My favorite line of b/s is "in order to attract the best and the brightest we have to be competitive with salaries." Are you kidding??? These so called "six figure salary best and brightest" have pushed our city to the brink of receivership.
Mr Bruce help us out. Could you please keep these expensive bright finance people on a very short leash?

it's true there are some teachers who don't deserve a job in this department,and these so called six figured salaries plus poor budget management on the city part caused this

I like the line that says, "Since Dr. Donoyon has come in, she has heard my voice when I say there's no money." Isn't she the one who recently wanted to give hefty raises to administrators??

Busby claims that she's able to advise and also that she thought she "would be overstepping her role if she brought the overspending to the attention of members of the School Committee." Maybe I'm misunderstanding the concept of advising as it applies in this case but that's exactly what I would expect an advisor to do. If you are the financial authority, I (as a member of the public or the School Committee or the Administration) would rely on the their financial advice in order to make informed decisions. (I realize the hierarchy may not actually work that way however.)

As business manager she has a fiduciary responsibility that she completely ignored. She should be reprimanded if not fired.

Robert...you have a very interesting perspective. Can you explain how this is the city's fault that the WED overspent and didn't know (actually the business mgr has admitted that she did)? The city has their own issues but this is a WED caused problem.

well chorus according to some new info i found outside of this website mayor fontaine new all along about this deficit and he put the so called skeleton in the closet,and you people are so quick to jump all over her SHE'S HUMAN JUST LIKE U, IF U CAN DO BETTER BY ALL MEANS GO AHEAD but don't bash someone who didn't make the mistake blame city government for not monitoring what was going on ,ask marc dubois what happend when those ten teachers got there jobs back and where was thomas bruce when this happened THE SO CALLED FIANACE DIRECTOR OF THIS WONDERFUL CITY why did they allow it ms busby would have been told your out of line

Interesting response. Thanks. It's a little incoherant but none the less...People do make mistakes and they should be held responsible. Dost protest too much. Makes me think you may have a personal bias.

My comment is In response to Robert. Not Rbeau.

"I am not the academia person, I am the financial person." Quoted per Stacey Busby!
My response to that is very simple! "If you're getting paid big bucks to be a financial advisor than act like one! In my opinion, let the culprits responsible for this mess be accountable and pay the deficit. As a tax payer... I'm fed up with getting whacked with higher taxes because of mistakes made by high paid irresponsible people.By the way that includes Mr.Geradi who left at a very convenient time.

What I don't get is how these people (some, ..and not all) sat in front of two hundred plus parents, students, and teachers to cut essential programs, postions, and opportunities, to satisfy their own agenda. I'm sorry, I can not call or respect them as educators. Once again, our kids will pay the price.

Stacy Busby knew all along, so isn't she an assessory to a crime along with Mr. G Q Gerardi? As far as Dr. Donoyon, she would just love to give away the store, raises, and everything else, she has no clue what's going on. They always pass the blame for mistakes..With all their degrees, there should be one for "common sense" in the real budgetary world. Eight-five percent of all the state aid Woonsocket used to receive went to salaries, so what does that tell you? Stacy is blaming a former employee, but
Stacy was her boss, she should of known better, she needs to be fired, especially knowing all along what was going on. Dr. Donoyon came in at a bad time, but her head is in education, and not in MATH.

What piggy bank is cashing these checks,it seems to me very simple ,once you go over budget checks should start bouncing immediately. The bus company,the lunch program,where is the cash coming from to pay the bills if they have no money.Two million plus,that is a lot of checks.

Robert - Corrected the problem? More like she came clean at the 11th hour when it was clear the truth was coming out. Either you are so jaded that you can't admit the truth or you have no comprehension of fiduciary responsibility.

Professional Experience Needed.
The new school committee members have zero qualifications to even grasp the magnitude of the problem.
Central Falls took care of the problem by sending their school committee home.
The voters should demand a public hearing to ask tough questions on solving the problem ASAP
Borrowing costs will rise---make sure that is in the budget!!!

