Polisena Reappoints Juvenile Board Member

Mayor Joseph Polisena formally reappointed attorney Priscilla DiMaio to the Johnston-Smithfield Juvenile Hearing Board during a ceremony at on Thursday.

"This is about our youth, and if they go astray now, it's a lot easier to bring them back in now than to have them get in trouble later and we have to pay to incarcerate them," Polisena explained. "It's a very difficult board, and we're very fortunate that Priscilla has agreed to serve another two years."

Under the previous ordinance governing the juvenile board, DiMaio had been term-limited and would not have been eligible to continue serving — but after the Johnston Town Council's vote on Jan. 9 to eliminate term limits, DiMaio can return.

"Term limits are fine for guys like me — mayors, town council members — but not for board members," said Polisena, who added that all five local council members supported the elimination of term limits. "It's very difficult to find good people, and to find good people who will stay."

Paul DiMaio, who also serves as the town's probate judge, said of his wife: "She grew up in Pawtucket in the Prospect Heights area, there was no father home, five children, she had one pair of shoes in high school. She put herself through law school and grad school, nights and weekends, to accomplish what she did. She understands these kids who had nothing."

Priscilla DiMaio explained that she tried to bring that perspective — as well as her experiences as a lawyer defending clients — to her role on the juvenile board.

"It pulls at the strings of your heart to see some of these kids — and more importantly their parents, who are horrified that their kids would do x, y, and z — they're a victim of it," DiMaio said. "You're only allowed to come before the board once; if they get in trouble again, they have to go to family court, and it's not pretty. I try to let them know what they're facing when they go to family court."

A graduate of Shea High School (formerly Pawtucket West), DiMaio earned her undergraduate degree from Roger Williams College and a law degree from Southern New England School of Law. She is an attorney with her family's practice located in Providence.