Yorktown Manor Bus Service To Resume

The North Kingstown School Committee's Sept. 11 meeting was much more subdued than the raucous . With just two dozen attendees under the watchful eye of a North Kingstown police officer, the committee completed its agenda and adjourned before 9:30 p.m.

But the committee and school staff grappled with the effects of budget cutting that prompted .

Superintendent Phil Auger said that after further study, the transportation staff expects to restore bus service to Davisville Middle School . Because the schools dropped two buses to save money, those students had been directed to walk to school, which led to parent protests.

Auger said the staff works on the bus schedule every day. When sewer construction on Camp Avenue ends and the final bus schedule for Fishing Cove Elementary is settled, may be moved closer to last year's, he said. 

During citizens' comments, Pat Ciccone, a paraprofessional at Stony Lane Elementary School, said she felt budget cuts were endangering children who arrive early and use the playground. With only two staffers overseeing students, she said, "I'm a basket case every morning."

Ciccone asked the committee to settle the ESP contract and increase staffing. During his report, Auger listed and corrected several inaccuracies regarding his salary and administrative pay increases that he said appeared on union websites.

In other business, the committee approved the consent agenda and agreed to let a private citizens' group install a plaque honoring late School Committee member near the high school flagpole. Auger will review and approve the memorial's size and wording.

The committee also voted to change the high school athletic policy and require student physicals within 15 months rather than one calendar year. The change is designed to help parents whose health insurance will not cover physicals more often than once in 12 months.