Bio & Experience

Born 1963 in Cranston.
 
Educated in Cranston Public Schools - graduated from Cranston High School West in 1981. 

Graduated Providence College 1985 - B.A. Political Science.  (While working 30-35 hours a week to help put myself through college.)

Employed as a Buyer in the Foodservice Distribution industry since 1986.

Currently a Senior Buyer @ Perkins Inc.; responsible for nearly $50mm in annual purchases as well as negotiating various programs and their terms and conditions. 

Resident and homeowner in Warwick since 1992, when I married my high school sweetheart, Laura Petrone, of Warwick.  We have three daughters - Julia (8th grade), Georgia (5th grade), and Abigail (3rd grade).  All our children have attended Warwick Public Schools since kindergarten.

Communicant of St. Peter’s Church, 1992 to present.

Member of John Brown Francis PTA (since 2002) and Aldrich PTA (since 2009).

Became actively involved in “the process” in May 2008 when a new elementary-level report card grading system was proposed.  Along with my wife and a small group of parents, we fought to have this put on hold as we felt that it would do a great disservice to our children if enacted as proposed. Because of our actions, the proposed elementary report card was put on hold, and in Nov. 2008 a committee of teachers & parents was formed to work together on the project. Due to budgetary constraints however, the project was placed on permanent hold Jan. 2009.

As a result of the first round of school consolidations (Rhodes, Potowomut & Drum Rock) & the report card issue, the School Committee formed the Parent Communication Advisory Committee (PCAC) for parents and the public to use as a forum for their thoughts, concerns & more.  I became a member of the PCAC at its inception in the fall of 2008.

The second round of school consolidation (Greene) came in the winter/spring of 2009.  Because of my participation in the report card issue & membership on the PCAC, I was asked to serve as one of the parent representatives on the School Consolidation Committee.

The second round of school consolidation resulted in the near dissolution of the PCAC as many members resigned. Those that remained decided to re-constitute the PCAC and in June 2009 I was elected PCAC chair by our members. Since then the PCAC has been striving to provide a proactive outlet to parents who have specific concerns that need to be addressed. Further, during the past H1N1 scare we were able to send periodic updates to parents by emailing them with school based clinic updates, provide them with vaccination rates by school as well as periodic updates from the Warwick Schools, RI Dept of Health, and RI Dept of Education. 

In early 2010 I was asked to be a parent representative on the Warwick Schools Long Term Facilities Planning Committee which was formed to develop a long term plan for our school buildings in the face of a steadily declining student population. We have to start planning now for this long-term decline.