What Has/Is Happening in the Pawtucket School District? Adam Olivere-Former Controller, Pawtucket School Department
Opinion Piece by Adam Olivere-Former Controller, Pawtucket School Department
The Pawtucket School District (PSD) is a $170 million organization with more than
1,100 employees, including over 700 teachers. It is one of the largest employers in the
City of Pawtucket and among the largest school districts in Rhode Island. The district is
funded through federal, state, and local sources and is accountable to the Rhode Island
Department of Education (RIDE), the federal government, and the State of Rhode
Island for financial reporting and operational performance.
Based on my 13 months as Controller of PSD and more than 40 years of professional
experience, I believe the district has experienced significant governance and financial-
management challenges since the election of four new School Committee members
including a new Chairperson, Omar Reyes in January 2025.
A school district of this size requires a clear division of responsibilities. The
Superintendent manages district operations, while the School Committee provides
oversight and policy direction. In March 2025, Superintendent Patricia Royal was
terminated by the School Committee, along with Dr. Tate, her second-in-command.
Shortly thereafter, Randy Buck was appointed Acting Superintendent despite not having
previously served as an Assistant Superintendent. The termination of CFO Dale
McGhee on October 17, 2025, was particularly troubling. The dismissal occurred at the
beginning of 2025 annual audit process, when financial reconciliation, reporting
activities and budget preparation were at their most critical stage. The business office
had completed the 2024 audit while shorthanded and the CLA audit manager had
complimented us on an outstanding job in the circumstances. By firing McGhee, Reyes
and Buck guaranteed complete disruption in business operations, an elimination of an
accurate voice of the school’s financial position and significant delays in the completion
of the 2025 audit.
As Controller, I worked closely with Chief Financial Officer Dale McGhee. Our
responsibility was to provide accurate and objective financial information to district
leadership, the School Committee, city officials, and the public.
In my view, the relationship between School Committee leadership and district
administration became increasingly focused on demonstrating financial distress
within the district. I believe there was a strong effort to portray PSD as operating
at a deficit in order to support requests for increased financial contributions from
the City of Pawtucket.
Based on our forecasts and analyses, they did not indicate that the district was
operating with a deficit that was being publicly discussed. Internal financial information
consistently indicated that the district was operating within budget without a deficit.
Financial records and audit information demonstrated that the district had previously
reported a surplus of 7.9 million for fiscal 2024 rather than a deficit. The business office
had projected a 4.5-million-dollar surplus for fiscal 2025 before any transfers to the
maintenance reserve.
During this period, discussions increasingly centered on presenting financial need rather
than reporting actual financial conditions. In my opinion, the Business Office's analysis
and McGhee’s opinions were often disregarded when it conflicted with the narrative that
the district faced a significant financial shortfall.
One example occurred during discussions involving RIDE and district leadership
regarding the district’s financial position. Claims were made that the School Department
was operating with a substantial deficit of a 9 million deficit. During those discussions,
both McGhee and a city financial representative clarified that the 9 million related to a
city account and not a school account, public discussion continued to focus on deficit
concerns
Several operational decisions also contributed to financial concerns. Positions originally
funded through ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funds
remained in place after those federal funds expired. Approximately 45 positions and
more than $5 million in salary and benefit costs had previously been supported through
ESSER funding. Efforts to review and address these positions were delayed for months.
At the same time, additional positions were added at the request of Reyes increasing
expenditures. In my opinion, these decisions complicated efforts to maintain long-term
financial stability.
To balance the 2026 budget, $4,400,000 was used to balance 2026 budget because
Reyes, Buck and administration did not do their diligence in its preparation despite the
efforts of CFO McGhee, who I feel will be filing a wrongful termination lawsuit.
The district also hired consultants to evaluate its financial condition. Initial consultant
projections forecast a substantial deficit of 10 million, although those projections were
later revised downward, they produced the desired effect of panic. With a projected
deficit of $10,000,000, this would mean massive teacher layoffs. Sometimes consultants
will produce the desired results you pay for. I disagreed with the conclusions and
believed that the district's actual financial position was stronger than portrayed.
Beyond financial matters, I observed increasing conflict between Reyes and the School
Committee, district administration, city officials, and other stakeholders. Effective
governance requires cooperation among these groups. When relationships become adversarial,
it becomes more difficult to focus on the district's primary mission:
educating students.
