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To Mr. Tarnopol, apparently you did miiss it. Of the 7 school committee members, 3 of us voted to not go to court. This was not about the constitutionality of the banner, or about church vs. state. The actual wording of the resolution was not whether or not to take the banner down or leave it up, it was about whether or not we should spend money on a lawsuit. It was and continues to be an issue that for me, is about education. Contraty to Mr. Young's unfortunate comments, the Cranston School Committee does not have 133 million dollars of disposable income. All 133 million of those dollars are earmarked for the EDUCATION of our students, all 11,000 of them.. There is not one dime of that budget that can be or should ever be spent on anything other than education (which includes salaries and benefits for the people who educate our students). For any who would like to challenge this fact, I invite you to visit the Cranston Public Schools web site and read the entire budget. if you can find $173,000 extra dollars, I'd like to know about it!

As a member of the school committee, I am charged with the care and control of the education of our students. I have an obligation to them, their parents and the TAXPAYERS (of which Mr. Young is not) of the city of Cranston. I do not care to pontificate on my faith or religion. That is between me, my family, my Church and most importantly, my God. If you want to vote me out becuase I am doing my job as an elected official, then you are free to do so. I do not know how the committee will vote on Feb 16. But I do wish that people would stop saying, "you can't make it about the money", or "you can fundraise the money". Where were all of you when I had to cast my vote to cut music from my children's education. Where was Mr. Young when I had to tell my daughter that I had to cut funding for her gifted program. And if we appeal, where will all of you be when we could face the potential of having to close schools, or lay off teachers because we spent money, meant for education, on a lawsuit? Will you all come to tell the 11,000 children whose education will be ruined that it was "all for the best"? Maybe for all of you, it's not about the money, and for you, it doesn't have to be. But I was elected to make educational and financial decisions for the students and taxpayers of this city. I do not have that luxury.