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Parents urge immediate review of Ashway Elementary leadership after spike in police and emergency responses
Summary
Multiple parents told the Chariho school committee they have lost trust in Ashway Elementary's administration, citing a rise in police and ambulance responses (from four to 16, they said) and requesting a formal review and better incident reporting and family communication.
Parents and guardians at the Chariho Regional School District meeting delivered a coordinated appeal asking the school committee to order an immediate review of the administration at Ashway Elementary School, saying repeated safety incidents have escalated under the current leadership.
"These are systematic failures that require immediate intervention," said Sean Gregory, a parent who spoke on behalf of a group of concerned families. He told the committee the district documented four police incidents at Ashway in 2023-24 and 16 incidents in 2025-26 — a figure he described as a "400% increase." Gregory said the later incidents included emergency medical responses and hospital transports.
Gregory and other speakers described a pattern of what they called reactive responses to student behavior rather than proactive supports, inconsistent application of district policies, and poor communication with families. "Parents are frequently not informed of serious incidents in a timely or transparent manner," Jennifer Gregory said, summarizing the group's concerns and asking the committee to "initiate an immediate review of the administration at Ashway Elementary School." She described one case in which her daughter required a safety plan only after repeated problems and said the child has since developed anxiety and is in therapy.
Other parents offered concrete examples they said illustrated the breakdown in oversight: promises by administrators that were not kept, students repeatedly placed together despite requests to separate them, and delayed or incomplete incident investigations. One parent said her son was transported by ambulance after a school incident and has since been in inpatient care.
The committee did not make policy decisions during public comment. The chair asked parents to provide documentation for the committee's review and said the full committee would receive submitted materials. Several committee members expressed sympathy and asked clarifying questions; district officials offered to accept written materials to distribute to the full committee.
What happens next: Parents requested a formal review of the Ashway administration and written documentation of incidents affecting students be shared with the committee. The committee did not announce a timeline for the review during the meeting, but the chair asked parents to submit supporting documents to the office to ensure the full committee can review them.
The reporting on these allegations is based on statements delivered at the public comment period of the Chariho school committee meeting; committee members and district staff were asked publicly to accept submitted documentation for follow-up.