Wouldn't a good solution be to look at how you can recall some of these elected officials? Most town/City charters have provisions to recall incompetent elected officials. A recall will alow the people to reverse some mistakes they may have recently made in the previous election, put in place some more responsible leaders who will clean house of the paid career appointees who are taking advantage of the taxpayer.

The Holiday Stroll
Let's ask each of the strollers to close the WED budget gap.
Let's recruit 400,000 strollers at $5.00 each-- equals $2.0 Mil -- followed by free coffee and donuts--just like the election.
Time to get creative!!!

Folks, this is why I believe the school business manager's office should be housed not in the school department but at city hall in the office next door to Mr Bruce. Their has to be oversight at all times to keep control of the school budget. This will be one way the school business manager is not under pressure from the Superintendant and the school committee to spend money that is not appropriated.

Further more, I am very disappointed in Mr. Dubois's performance as school committee chairman during his last two terms. He was part of this financial problem.
Remember, every time an expenditure is proposed it must be approved by the school committee.

I think there should only be 3 school committee members for the weekly incidentals, and a full or part time independent auditor/CPA at the administration building daily, since the school dept can't be trusted. With all the degrees that are stipulated with the business manager's position and superintendent's position, isn't it amazing that they have no clue what's going on and CERTAINLY DON'T UNDERSTAND BASIC MATH? Maybe one of our math teachers can teach them, or perhaps they buy the book "dummies for math".

Robert - so only qualified or people willing to be business manager can criticize Ms Busby? You've been very critical of Mr Bruce and Mr Fountain. What are your qualifications? Don't complain about them - you're bound to screw at least one thing up - right?. SO TRY IT YOURSELF!

jerry & dave - I don't know if you two know each other, but your tired vitriol exposes how ignorant you are regarding educational systems, student responsibilities, and human capital. My advice to you is to shadow any administrator or teacher for one (1) day. Then complain. Then, of course, let them shadow you at your job.

Ok Roburt...I will work on my spelling when you work on constructing sentences with punctuation.

ok the choros, how about you get your facts straight about this story and stop beating a dead horse, read the small print under the title and tell me what it reads, then stop and let that resinate in your small brain for a couple of minutes then post a comment or insert your foot in your mouth because your clouding and twisting the facts

Ok Robert...that's quite possibly the most impressive run-on sentence you've posted yet. In answer to your question, the sub title reads that they are blaming people who are no longer here. What would you expect them to say? Look up Fidicuary and you'll understand why I'm not inclined to give Ms Busby a free pass.

Furtheremore, Robert, you are the one clouding the truth when you try to blame the Mayor and Mr Bruce for any role in this quagmire. This is a WED problem, not a city problem.

Constrode? Guess I'm not the only one who can't spell (or perhaps, like me, you mis-typed). It is, in fact, the city's problem to solve because by law they have to cover the cost of education. However, it's 100% the WED's fault that this happened - hence WED caused the problem.

WED is completely autonomous from the city - hence it has it's own governing body and budget. I'm sorry if autonomous is a big word but it applies.

I do own a home and am a proud graduate of WHS. I also have family members who work for WED (one reason I chose to use an alias because I would not want them to be subject to retribution due to my views). I actually agree that the General Assembly is largely to blame for the economic situation at the state and local level. But I also feel that Ms Busby had a fiduciary responsibility. We don't have to agree. That's what's great about America. BTW...citing The Call is not at all persuasive to me...it's a rag.

How did she "FIX" the problem ?? We still have the deficit don't we ? Problem not fixed !

Hey Rob Lamarre, you sound like a dropout who can't spell or write. Get with the program if you are going to contribute anything that makes sense. Hopefully you are not a teacher!! Or, if you are, you need to be taught...

so dave, back-in-the-day (militarially, that is), I suspect you had similar complaints and unending whining about your officers, be they company level or field grade. And, of course, your pentagon brass, etc. Get a grip dave. Unless you've done what they do, your're clueless.