(This online petition will supplement the in person petition that garnered approximately 163 signatures and was presented to the EAST GREENWICH School Committee on April 1, 2025, by a non-partisan group of concerned residents. Please sign only if you have not signed the in person petition and are an adult resident of EAST GREENWICH. Please include your full name. Thank you.)

We, the undersigned members of the East Greenwich community, including parents and concerned residents, hereby call for the immediate resignation of Alyson Powell, Chair of the East Greenwich School Committee. This demand is grounded in the ethical standards and management principles outlined in Rhode Island General Law § 16-2-9.1, which all school committee members are expected to uphold. We believe that Alyson Powell has failed to meet these critical obligations, compromising the trust, transparency, and well-being of our school system.

1. Specifically, we assert that Alyson Powell has violated the following provisions of § 16-2-9.1: Failure to Properly Evaluate Superintendent Performance (§ 16-2-9.1(3)): The Chair bears a critical responsibility to select the superintendent, define their responsibilities, and evaluate their performance regularly.
2. Failure to Accept and Encourage Community Input (§ 16-2-9.1(4)): The Chair is obligated to accept and encourage a variety of opinions from and communication with all parts of the community.
3. Failure to Establish Procedures for Complaints (§ 16-2-9.1(9)): The Chair must ensure procedural steps are in place to resolve complaints and criticisms of school affairs.

Alyson Powell exhibited poor judgement in selecting Superintendent Ricca, as his employment history showed multiple red flags, and by permitting the superintendent to work from home, in light of numerous complaints by parents and teachers. Despite widespread evidence of the superintendent’s poor performance, Powell ignored these issues and led the effort to renew the superintendent’s contract. This decision neglected the Chair’s duty to hold the superintendent accountable, prioritizing personal or political considerations over the needs of our students and schools. As a direct result, the East Greenwich School District is now faced with a contract buyout of the superintendent costing upwards of $92K, placing an unnecessary financial burden on our community.

In the face of significant outcry from parents, educators, and residents opposing the superintendent’s contract renewal, Alyson Powell dismissed these concerns outright. Furthermore, her behavior at school committee meetings has been unprofessional and unworthy of the office which she holds. For example, at the October 22, 2024, school committee meeting, Ms. Powell exhibited a flippant and public disrespect toward district legal counsel in an attempt to obfuscate the purpose of a memo created to deny homeschooling requests. This conduct falls far short of the ethical standard requiring a chair to foster an inclusive environment, instead creating a hostile atmosphere that discourages community participation and undermines the democratic process.

When faced with mounting dissatisfaction regarding the superintendent’s performance, Alyson Powell failed to establish or follow any clear process for addressing these grievances, leaving the community without recourse and allowing critical issues to fester unresolved. Only when community sentiment became overwhelming and when the teachers’ union held a vote of no confidence did Powell reluctantly acquiesce.

These actions demonstrate a profound breach of the ethical standards required of a school committee chair. By ignoring the superintendent’s poor performance, dismissing the community’s legitimate concerns, and conducting meetings in an unprofessional manner, Alyson Powell has eroded public confidence in the leadership of the East Greenwich School District and jeopardized the education and welfare of our students. Her decisions have now saddled our district with significant financial consequences, further highlighting her failure to lead responsibly.

We, the petitioners, therefore, demand that Alyson Powell resign from the East Greenwich School Committee effective immediately. Should she refuse to step down voluntarily, we urge the remaining committee members, in accordance with their own ethical obligations under § 16-2-9.1, to take appropriate action to remove her from this leadership role, especially those who voted in favor of Ricca’s contract renewal: William Hangan, Clair Cecil Karb, and Dr. Eugene Quinn.