To the editor:

Although Barrington is a town of only 16,000 residents, the Council and a majority of the School Committee belong to the same political party and the Town Manager has an advanced degree in planning, we seem to have a serious planning and communication problem. 

If the school department is planning to build or extensively renovate 2-4 new schools in the near future, why are the leftover funds from building the Middle School earmarked for a bike path rather than the planning process for new schools?

And if the plans for the Middle School always included solar panels, why weren’t leftover construction funds used to finish the job?

And if the School Committee is planning to apply for a $250 million bond for 2-4 new or renovated schools, why is the Town simultaneously setting aside money for a feasibility study for constructing a new recreation/field house and renovating playing fields when there is $400,000 leftover in the fields maintenance budget?

And while our next door neighbors in Warren have been busy renovating their sewer treatment plant, diverting stormwater run-off from Narragansett Bay, shoring up their shoreline and making plans to let the Market Street neighborhood revert to marshland and remove the residents to an entirely new community on higher ground, Barrington is building shade structures and micromanaging the development of the Watson Road property while its “resilience committee” has done little or nothing to shore up our coastline or develop an evacuation route that won’t be underwater in an emergency or made any serious effort to mitigate the effects of sea level rise.

Julia Califano

Barrington