My purpose in sharing these observations is not personal. I accepted this position late in
my career because I believed I could help strengthen the district’s financial operations
and support its students. Instead, I witnessed circumstances that, in my opinion,
undermined sound financial management and productive governance.
To move forward, I believe several steps should be considered:
Remove former School Committee Chair Reyes from his position.
Hire an experienced Superintendent.
Ensure that the Business Office is adequately staffed and supported.
Conduct a detailed review of positions previously funded through ESSER grants,
approximately 5.2 million in salary and benefits in fiscal 2024.
Review available surplus funds with outside auditors to determine appropriate
use.
Allow RIDE to present financial information and recommendations without
restriction.
Incorporate recent RIDE recommendations into the current budget, in particular
the cost reductions for Transportation.
Increase principal involvement in personnel budgeting decisions.
Review pending litigation and its potential impact on the district.
Foster a cooperative relationship among district administration, the School
Committee, the City Council, and the Mayor.
The Pawtucket School District serves thousands of students and employs more than a
thousand dedicated professionals. Its success depends on transparency, accountability,
cooperation, and commitment to accurate financial reporting. My hope is that these
observations contribute to a constructive discussion about the future of the district and
the steps necessary to ensure its long-term success. I also emailed the City Council
with a more detailed account of my observations.
Adam Olivere, a Graduate of Boston College, has over 40 years of related financial experience,
ranging from the Big 8 to Director of Finance at Marlborough Public Schools. He served
for 13 months as Controller for Pawtucket Public Schools from September 2024 to October 2025,
choosing to resign the week after then CFO Dale McGhee was terminated.
June 2, 2026 – Delivered to The Pawtucket City Council
Members of the Pawtucket City Council and Mayor.
These are My notes and comments on the Pawtucket School District Issues.
I hope they are useful and Informative.
Things to keep in mind – Pawtucket School District is a $170 million dollar organization
($170,000,000), has over 1,100 employees with over 700 teachers with the primary goal
of educating the children and young adults of the City of Pawtucket. It is the largest
employer in the city and the 3rd or 4th largest school district in state of Rhode Island.
This is a very serious issue that has caused material damage to several professionals at
the Pawtucket School District, to the Pawtucket students, the School District and the
citizens of Pawtucket. This includes former superintendent Patricia Royal, the former
Chief Financial Officer, Dale McGhee, and me as the former Controller, and others
mentioned below. The Financial leaders, whether in this case the Chief Financial Officer
or me, as Controller, have the primary responsibility to present fair and accurate
financial information to school administration, School Committee, City Council, Mayor
and the citizens of the City of Pawtucket.
That was not permitted to happen because of the actions of the School
Committee Chair, Omar Reyes and the Superintendent, Randy Buck.
Reyes had 3 objectives when he became Chairman of the Pawtucket School Committee
in January 2024:
1. Fire the Superintendent, Patricia Royal, who was fired within 2 months of him
becoming chairmen. Ms. Royal has a multimillion-dollar lawsuit pending against Mr.
Reyes and others.
2. Fire the CFO, Dale McGhee, who was fired on October 17,2025. I would not be
surprised if Mr. McGhee is preparing a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Mr. Reyes and
others.
3.Importantly to get the City to increase its City Appropriation to the School District,
which he continues to harangue over to this day. Despite the fact that the City of
Pawtucket is financing the new Baldwin School for 71 million and the Unified High
School for 326 million.
As I understand it, Malfeasance of duty is the intentional, unlawful act or wrongful
conduct by a public official. They wanted the financial team to show the school
running at a deficit, which was Not the case and was Not true. If Reyes could
show the school in a deficit position, it would strongly bolster his case to have
`the City increase its appropriation. That has been his Mantra that continues to
this day.
Omar Reyes has stated on his Facebook page that he runs the Pawtucket School
District. In fact, the school committee oversees the running of the school district.
and the Superintendent runs the day-to-day operations of the District. It is telling
that Reyes has that mindset that He runs the School District. These separate
responsibilities are delineated Title 16 Education.
Omar Reyes and Randy Buck wanted to show the school in a deficit position
when in fact it was NOT.
They prevented the financial team from presenting financial information that
contradicted their agenda.
