John Craig wins his school department job back
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| Driven out of Charlestown by the CCA, Craig found satisfaction working for the East Providence school system |
By Will Collette
The first victim of a Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) smear campaign was John Craig, who was elected to the Town
Council in 2006 as part of Jim Mageau’s ticket. A popular guy, Craig was
elected to serve as Town Council President.
But from the day Craig and his colleagues Mageau and Bruce
Picard took office, the CCA was out to get them. The CCA even leafleted and
picketed outside their swearing in ceremony – making it pretty clear – even before
their first act as Council members - that it didn’t matter what this new
Council did or didn’t do – the CCA was gonna get ‘em.
And by the way, the CCA named names.
As all of us who experienced that tumultuous 2006-2008
Council term can attest, it was a mess from start to finish. If it wasn’t
Dan Slattery bellowing at the Council from the floor, it was Cliff Vanover
trying to provoke a physical incident.
RISC President Harry Staley made his own
appearances to back up the brand-new CCA in their bitter and personal campaign
against Craig, Picard and Mageau.
In the middle of the Council term, John Craig had had
enough.
He resigned as Council President, resigned his Council seat
and packed up and left Charlestown for good.
Score Victim #1 for those champions of civility, the CCA.
Craig continued his career in teaching and most recently
served for three years as Assistant Principal at East Providence High School.
But at the end of the 2010-2011 school year, Craig found his
job abolished out from under him, victim of budget cuts, the same year he was named
School Administrator of the Year.
According
to EastBayRI.com, Craig lost his job due to a shift in priorities.
The school system decided it needed to cut one of three assistant principals to
put more money into kindergarten, and John Craig was the one who was cut.
Craig, who says “I never wanted to leave” and pointed to
tangible achievements that he had helped to bring about, filed a wrongful
dismissal grievance with the RI Department of Education.
Craig’s grievance was upheld by the Department and he will
be returning to work at the start of the school year. Click
here to read a copy of the decision.
Craig doesn’t know exactly what his new assignment or job
title will be. EastBayRI quotes sources saying that Craig will be assigned
another administrative position, perhaps as a conflict resolution expert.
And conflict resolution is something John Craig knows all
about, although he was never able to resolve the conflicts between the CCA and
its enemies on the 2006-2008 Town Council, who included, sad to say, John Craig.