NRI Collaborative lays off 48 more personnel

LINCOLN - The Regional Board of Superintendents for the Northern Rhode Island Collaborative voted unanimously last Tuesday to lay off 48 more employees - mostly teacher assistants - as part of a extensive restructuring plan there.

Dozens of staff from the NRI Collaborative turned out for a meeting last week to protest a decision they say was made after leaving them out of the entire decision-making process.

Wearing "with us, not to us" buttons, non-certified personnel glumly listened as dozens of non-certified NRIC Employees Union members were issued non-renewal notices prior to a July 31 deadline.

Declining enrollments and revised education mandates from the state are causing the need for a revamped collaborative, according to NRIC Executive Director Julian "Bud" MacDonnell. Last week's layoff notices were in addition to the 10 teachers laid off in March of this year, he said. One of those teachers was called back last Tuesday

Union president Karen Gill told The Breeze that while she and other union members understand that shrinking budgets and a new basic education plan being handed down from the state level call for some restructuring, they do not understand why they have not been kept in the loop.

"We believe that this kind of action needs to be negotiated through the contract," said Gill. "We know nothing about the new system they're implementing."

State Education Commissioner Deborah Gist had called on school officials to work "with your respective bargaining unit" on new basic education plan changes, said Gill, something that has not happened in this case.

Union members also hinted that grievances would be forthcoming after layoffs were issued by job title instead of by seniority. Staff also expressed concern over possible disruptions for both NRIC students and their parents so close to the start of the next school year.

Gill reminded members of the Board of Superintendents last week that just one year ago the union was commended for "saving the company" when they agreed to a new contract. The union is again headed to arbitration this year on another contract extension.

The Northern Rhode Island Collaborative is a joint venture of a number of urban and suburban school districts in the northern half of the state.

Superintendents from Pawtucket (the largest sending district with between 20 and 40 students serviced,) Central Falls, Lincoln, Cumberland, North Providence, Woonsocket, Smithfield, North Smithfield, Johnston, Foster-Glocester, and Burrillville govern the collaborative.

Founded in 1987 as a cheaper alternative to sending special needs students to private institutions, the NRIC prepares severe/profound and mild/moderate students for re-entry to their respective school system and readies them for the least restrictive environment possible.

The NRIC is a public, non-profit educational institution providing special education programs and services primarily to its member school districts in northern Rhode Island.

As school systems have developed and improved their own special needs programs, said MacDonnell, many are keeping students within the district instead of sending them to the NRIC.

"We operate special education programs for school districts, and those school districts are currently pulling back," said MacDonnell.

The NRIC has four different levels of tuition charged to sending districts based on the services rendered, $60,525 a year, $40,238, $27,594, and $36,077 a year, according to MacDonnell.

MacDonnell said that as costs are cut, future tuition costs for local districts are likely to decrease. Tuition costs average about $45,000 for severe and profound students, according to Gill, and $40,000 for higher functioning students.

While many of the 48 staff laid off last Tuesday will be allowed to reapply under new and revised job descriptions, said MacDonnell, some will not be called back.

Though Board of Superintendents chairwoman and North Providence Superintendent Donna Ottaviano said after last Tuesday's meeting that she expects "most" of those laid off to be rehired, Gill and others at the meeting said they suspect many jobs are disappearing altogether.

MacDonnell confirmed Gill's assertion, saying that because some teaching positions have been eliminated, he expects the NRIC will need far fewer than the 40 teaching assistants listed as laid off.

The NRIC is in a "competitive market," according to MacDonnell. As the organization has seen enrollment levels drop from more than 300 students five years ago to about 150 for the coming year, decision-makers have had to think harder about the money that is being spent.

Families have the final say on where their students go, whether to an often more expensive private institution or the NRIC, said MacDonnell, meaning there is a great need to have "constant awareness" on keeping programs competitive and tuitions affordable.