Portsmouth School Committee member Marge Levesque sent me a letter about what happened at the meeting Tuesday night:

The February 9 Portsmouth School Committee meeting was a combination of promise and necessity.

We were treated to some of our students success: This time, it was the Middle School Robotics team and the Middle School Music. Award winners who got well-deserved recognition from the committee. Two students who organized a fund raiser for the children of Haiti were also recognized.

The Middle School staff also updated the committee on the new advisory system now in full swing. Every student in the Middle school (just as in the High School) is assigned to a small group with a staff advisor that meets at least twice a week. This provides the student an informal setting with a trusted adult.

Now, the bad news. Because of Rhode Island law, school committees must notify anyone whose position might possibly be eliminated, and that notification has to take place before March 1. The problem is the school, town and state budget are all fluid until June. So last night, to keep our budget options open, we sent layoff notices to about thirty teachers. We truly hope to call all the teachers back but we do realize that in this economy, it is possible that we will lose a few. This is a painful process for the teachers and the committee.

The next item is a little more positive. The committee passed the school facilities plan, agreeing to send it to the RI Department of Education. This action does not marry us to this particular plan nor will it cost anyone money for several years. School building is a long process with many opportunities for review and community input (and, of course, any eventual bond would need to be put before the voters.) This is perhaps step one out of dozens of steps. The vote was 3 to 2 with Dick Carpenter, Mike Buddemeyer and myself approving. Cynthia Perrotti and Angela Volpicelli voted against. Sylvia Wedge and Marilyn King were not able to attend but sent written statements in support of the motion.

Now I feel compelled to give my opinion. By state regulation, the committee needed to have a formal plan on the upkeep and future needs of our buildings. For Portsmouth that was accomplished by Mike Buddemeyer who chaired both the facilities committee. The committees meet more than 40 times in the past two years and did at least one walk though of each school. All these meeting were posted and open to the interested public. There were also two documents produced, one presented to the public a year ago. If any members of the committee did not have the information they needed to vote, they should have attended the facilities meetings and read the report.

And I want to add a word about the report. The consulting firm that the facilities committee selected, RGB, has experience with the laws, regulations, and special rules that the Department of Education imposes on school building. What might seem very simple to someone not familiar with these regulations can actually be quite complex, and we hired RGB for their expertise in this area. There may be some in the public -- and there is even at least on the committee -- who question the numbers in the report. We had Steven Hughes from RGB at a prior school committee meeting to answer questions that the committee might have had, and the full report is available on the School Department's web site.
— Marge Levesque

Editorial note: I was working and unable to make the meeting last night, but according to a published report in today's Newport Daily News, committee member Cynthia Perrotti took issue with at least one of the numbers in the report, characterizing it as "bloated beyond all reason or comprehension," a claim disputed by committee chair Buddemeyer.

Full disclosure: I am an appointed member of the facilities committee.