They would not allow the former systems person to continue to assist the business
office on a part-time basis, usually for 4 hours on a Saturday. This person had written
over 30 programs including the vital budget program. He was a foundational piece of
historical data and budget formulation.
They prevented RIDE from presenting financial information that would be informative.
They refused to review staff positions that were funded by ESSER funds that ran out in
2024. These were emergency COVID 19 funds and some of these positions could have
been eliminated. Salaries and benefits funded by ESSER in 2024 were about 5.2 million
dollars and 45 positions. By not doing this, it would contribute to the deficit. They
stonewalled for months every attempt to resolve these ESSER positions.
They added 11 new and additional positions which added to the deficit. These included
6 social workers positions requested by Omar himself.
A human Resource person was hired to stabilize the position control function in HR
which is the critical function that allows payroll to properly put payroll costs in the proper
category for actual and budgeting costs. She was not allowed to perform this key
function and later resigned.
They put roadblocks in the way of the CFO presenting the 2026 Budget.
They hired a consulting firm, Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) that initially forecasted a 10-million-dollar deficit
which they later reduced. That caused the reaction they wanted, a Panic. Although it
was not true. The school had a surplus of $7,900,000 in 2024 and an expected
$4,500,000 in 2025. The question has to be asked “how does a district go from a 7.9-
million-dollar surplus to a 4.5-million-dollar surplus then to a 10-million-dollar deficit.
Sometimes when you hire and pay for a consultant, you can get the results you wanted.
And Reyes wanted to show that deficit,
`
The fee for this was $118,000 which cost was never stated in a school committee
session. The business office could have hired an accountant for that amount. After my
termination, AM was hired to assist for 3 months at $100,000 per month. This would
have paid for an additional 3 more staff members.
It was never their intention to try to generate a balanced budget, it was their sole
aim to generate a budgeted deficit to get more money from the city.
Chronology of events that illustrates Reyes and Buck actions.
On January 29, 2025, the Valley Breeze published an article criticizing the School
Department for audit delays. The article quoted City officials stating that the School
Department submitted financial data late and in incomplete form. Council members
publicly described the delays as “embarrassing and unacceptable.” The article
suggested that no other municipalities required extensions, which was inaccurate.
On January 30, 2025, Auditor General David Bergantino corrected inaccurate media
reporting regarding audit delays. Bergantino stated that audit extensions are common
and not indicative of mismanagement. He confirmed that only approximately 30 percent
of municipalities meet the statutory deadline. He further confirmed that Pawtucket was
not among municipalities with severe compliance issues.
McGhee prepared formal talking points to rebut the public narrative regarding audit
delays. The talking points documented included severe staffing shortages within the
Business Office.
This would represent Reyes’ first attempts to get the CFO, Dale McGhee fired. The
Superintendent Royal refused to do so and strongly fought back this attempt. As
early as January 2025 Reyes was attempting to have McGhee fired.
On March 3, 2025, McGhee and I met to discuss our access to the district’s financial
consultant, Jason Desrosiers, which had been restricted. We were under the belief that
the restriction originated from the School Committee. We had communicated that the
consultant’s work was essential for fiscal year-end reporting, payroll systems, and
budget preparation. On March 6, 2025, McGhee sent a detailed clarification explaining
that IT did not control Munis operations and that the consultant’s work was properly
scoped.
On March 4, 2025, I formally requested restoration of the consultant’s access. I stated
that the consultant had developed more than 30 financial and reporting tools used by
the Business Office. I emphasized that the Business Office operated with only three
accounting staff members instead of five and stated that the consultant’s expertise was
essential for completing the FY2024 audit and preparing the FY2026 budget. Since this
person had been there for years, his institutional knowledge was also invaluable. His
availability of time to assist was generally for 4 hours on Saturday.
`
On March 6, 2025, Superintendent Patricia Royal was placed on
administrative leave.
RIDE MEETING AND FALSE DEFICIT CLAIM (MARCH 13–14, 2025)
In this meeting, Buck stated that the meeting was prompted by discussions with Mayor
Grebien and School Committee Chair Omar Reyes, who expressed disbelief in the
FY2024 audit surplus. Buck communicated that these individuals asserted that the
School Department was operating with a $9 million deficit. During the meeting, RIDE
Finance Director Brandon Bohl identified a negative $9 million line item and asserted
that it represented a School Department deficit. Before McGhee could respond, a City
Finance representative clarified that the referenced line item was a City bond account
unrelated to School Department operations. McGhee then directed attendees to the
correct audit page, which clearly reflected a surplus for the School Department. This
correction directly contradicted the deficit narrative advanced by Reyes, the Mayor, and
Bohl. Despite this correction, the deficit narrative continued to be advanced in
subsequent discussions and public statements.
EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP BUDGET MEETING (MARCH 11, 2025)
McGhee and I discussed that requests were made by administration that were
consistent with repeated directives to fund unplanned expenditures without available
budget capacity. We raised concerns about escalating legal costs, noting approximately
$40,000 in legal expenses in a single month. Some budget lines were nearly exhausted
and that unplanned expenses were being shifted without proper planning.
HR AUTHORITY INTERFERENCE (MARCH 12, 2025)
It was explained to Administration that delays in receiving salary data from HR had
stalled budget development for approximately one month. Assistant Superintendent
Lee Rabbitt gave unauthorized direction to the business office staff. McGhee stated
that decisions affecting his department must be communicated directly to him. Rabbitt
initially denied involvement in communicating a hiring pause. Rabbitt later
acknowledged that she had communicated a pause on administrative hiring.
HR DATA FAILURES IMPACTING BUDGET (MARCH 12, 2025)
On March 12, 2025, Jessica Santiago (Human Resources) confirmed delays in
providing salary data required for budget development. Santiago was prevented from
performing her functions and later resigned.
On March 20, 2025, Based upon the positions being taken by Buck and Reyes
regarding budget strategy, it is my understanding that Reyes was urging the district to
“spend it all” and “hire more people.” It appears that this was not based on operational
need but on a political agenda.
McGhee warned that using one-time surplus funds for recurring expenses would create
a structural deficit in future years and bring into questions of mismanagement.
`
On or about April 4, 2025. Reyes canceled a scheduled budget
presentation.
As I observed mid-April 2025, the focus of Reyes and Buck’s concerns shifted
from operational issues to how financial information was presented. These were
interpreted as attempts to influence the narrative surrounding the District’s
financial condition.
I had prepared the forecast and we continued to maintain that the District was
operating on budget and that no deficit existed. Decisions regarding messaging and
presentation were developed regardless of business office input. No internal financial
documentation reflected a structural deficit. Despite this, external discussions
increasingly reflected concern about financial shortfalls.
By mid-April 2025, I observed tensions between McGhee and Administration had
escalated significantly. McGhee continued to insist on adherence to financial accuracy
and compliance standards and Buck and others increasingly focused on strategic
positioning related to funding requests.
The April 17, 2025 meeting was scheduled against this backdrop of escalating pressure
and conflicting objectives. McGhee entered the meeting with the expectation that
financial data would be presented accurately and in accordance with professional
standards. Others entered the meeting with a focus on demonstrating financial need to
external stakeholders.
On April 17, 2025, we attended the scheduled meeting with RIDE officials and
district leadership. During this meeting, Reyes advocated for presenting financial
information in a manner that would support increased funding requests. The
statements made during this meeting reflected a focus on narrative framing
rather than underlying financial accuracy.
McGhee did not adopt or agree with this approach and maintained that financial data
must be presented accurately. McGhee reiterated that the District was operating on
budget and had closed the prior fiscal year with a surplus, (7.9 million). The positions
taken during this meeting created direct conflict between McGhee and Reyes and Buck.
The April 17, 2025 meeting represents a critical turning point in the pattern of conduct
described in this Complaint. McGhee continued to report that the District was operating
on budget. In subsequent School Committee meetings, Reyes publicly questioned
financial information presented by McGhee. Reyes made statements were made
implying uncertainty or lack of confidence in the District’s financial position. These
statements were made without identifying any specific inaccuracies.
McGhee’s financial conclusions remained consistent and supported by underlying data.
During public meetings, McGhee was interrupted, admonished, and subjected to
heightened scrutiny while performing routine duties. These statements were made
before the public and press.
`
McGhee consistently responded that the District remained on budget. The continued
use of deficit framing created a misleading public narrative.
During the period from March to May 20,2025 there were ongoing meeting where
Reyes and Buck wanted to frame the discussion that the school district was
going have a deficit and therefore needed more money from the city. The financial
reality was that the school district was going to be on budget.
