those charges were dropped April 4, but two more charges were brought …

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Elizabeth McNamara

10:17 am on Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Spring Street, the teacher turned in the essay immediately. The student was arrested two days later. The charges were dropped. It was AFTER that the student posted it to Facebook. The school only notified parents 10 days after the essay was turned in.   more ›

EGHS Student Faces New Charges

The sophomore who was suspended after turning in an essay about a school shooting spree has been charged with two new counts of disorderly conduct.

Police arrested the 15-year-old East Greenwich High School student responsible for writing about a school shooting spree and posting it to Facebook for a second time Monday afternoon, charging him with two new counts of disorderly conduct. Three earlier charges for the same essay were dismissed by a judge last Thursday, April 5. The boy was arraigned in Family Court Monday afternoon and released to the custody of his parents and is on home confinement, said EG Police Sergeant John Carter, who handles juvenile issues for the town. Under the terms of his home confinement, he is not allowed to leave his family's house without being accompanied by a parent, Carter said. Carter said the boy was being charged under R.I. state statute 11-45-1. …

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Elizabeth McNamara

10:23 am on Friday, April 13, 2012

Fair enough Gladys.   more ›

Suspended Student At Home

The boy’s house was searched and no weapons were found, according to EG police.

Town and state police were on hand at East Greenwich High School Monday in response to public concern over a student’s essay depicting a shooting spree at a school that, like EGHS, has a glass facade. The student, a 15-year-old sophomore, was suspended last week after turning in the essay to his English teacher. He was arrested on Sunday, April 1, and charged with one count of threatening public officials and two counts of disorderly conduct, according to EG Police Chief Tom Coyle. The boy was held at the Rhode Island Training School overnight, and arraigned on Monday, April 2. On Thursday, the Attorney General dismissed the charges. The boy was released to the custody of his parents “with the stipulation that he not be allowed on school …

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EGHS To Participate In Pilot International Test Program

East Greenwich is one of four R.I. communities that will participate in the test this spring.

East Greenwich High School students will participate in the international OECD Test for Schools this spring, one of only six schools in four Rhode Island communities to be chosen. “We applied back in the fall,” said EG Supt. Victor Mercurio. “The commissioner’s office had contacted us to see if we had any interest. I said, ‘Absolutely we’re interested.’” According to a press release from the R.I. Department of Education, “The goal of the pilot-test project is to provide schools with assessment scores in mathematics, reading, and science that they can use to estimate how well they would do on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), the largest school-based international assessment in the world.” “It’s going to give us a …

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Police Log

Drinking At School & Scrap Metal Thefts

Information about the following incidents was supplied by the East Greenwich Police Department. An arrest does not indicate a conviction.

Monday, Feb. 13 8:18 a.m. — The owner of Willie’s Shell on Post Road reported the theft of scrap metal from the back of the station where it was stored. Included in the missing metals were three vehicle rear ends and two 30-gallon barrels filled with miscellaneous car parts. There was a surveillance camera on overnight which showed two men getting out of a purple pickup truck and shortly afterwards they drove off with the rear of the truck filled with scrap metal at 7:40 p.m. 4:38 p.m. — The owner of Crestar on Liberty Street reported the theft of an A-frame business sign that had been place on the corner of Main and Greene streets in the morning. The sign was last seen at around 2 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 14 10:18 a.m. — The manager at Dave’s …

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School Fields: Whose Are They, Anyway?

Months of work crafting a “memorandum of understanding” between the town and schools yields some clarity but frustration remains over just who is responsible for what.

Taxpayers may just send in one check come tax time, but how the town and the schools determine who has to pay for what when it comes to school fields has become more complicated than that, since neither wants to use more of their budget money than absolutely necessary. At a meeting of the Town Council Monday night, however, members made it clear that they wanted some sort of document outlining who is responsible for what with regard to school fields used by both schools and the town. Town Manager Bill Sequino has been developming a "memorandum of understanding" with Supt. Victor Mercurio and other personel since fall 2010 when school officials decided the existing document needed updating in light of the new fields at the high school. …

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