Central Falls education battle ended around dining-room table

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By Jennifer D. Jordan

Journal Staff Writer

For nearly two months, a dozen of the state’s education and teacher union leaders met behind closed doors at the Biltmore Hotel to try to end the battle over the firing of the entire teaching staff at Central Falls High School.

In the end, however, the dispute was settled by three of them around a dining-room table.

According to participants, federal mediator Jack Buettner and retired federal Judge Ernest C. Torres facilitated the discussions. At the Biltmore table were Central Falls School Supt. Frances Gallo; district human resources director Kathy Gaouette; district lawyer Stephen M. Robinson; and sometimes Anna Cano Morales, chairwoman of the Central Falls Board of Trustees; Deputy Education Commissioner David V. Abbott; Central Falls Teachers Union President Jane Sessums; vice president Walter Hourahan; co-vice president Audrey Kilsey; James Parisi, field representative for the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers; and Mark Bostic, northeast regional manager for the American Federation of Teachers.

After a marathon 15-hour mediation session on May 5, Gallo said she and Sessums felt comfortable enough to resume negotiations via e-mail. Then they agreed to meet at Gallo’s home in West Warwick Saturday night to talk, along with Parisi. The three of them agreed that the current staff would be able to make the changes needed to transform the high school, Gallo said.

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