On October 19,2025 McGhee was fired.
I was shocked when the Superintendent fired Mr. McGhee. Based on my 50 years of
professional experience, Dale had exhibited a high degree of professionalism, financial
knowledge and managerial ability. Upon reflection it has become clear to me that Mr.
McGhee’s opposition to their lies and distortions about the school’s financial
position was what got him fired. My opposition to their agenda was warranted and
would also get me fired. They had shown they had an agenda that went against
their fiduciary responsibilities to the children, parents and taxpayers of the City of
Pawtucket. They would misrepresent to the public and deceive them
On November 19, 2025, a follow-up article was published listing reasons for McGhee’s
removal. These allegations included claims of insubordination and financial
mismanagement. The statements published in the media were presented as statements
of fact. the statements directly impugned McGhee’s professional competence and
suggested that he was unfit to perform his duties.
Since his election as Chair of the School Committee Mr. Reyes had as his primary and
sole goal and agenda to get the City to increase its City Appropriation of funds to the
school district. McGhee would have continued to present the financial and operational
facts as they truly were. And they would contradict what Mr. Reyes and Superintendent
Randy Buck wanted to represent. That was his Mantra from the beginning of his term
and continues to this day. Anything/anyone that stood in the way had to be eliminated.
Their agenda was to have the financial statements reflect that the school was in a
deficit position and therefore required the city to increase the City Appropriation
to the schools. My responsibility was to tell the Truth as best I could.
The history of the business office shows that: The staff of the business office
consisted of 5 professional accountants, a Chief Financial Officer, who normally worker
to 7pm, a very experienced Controller, Senior Accountant, Junior Accountant and a
System Programmer and Analyst, who wrote 37 programs, including the critical and
complicated Budget Program
The history of the business office shows the staffing of the business go down from 5
experienced accountants in June 2023 to 1 CFO from November 2024 to June 2025.
Three accountants resigned in August 2024 and the System Programmer in November
2024.
`
A CFO was terminated in March 2024 after 8 months and has a pending lawsuit against
the School District. A new CFO was hired and terminated within 2 weeks.
Dale McGhee was hired as CFO in April 2024 and was fired on October 19,2025. Prior
to my arrival there were several months when the only accountant was the CFO. Dale
McGhee and I developed a strong professional bond and worked extremely well
together. McGhee in my opinion, was a very competent and professional Chief Financial
Officer and worked diligently.
I worked for 13 months as the Financial Controller for the Pawtucket School District. I
normally worked 5.5 to 6 days a week to bring the business office work up to date.
During this period, I also did work stretches of 15 and 18 days straight. During my time
at Pawtucket, I always had access to the office, even on Saturday and Sunday.
On Sunday October 21 st , I was denied access to the building. 2 days after they
fired the CFO.
Terminations:
* In March, the Chair fired the Superintendent, Patricia Royal, who now has a multi-
million dollar lawsuit pending against Omar Reyes, the School Committee, members of
Pawtucket Administration and others for wrongful termination.
*The Director of Special Education took a position outside the district.
*The Assistant Director of Special Education took a position outside the district.
*The Director of Career and Technical Education took a position outside the district.
*The Director of CTE school took a position outside the district.
*An important employee was brought on board in Human Resources, but they weren’t
permitted to handle essential position control tasks that ensure payroll costs are
accurately tracked.
There is a strong reliance on Human Resources for the accuracy of payroll costs which
represent about 80% of total school costs. This would be considered sabotage in
another organization and/or putting roadblocks in the way of being successful.
Work Environment:
* As early as February, The Chair of the School Committee. Omar Reyes made it known
that he wanted the CFO fired. That would have been 4 CFOs in 12 months, Melissa
Devine left for Smithfield, Anthony Voccio, who would file a wrongful termination lawsuit,
a CFO who was terminated in 2 weeks and now Dale McGhee. Reyes’ reason was that
Pawtucket had not had the audit done in a timely manner. It did not matter to him that
75% of the districts were not completing their audits on time. This became such a public
matter that the Auditor General at Ride felt compelled to reach out to the Valley Breeze
to clarify that the situation in Pawtucket was not unusual and was being monitored in
`
discussions with the CFO. The Final Audit results showed the District closed with a 7.9-
million-dollar surplus. The principal of the auditing firm, CLA, Stephen Gross said the
accounting team did an outstanding job getting things in shape for the 2024 audit,
especially considering how shorthanded they were.
