A number of students took turns asking the Barrington School Committee to save their art teacher’s job at a meeting on Thursday night, May 22. 

The Barrington High School students said Nicole Friedman is a great teacher and does a wonderful connecting with her students. They pleaded with committee members to add money to the school department’s operating budget to preserve Friedman’s job and other teaching positions. 

Committee members responded by voting against two motions to approve the teacher layoffs. But it is not clear whether their votes are enough to save the 14 FTEs (full time equivalents) that are on the budget chopping block. There was no change to the proposed budget increase, which suffered a loss of $500,000 in state aid. 

The best hope for saving the positions may be Barrington’s financial town meeting on Wednesday, May 28 — four residents filed motions calling for money to be added to the schools’ operating budget. Ellie Donato filed one of the motions. 

Donato also spoke during the public comment portion of Thursday night’s meeting. She asked that money be added to the budget for the teaching positions. Sean Materne, Emily Halloran, Alison Holmer, Julie Gaskell, Scarlett Biancuzzo and others spoke about the different Friedman made at the high school. Gaskell said there were some days where Friedman was the only reason she would go to school. 

Later in the meeting, Barrington High School teachers assistant Dennis Perry offered a passionate plea to committee members to save the teachers’ jobs. He said he had been working at Barrington Schools for 50 years.

“I’m old, but I have a big heart,” said Perry, who serves as president of the union that represents the teachers assistants. Perry said he recently learned about the positions that were to be cut. He said two of the targeted spots were assistant librarians at the high school. More recently Perry discovered that a third teachers assistant at Barrington High School had been added to the list of cuts … “and it’s me.”

“I’m young at heart. I still want to do my job,” Perry said, adding that he works in the wood shop at the high school.

“I’ve been an employee that’s helped every kid that’s ever needed help.”

Perry said his job was an important one. He said he makes sure students are using the tools safely and he also works closely with some of the special education students. 

“I’ve got all my fingers, and that’s what it’s about — helping these kids be safe,” he said. 

Perry also questioned district officials on why his and other TA positions were targeted. 

“For what I make, I didn’t break the budget,” he said. 

Barrington resident Lisa Daft later told committee members that five administrative positions were added to the budget three years ago. She said those five positions cost taxpayers about $500,000 — the same amount of lost state aid. Daft said she was disappointed that school officials decided to eliminate teaching positions. 

Daft also reminded everyone that while people are calling for money to be added to the budget, the schools have a bottom line budget, meaning that officials have all the power to determine how the money is spent.

Barrington School Committee Chairman TJ Peck later said that maybe district officials did not have the institutional knowledge when determining what positions to target. 

Committee member Frazier Bell said that he would hate to lose any “student-facing position that’s making a difference.” He said he wanted to balance the budget but he did not want to lessen the quality of students’ experiences at Barrington Schools. 

Committee member Tim McNamara warned that there was some misinformation circulating around town regarding the teacher layoffs. He people are saying that 14 individuals are losing their jobs. McNamara said the number of individuals being impacted is less than that. 

Aubrey Lombardo, the attorney for the school committee, said certified teachers must be notified about their layoffs by June 1. She said that is a state law. Lombardo also said that if money was added to the school budget, committee members could recall the laid off teachers. 

A short time later, Peck actually made a motion calling for approval of the teacher layoffs, and McNamara seconded the motion. But when it came time to vote, all four committee members voted nay. 

Peck then made a motion to approve the layoffs of teachers assistants, and again McNamara seconded the motion. And once again all four committee members voted against the motion. 

In an interview on Friday afternoon, Barrington Superintendent of Schools Rob Wargo said he is now waiting to see what happens at the Barrington FTM.