Smithfield School Committee swears in two members, elects officers and approves arts funding and invoices

The Smithfield School Committee opened its meeting by swearing in newly certified members Ashley E. Hogan and Jeffrey R. LeBlanc and then completed its reorganization by electing Richard Ida as chair, Jessica Sala as vice chair and Amanda Bamford as secretary.

The administration presented a facilities and maintenance update that outlined summer and fall work across the district, including parking-lot striping, classroom repainting, replacement of ceiling tiles in select hallways, new desks for 10 high-school classrooms and added security cameras. Superintendent Dr. Monaco described an annual maintenance plan that will rotate selected classrooms for repairs and noted that Honeywell HVAC work for both the middle and high schools has been completed earlier in the overall Boyle Complex project.

The committee approved a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for an Arts Initiative funded through the SBA Capital Fund for $85,128 to expand summer arts programming, purchase instruments and stage equipment, and support middle-school music and auditorium needs. Dr. Monaco said the district’s prior rounds of arts funding had “beefed up our arts and music programs” and staff hope to reconvene a task force to prioritize needs.

On routine business the committee approved the minutes, accepted bills and direct checks totaling the listed amounts, and approved several project invoices. The board voted to approve an RGB architect invoice (No. 668329) listed not to exceed $1,500 after clarifying that invoices sometimes aggregate hours billed from prior months. The committee also approved multiple Steven Turner invoices submitted together and listed not to exceed $28,745.33; those invoices had been reviewed previously by the Boyle subcommittee.

During public forum, resident Matt Domenico raised concerns that longtime community basketball coaches had not been rehired and asked for transparency about the hiring rubric and criteria. “I was made aware of the fact that they were not rehired,” Domenico said, and urged the committee to schedule a discussion so affected community members could speak. Superintendent Dr. Monaco responded that the district follows an adopted hiring policy available online, that hiring panels include an administrator, a teacher and at least one parent or community member, and that questions and candidate responses are part of the hiring packet forwarded with the committee’s recommendation.

The committee asked members to propose two or three topics for future agendas, then moved to adjourn.

Votes at a glance: all motions recorded on the transcript were approved by voice vote (ayes), including officer elections (chair, vice chair, secretary); approval of meeting minutes; acceptance of regular bills ($743,713.45), direct checks ($122,332.42) and lunch bills ($144,701.59); MOA for the Arts Initiative ($85,128); RGB invoice not to exceed $1,500; and Steven Turner invoices not to exceed $28,745.33. The transcript records the approvals as voice votes with no roll-call tallies noted.

Next steps: the Arts MOA and invoice approvals advance those projects and expenditures; the Boyle Complex concession stand will undergo a final walk-through with facilities staff and the superintendent before final sign-off, and the Rosewood Consulting grant-writing contract was discussed for future consideration.