SAVE NORTH KINGSTOWN
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56% of Registered NK Voters are Independent
Why did I resign?
My resignation letter stated;”Due to personal and professional reasons, I can no longer commit the time and resources necessary to fulfill my duties and responsibilities. I apologize for the inconvenience this may cause.”
• My personal reasons... I will get personal because I honestly believe this election matters more than ever,,,
a. I was going through a separation and eventual divorce. My kids had to be my priority.
b. I was diagnosed with Lupus, an auto-immune disorder that was laying dormant until an
abundance of stress brought it out.
• My professional reasons... I am a small business owner that is constantly fighting for children with special needs from coverage issues with insurance companies, rate cuts, and the amount of time, energy and passion it takes to run a business and help non-verbal and late talkers learn to find their voice while also weaning other children of gastronomy tubes.
https://www.fox61.com/video/news/local/520-26a2ce72-Fd9-4bd2-8bec-f38c141542be
• NKSD/SC meetings became unbearable and unproductive. These meetings were, and still are, 5+ hours because of some members that have their own agenda. These members micromanage the administration. Nothing was accomplished in many meetings with agenda items being “tabled” until the next meeting. As a result, many additional meetings were scheduled throughout the year. School committees only act through public meetings by law, the poor management of meetings have caused unnecessary and costly delays, hampered the administration’s ability to run the district, and impacted the district’s ability to accomplish its mission.
• I was beaten down. I was deceived by a certain school committee member who said one thing in private and did another in public. I was in a difficult situation and had little to no support. I had begged the president of the current town council for help, which fell on deaf ears. As a result, my health and children were my biggest priority and the main reason I could no longer battle upstream during the NKSD School Committee meetings.
• I stated in my resignation that “North Kingstown has gained stability at the central office with our newly appointed Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent and Director of Pupil Personnel. This committed and dedicated administrative team leaves me confident that our district is on a positive path to continue to serve all the students of North Kingstown. We need to trust in them, value their experience and knowledge, and have the confidence to let them run our district”
• As a School Committee, with an interview committee consisting of parents, teachers, and
students, we hired an amazing superintendent. The superintended has an incredible
superintended and team behind him. We need to trust them AND their recommendations. The
current school committee does not. The current committee micromanages the administration
and the system for THEIR agenda, not always in the best interest of students or the community.
The entire school committee, except James Sheehan, does not trust or respect, the administration and thus impedes their ability to run the district efficiently.
• This committee is the ONLY committee that now needs their own administrative assistant for 25 hours a week. Past committees always provided the administrative staff with a stipend. Now, this school committee requires their own administrative assistant because they are overwhelming the current staff in the administrative offices. Additionally, this committee has run up staggering legal costs. At what cost to our students? RICAS scores fell despite millions of extra dollars entrusted to the committee. Ask yourself why?
My rebuttal to Facebook Posts:
• The softball field: watch that meeting! It WAS on the agenda, there was a motion and second, and all I did was force the vote. However, Lima and Earle were going back and forth about what the extra cost may be in future years. Yet they didn’t care what the future cost of the equity audit would be. However, they cared about what the future cost of a softball field might be. The softball field was a fixed cost, and future costs fairly fixed, however the equity position is and will be an ongoing cost including salary and benefits. Think about that. I asked that that position be a second superintendent so that they could do the equity piece but also be an LEA to the schools and make decisions that helped the district all around. That request was ignored. School Committee members and their supporters on Facebook gripe about allowing the girls softball team to play on site at NKHS instead of at Ryan Park on The MENS field.
Please, educate yourself, go to Ryan Park and tell me if the Men’s Field is appropriate for girls HS Division 1 softball. Listen to the girls that spoke at the meeting that night. The meeting was recorded.
• I have been accused by someone close to Jen Lima on Facebook of missing subcommittee
meetings last year. I missed most Special Education Local Advisory Committee (SELAC) meetings because I was working with children in my CT office (they are in the video above), SELAC was aware the meeting times conflicted with my professional responsibilities during the time NKSD had an interim special education director. Subsequently, we worked out our meeting times to allow my full participation. Despite this and my clear expertise in working with children with special needs, Jen Lima, with her limited experience with this population, sought to remove me from SELAC over the objections of both the SELAC board and the NKSC chair. I only ask that NK residents KNOW who you are voting for and WHY. Do not vote on name recognition alone. The next school committee may be responsible for the largest infrastructure project ever and to turn around falling proficiency scores in the district – think carefully on who to trust with those responsibilities.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Hoskins
Below are 9 questions I posed yesterday to Ms. Jennifer Lima on her school committee Facebook page. NK voters are entitled to know Ms. Lima’s answers before we vote:
As has been reported, Ms. Lima (and members of the NK Democratic Town Committee) pressured the Town to hire a private lawyer at taxpayer expense to investigate a resident who had criticized Ms. Lima on social media, even though the NK police department had already determined that the resident had simply exercised his First Amendment rights.
I asked Ms. Lima:
1. Why was it necessary or appropriate to hire a special counsel at NK taxpayer expense when the NK police department had already determined that the resident who criticized you had not violated the law?
2. What role did you play in urging that the special counsel be hired at taxpayer expense?
3. How much did that lawyer cost NK taxpayers?
Earlier this week, I learned from Ms. Lima that since 2021, she and other School Committee members have spent almost $1.1 million on legal fees, and that they are projecting at least another $325,000 in legal fees for fiscal 2025.
I asked Ms. Lima:
4. The voters of NK are entitled to a detailed breakdown of what legal services were provided for these astronomical fees. Can you provide that breakdown to NK taxpayers?
Regarding the proposed school bond, I reminded Ms. Lima that the NK school facilities director’s employment was terminated when he was in the midst of preparing a plan to address the anticipated funding needs of all the NK schools.
I asked Ms. Lima:
5. Is it fair to ask NK voters to approve a school bond to fund primarily the construction of a single school when we do not know what the total facilities costs will be?
6. Do you have a long term school facilities plan?
7. If so, where can NK voters review that plan?
I asked Ms. Lima to respond directly to the comments of Ms. Jennifer Hoskins, a Democrat, who resigned in frustration after seven years on the school committee: “Ms. Lima and Ms. Earle micromanage the administration. It is such a detriment to the school system. We have an amazing superintendent and an incredible assistant superintendent and we should trust their recommendations. These 2 don’t, they micromanage for their own agenda …. I am a lifelong democrat but will be voting independent for this election.”
I asked Ms. Lima:
8. If you believe Ms. Hoskins is misrepresenting anything, please explain precisely what she is misrepresenting?
After Ms. Lima advised me that she no longer favors removing the school resources officer (SRO) from the high school, I pointed out that in her interview published October 16 she stated: “I am a Counselors Not Cops person”, and that the Counselors Not Cops organization advocates for both “Defunding the Police” and “Getting Cops out of Schools”. See http://www.ariseducation.org/counselors-not-cops
I asked Ms. Lima:
9. Why should NK voters not conclude that you agree with Counselors Not Cops goals of defunding the police and removing all SROs from NK schools?
Ms. Lima’s position against the SRO at the high school is particularly worrisome in light of the two school lockdowns which occurred in the last two weeks, including one at the high school. And in light of research which shows that having an SRO present in schools substantially reduces fights and threats, and increases detection of firearms by almost 150 percent.