Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

WARWICK, R.I. -- In the middle of Monday night's heated hearing on the school budget, Mayor Scott Avedisian was surprised when his cell phone went off and the display screen showed he was being called from the administration building.

Avedisian and his administration - along with the school superintendent and other top school officials - were all in the front-row seats as the City Council conducted the hearing.

"It was bizarre," Avedisian said. "I couldn't figure out how they could be calling me when they were all right in front of me."

He answered the phone and said he was dismayed to find that it was a recorded call from the School Department's automated phone system, which is usually used for school cancellations and other important information that must be quickly disseminated to parents.

This time, Avedisian said, the message was one urging parents to come to Tuesday night's council hearing to lobby against a $2-million-plus, "catastrophic" cut to the school budget.

He said he did not recognize the voice of the woman who made the recording.

Avedisian said that the automated system is intended for emergencies and he called the use of it to rally support for the budget "highly inappropriate."

He was not alone. Parent and taxpayer advocate Tom Daniels stood up to announce that the automated system was being used for the budget and he questioned the legality of it.

Council members did not interrupt their budget deliberations to immediately comment on the remark. Shortly before 9:45 p.m., Supt. Peter P. Horoschak was still fielding questions from the council and the public but had not yet addressed the use of the phone system.

 Tags  Warwick

Comments

Govstench said:

More abuse. The greedy school systems are still trying to wring out as much taxpayer money as they can get their hands on. It's over you dumb bells. There is no more money left.

Link | June 2, 2009 8:37 AM
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Oceanus said:

Typical. And they wonder why the average citizen gets so angry! When it comes to the dollar, special interest groups will stop at nothing.

Link | June 2, 2009 12:53 PM
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Anonymous said:

Give me a break. Is this really newsworthy? Aren't there more important things that the Journal can be writing about?

Link | June 2, 2009 9:19 PM
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