Haynes.tv

The town of North Kingstown has entirely too much drama for a suburb of Providence. This applies especially to our school department. By the amount of accusations and unfavorable news reports about the NKSD, you would think that our daily lives are scripted by television writers. However, the biggest character that dominates North Kingstown cooler talk is the Kingpin, Dr. James Halley. He is a public official that answers only to himself, and his public allies answer only to him. He thinks he lives in a special bubble outside of public opinion. In the minds of the parents and students he has been running the North Kingstown School Department like this for the past 12 years.

The drama involving Dr. Halley has recently come to a head over the report concerning $245,000 of misappropriated funds. ABC 6 reporter Jim Hummel has been following (harassing) the story for the past several months. Needless to say, Halley is not a fan. Their confrontation finally became physical at a March 28 school committee meeting in which Hummel followed Halley around the auditorium, smashing him with difficult (for Halley) questions about the report. An obviously distressed Halley puffed out nonsense responses saying that the media has no right to cover the meeting, despite that fact that every meeting is broadcast in North Kingstown on Cox Channel 17. And after the meeting Halley went to the North Kingstown P.D. to file assault and harassment charges.

I believe this whole disastrous meeting demonstrates Halley’s inability to perform his job effectively (as well as ethically) because he cannot handle the pressure, he has made actions detrimental to his image and reputation, as well as that of the town’s school department, and he is being chased like an injured antelope from a lion on the savanna of truth. We let him make his own decisions, but now its time for us to tell him its over. The recent paid suspension should give him time to think about the function of a public official. What the word public means. He should ask himself whether he has any honor and dignity left, or will he continue to rely on political alliances and the threat of lawyers to save his wounded rear end (which we know he will). This claim of assault on Jim Hummel demonstrates no matter how hard he falls, his senses are completely disconnected from the real world.

As a side note, I am a North Kingstown resident and from now on I will follow all the important issues facing north Kingtown in future articles. I read the North East Independent and the South County section of the Providence Journal and I will share my opinions about artices as well as add my own insight. I attend many town meeting and am very involved in the town.