*The superintendent stopped allowing the former systems person from helping me in
the business office. This person had written 37 reports including the detailed and
complicated Payroll and Budget Programs and was a vital and a much-needed part of
the business office being effective. The struggles this represented cannot be
overestimated, like delays and obstacles in getting the budget finished.
*
The payroll supervisor had resigned since my termination In June and was rehired
since.
My attempted corrective actions:
I informed the Superintendent of the status and history of the business office and that
we were understaffed and needed an additional accountant at minimum. On July 21,
2025
I sent an email to the School Committee titled 'A brief history of the business office'
explaining the situation in hopes that it would be beneficial and the business office
would get some help. I wonder whether I could be considered a Whistleblower. Looking
back, I question whether even the School Committee even understood or cared about
the nature and scope of work demanded of the business office.
I was written up by the Superintendent for sending this email.
Additional Financial Hurdles affecting Work.
For fiscal year 2024, there was going to be a 7.9-million-dollar surplus. Although the
CFO tried desperately to explain this surplus and how it came about, it was reported
inaccurately by others and in the papers as a 15 million surplus. There were 2
Restricted Funds that had a combined 7 million dollars that were designated specifically
for major school repairs and offsetting health benefit costs and should not be
considered part of a surplus.
For the 2026 Budget, the CFO tried for 3 months to get the Superintendent and his
staff to review the about 47 payroll positions that had been paid with ESSER funds in
the past to the amount of 5,200,000. These federal funds were no longer available. As
normal practice these positions are reviewed and eliminated since they were considered
supplemental in nature but in this instance, they were absorbed into general operations.
`
As a result, there was going to be an unbalanced budget. In addition, there were
additional positions added at the request of the School Committee chair, Reyes.
Therefore, there was an unbalanced budget until I suggested at a school committee
meeting to take $4,200,000 from the fiscal 2024 surplus to balance the budget and the
school committee accepted the recommendation and voted affirmatively. It is to be
noted that the financial officers are to be considered the financial conservative voices of
the organization but in this case, they were ignored.
This financial crisis was brought about by the Superintendent, his administration
and the school committee not doing their job and reviewing these positions. The
amount of stress and frustration this caused to the CFO and me cannot be quantified.
9.11.2025 Valley Breeze – School officials have complied with an attorney’s demand
to delete a video of interim Supt. Randy Buck welcoming students to the 2025-2026
school year, agreeing that the contents did not represent Buck’s original words.
Attorney Jeffrey Sultanik, representing Supt. Carol Birks of the Allentown School
District in Pennsylvania, wrote to Pawtucket school officials and copied city
legislators on Aug. 29. He advised them that certain intellectual property of the
Allentown School District and its superintendent had been misappropriated and
used by the Pawtucket School Department. Specifically, he wrote, Buck copied the
entirety of a speech by Birks and treated it as his own. Reyes defended his hand-
picked Superintendent, questioning why anyone would attempt to discredit an up-
and-coming school professional, All while Reyes was discrediting Royal, Dr. Tate
and CFO McGhee.
Job Opening: The one time the Assistant Superintendent posted an open position on
the internet it was titled Assistant Controller. However, the responsibilities listed were
those of a Grant Manager. We already had a person in this position. And the salary
posted was $10,000 more than he currently made. All this posting did was upset the
current employee and cause confusion. Another Obstacle.
A&M Consulting Firm/ Auditing
Background: a school undergoes an audit by a public accounting firm, a RIDE audit,
and a Department of Revenue audit, all extensive and comprehensive audits. The
School Committee Chair wanted an outside firm to also audit. The SC obviously has no
idea of the extensiveness of these audits and the amount of time and work that is
involved in each. The SC had no understanding or appreciation for the work the hard-
working people in the Business office were doing. The feeling in the Business office is
that they were wanted a witch-hunt just to find something that could be used to discredit
the Business office. The Consulting firm A&M was hired to present a Budget
Forecasting tool. No mention of the cost of $118,000 was made in the public SC forum.
This amount would have provided an accountant for the Business Office. The A&M
report consisted of all data the Business Office had provided. A clause in the A&M
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contract clearly states, A&M they are not an auditing firm A&M subsequently was hired as
consultants at $100,000 a month. This amount could have provided 3 accountants for
an entire year. Obstacles.
