Woonsocket School Committee on safety: We never rest

“I am imploring, under recent events that have occurred, that you provide our schools with ALICE training,” Mencucci said.

ALICE training is a safety training protocol for school staff in the event of an active shooter. It stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Educate. Mencucci referenced a time when she was part of a lockdown drill where the teacher and she were unsure whether or not it was a drill.

“I would definitely put myself in front of danger to keep these kids safe,” Mencucci said. “I’m just asking that we do anything possible to save these kids, and unless you’ve experienced the tight huddle of fear and tears, you don’t know how emotional and frightening it is.”

Officials are not permitted to engage in substantive conversation during public comment, and the meeting continued without discussion on her request.

Chairperson Paul Bourget later told The Breeze that all safety matters are handled by a facilities and safety subcommittee, which will be meeting in June to discuss safety protocols, including any training for teachers and administrators such as ALICE. His understanding is that ALICE might not be feasible in Woonsocket, he said, but there may be some other program that works.

Bourget said Woonsocket police are very involved in local school safety plans, including touring the schools with administrators each year. Staff are constantly meeting to go over protocols, he said, including making sure all doors are locked and not propped open and that visitors are checked in and escorted through the building, among other regular steps. There are also four school resource officers strategically located throughout Woonsocket schools, he said.

A situation such as the recent mass shooting in Texas makes everyone look again and re-evaluate the protocols that are in place, said Bourget. They’ll do the same over the summer to make sure they’re not missing anything and to see if there’s anything that should change for the next school year.

“We never sit on our laurels,” he said.

Also at last week’s meeting, committee member Donald Burke provided the committee with the health and wellness update, where he reminded everyone that the district-wide free lunch program will be ending on June 30.

“For the last two years, all lunches in the school have been free, and the reason for that was because it was funded by federal money. That money ends June 30, meaning that starting next fall, we will be going back to the reduced and free lunch program, meaning that our families and our students will need to fill out the reduced and free lunch applications,” Burke said.

Burke said that the district cannot continue to provide free lunches because it would affect state funded income and the Title I program.

Burke noted that Sodexo’s summer lunch program, which is funded by Sodexo and the federal government, will begin after the school year ends and will occur at three parks around the city: Cass Park, Dunn Park, and WWII Memorial Park. The lunches will be provided from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, weather permitting.

During the superintendent’s report, McGee announced that Cathy Carvalho has been named principal at Pothier-Citizens Elementary. Carvalho, who has been serving as interim principal since January of this year, brings more than 20 years of experience to the role as both an educator and administrator.

Committee member Lynn Kapiskas delivered a policy update, which included two notable ongoing discussions that impact student and staff member comfort while they’re in school. The first update was regarding their policy on student violence. Kapiskas reported that the Trust (referencing the Rhode Island Interlocal Risk Management Trust, which provides insurance to the public sector), does not support staff involvement when breaking up student fights.

“That’s the reason we have School Resource Officers,” Kapiskas pointed out. Any policy that the WED adopts could affect their insurance policy, she said, although they’re currently considering instituting an official policy that would not penalize teachers for getting involved with student fights.

McGee has previously told The Breeze that the administration does not ask teachers to get involved in student altercations, nor are they penalized for it.

This discussion will be transferred to a meeting between union representatives and the Trust, Kapiskas said.

Kapiskas also informed the School Committee that the policy on student access to medical marijuana is currently pending a meeting with school nurses, some of whom raised concerns about losing their licenses for administering medical marijuana in school. The drafted policy currently stipulates that only a school nurse, parent or guardian can administer medical marijuana, and nurses may refuse to give it to students, but they cannot pick and choose which students they’d administer it to.

Kapiskas also mentioned that the concerns from nurses about licensing have been overruled in Massachusetts, Colorado, and California. The matter will be revisited at the Aug. 4 policy subcommittee meeting.

The meeting included presentations from Pothier-Citizens Elementary and Villa Nova Middle School, where students demonstrated what they’ve been learning to the School Committee. This included slideshow multimedia that they’d developed in class, largely, if not entirely, by themselves.

“It’s nice for the School Committee to see the rigorous work (students) are doing on a regular basis,” McGee said, commending students and their educators for their hard work. One educator commented on how after McGee came to visit their classroom one day to see the elementary students work on preparing their presentations, and they “brought a smile to his face that he kept for the rest of the day.”