New HR Coordinator Named

During a brief meeting on Tuesday night at , the Johnston School Committee approved the appointment of Doreen Studley to the part-time Human Resources Coordinator position that had been left unfilled since last November.

According to Supt. Dr. Bernard DiLullo, Studley will be paid $45,000 per year plus benefits for the 30-hour-per-week job, which handles all of the school district's employment applications and ensures adherence to hiring standards.

"She'll be in charge of hiring, monitoring benefits for people, and will be involved in grievances," DiLullo explained.

In separate votes, board members also approved the contract for Studley, and approved a policy that requires all employment applications to be forwarded to her.

DiLullo said the appointment completes a search process that began last fall.

"The position had been vacant — we actually hired somebody in November who took another job, so she never really started with us and we started the search again and came up with Doreen," DiLullo explained.

Board takes votes on state bills:

Also Tuesday night, the board voted on three pieces of state legislation, supporting one and opposing two others.

In the first case, board members approved a resolution in favor of H-7272, a bill that would move the deadline for notifying teachers of layoff to June 1 from its current date of Mar. 1.

Mele said she and the board supported the move "so we know how much money we have in negotiations," since the school department's budget — and state aid figures — are typically known by then.

The board voted 5-0 to oppose the second bill, H-7617, which would require binding arbitration as a way to settle contract disputes between school committees and teachers' unions.

Proposed by state Rep. Deborah Fellela (D-Johnston), the House version of the bill would also maintain the terms of previous contracts while new agreements are arbitrated.

Members also unanimously opposed H-7250, proposed by Rep. John Carnevale (D-Providence, Johnston) and its companion bill in the Senate, S-2532, which would require school boards to honor prior contracts after they expire.