RIDE Presentation (Rhode Island Department of Education)
The Business office requested that RIDE prepare an analysis of the Financial position of
the Pawtucket School District. RIDE is the primary holder of key and pertinent
operational and financial data for the 66 school districts in Rhode Island.
Santiago Guerrero at RIDE prepared this report. It was an excellent report with a lot of
key and beneficial data. RIDE was denied the chance to present this report to the
School Committee. This RIDE report would have provided some much-needed clarity
on the scope and status of the financial position of the Pawtucket School District.
Obstacles.
Termination of the Chief Financial Officer, Dale McGhee
The CFO and I worked as a collaborative team in attempting to make the business
office as effective as possible under the circumstances. We worked long hours in
excess of the 8 hour days, including weekends. We were a Team.
The CFO was terminated on late Friday afternoon October 17,2025. The termination
came as a complete shock, and the timing could not have come at a worst possible time
with the CLA financial audit ready to begin. It was the time for all reconciliations and
analysis to be completed and records brought up to date. The Administration obviously
did not take this into consideration. A department of 3 that used to be 5 with a chance to
completely catch up was not valued. Now there was going to be 2, with me as the
Controller. A completely impossible situation. It would be weeks before any help would
actually be available. I, a hard-working normal person, was going to crack under that
working environment. And I did. On the following Tuesday, I went to urgent care with
chest pains and exhaustion. The doctor wanted to admit me into the hospital, I refused
but promised to see my primary care physician as soon as possible.
On Thursday, I saw my primary care, had another EKG and realized I could not
continue to work under those conditions and resigned effective that Thursday.
Political Issues affecting work:
In the case of Pawtucket, Randy Buck is beholden to Omar Reyes for his position.
11.25.2025 I presented at the School Committee Meeting what I felt were the primary
issues and based upon his method of operations that the Chair of the School
Committee,
Omar Reyes should be fired.
1/6/2026 In the School Committee Meeting Matthew Wildenhain expressed his opinion
'that Over the past year the Lack of Honesty and Integrity that we have had to deal with
this year shows that we put our faith in the wrong person' referring to the former chair
Omar Reyes.
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Pat Ford, Coalition Radio Network speaking at 11.25.2025 School Committee
meeting
I've been observing from afar for the last nine, 10,11 months or so. And I've watched the
chaos, the firings, the polit cs, the backroom plays from afar, well informed by people
around the state as well as people here in Pawtucket. And I have to say, and this is also
after conversations with people who work in education in the state, that I'm not sure why
anyone with any sort of career prospects would come to work at a high level.. under
difficult circumstances. Under politics, routinely part of the school department and the
financial manipulations. I'm just not sure why anyone whether it be a CFO, whether it be
a high level administrator whether it be anyone involved in the management of the
school system here, if they had prospects elsewhere, why would they possibly come
here. It is simply outrageous.
Other Issues:
Omar Reyes in conflict with Mayor
Omar Reyes in conflict with City Council
Omar Reyes in conflict with other members of the School Committee
Omar Reyes has recently said he will not run again as chair of the School Committee.
All these were documented in the Valley Breeze.
My hope is that these comments provide enough information that someone can
take enough action steps to set things right in the Pawtucket School District for the
benefit of the taxpayers, the children who go to school there and the people who
work there.
Steps:
School Committee member, Reyes has to be removed.
An experienced School Superintendent has to be hired.
The business office has to staffed effectively.
The positions that were funded by Esser funds in 2024 have to be reviewed in
detail and the appropriate changes made.
The fiscal surplus of funds from fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2025 plus any other surplus
funds from prior years must be reviewed with the outside auditors for their
amounts and proper use.
Principals have to be more actively involved in the budgeting of school personnel,
not the old way of having central administration doing the budgeting.
RIDE should be allowed to present their data that was never allowed to be
presented in the past.
RIDE recommendations, such as the recent discussion of needed changes in
transportation must be incorporated into the 2027 budget.
A list of pending lawsuits should be reviewed by City Counsel.
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The future relationship between the School Administration, School Committee, City
Council and Mayor should be Cooperative and not Combative.
Regards,
Adam Olivere
Former Controller, PSD
617-512-7447
