Plan For Charter School at Davisville El Gets Preliminary 'Greene' Light

The North Kingstown School Committee unanimously approved a preliminary agreement with the Greene School, a public charter high school currently located in West Greenwich, to lease part of Davisville Elementary School.

Last month, Superintendent Phil Auger presented a (which closed in 2010 due to declining enrollment) as a combined-use building. According to Auger, the plan could help save the district hundreds of thousands of dollars – almost $100,000 in the first year.

Under the proposal, roughly two-thirds of the building would house the Greene School (168 students and 20 to 25 staff members) with the rest of the building dedicated to North Kingstown School Department programs – such as Child Opportunity Zone, adult education classes and Parents as Teachers.

The district would gain $110,000 in revenue from the Greene School under the preliminary agreement.

“I think it’s a very good agreement,” said School Committee Member Lynda Avanzato during the committee’s meeting Friday morning.

The preliminary agreement now goes to attorneys for the school department and the Greene School along with the town solicitors. The final lease will need to be approved by the school committee.

The committee met on Friday morning after . Also at Friday’s meeting, the committee approved contracts for 10 administrators. The two-year contracts do not include a raise, though merit pay remains.

The only exception was Food Services Director Trish Cawley. With the possibility of the district’s , the committee decided to sign Cawley to a one-year contract with an option for another year.