EAST PROVIDENCE — During a conversation on the topic later that same evening, Ward 4 City Council member Tim Conley forcefully refuted claims made against the sitting School Committee by Council President and Mayor Tommy Rose earlier Tuesday, Sept. 22.
Mr. Conley, who served a stint on the Committee before being elected to the Council in November of 2014, said Mr. Rose “certainly didn’t speak for me” when the Council President issued a press release blasting the Committee’s decision to deconsolidate the Human Resources Director position among other supposed missteps.
The Committee, by a unanimous 5-0 vote at its meeting Tuesday night, chose to hire Cheryl Silvia to the position of School Department Human Resources Director, thus ending the district’s association with now former consolidated HR Director Kathleen Waterbury.
“I disagree with everything Tommy said in the press release,” Mr. Conley continued. “It’s disingenuous for him to claim those things about the School Department when he sat on the City Council that grossly underfunded the district.”
Mr. Conley said claims by Mr. Rose such as it being the Committee’s fault that the pool at East Providence High School was closed were similarly misguided. He said it was the Council that took revenue away from the district and put it into the city’s general fund.
“I think his sudden interest in the School Department’s finances are laughable,” Mr. Conley added. “He had no clue or interest in the School Department until two or three months ago.”
It was around that same time, in July of this year to be specific, the School Committee began to discuss the hiring of a dedicated HR director.
Superintendent Kim Mercer made the initial request. Subsequently, Interim City Manager Paul Lemont and state-appointed Municipal Finance Director Paul Luba both backed the decision, which came to fruition Tuesday night with the Committee’s vote to hire Ms. Silvia.
“The (consolidated HR director) model doesn’t work,” Mr. Conley concluded. “Paul Lemont, Paul Luba, everyone but Tommy is in favor of deconsolidating the position.”
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