WSAR NEWS

DRRSD School Committee Offers Mediation

In an effort to try to resolve a lawsuit filed by the Town of Rehoboth against the school district, the
Dighton Rehoboth Regional School Committee voted unanimously to offer the mediation pathway.

 

The
committee charged Superintendent Bill Runey with reaching out to the Boards of Selectmen for both
Rehoboth and Dighton seeking their approval to begin mediation proceedings.


School Committee Chairman, Chris Andrade, said “we want to reinforce that the district does not offer
this proposal as any sort of admission of wrongdoing, but rather as a cost saving measure to both towns in
hopes of resolving the dispute quickly and efficiently.”


In the Superintendent’s message to both towns, Runey stated, “in hindsight, it is clear that the
communication from the District to the Towns and the Towns to the District can and should be improved.


In addition, I know from talking to all of the various stakeholders that issues regarding the relationship
between the Towns and the District need to be thoughtfully addressed by all parties. I am grateful for the
progress we have made under my new administration, and I feel strongly that this could be another
important step towards DRRSD becoming unified in service to our students and staff.”


He went on to offer that, “the current perspective of litigating these issues isolates the actual decision
makers from arriving at solutions to the legitimate issues that have been addressed in the litigation and in
various School and Town forums. Thus, I have a novel proposal to present to both Boards of Selectmen
and the School Committee. Why not engage in the process of Mediation with the Attorneys present to
resolve outstanding issues between the parties? I accepted this job with many goals, but one of the most
important is to help bring people together to find solutions to problems that have developed over the
years. The We Are DR initiative has already gained significant momentum, and I am confident Mediation
would assist in accomplishing our goal of making the District one of which families are proud to be a
part.”


The School Committee is willing to enter into such a process as they voted unanimously on November 8,
2022 to pursue this path of Mediation. The Committee and Runey believe the Attorneys could use their
best energies to find solutions to the issues that have been identified in the litigation rather than using
their energies to continue to litigate. The feeling is that moving in this direction would be a strong
message to our communities that all are united in our vision of providing the best education possible.
Towns were asked to discuss the proposal and inform Runey of their decision to accept or reject
Mediation by December 12, 2022.

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