Burrillville News

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

RI Turkey Restoration Project History

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

The RI wild turkey restoration project began on  February 8th,1980 in the town of Exeter with a single release of 29 wild turkeys trapped and transferred from Vermont. Population growth was assisted by the migration of birds released in 1983 and 1984 by Connecticut Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), near the state line. Population growth and expansion in these parts of RI was slow to respond in spite of the availability of suitable habitat.
Utilizing harvest data, brood reports, cooperator sightings, call count surveys, track and sign surveys it was apparent that certain areas of the state held few or any turkeys and that the release of new flocks was warranted. Three sights were chosen for releases, Black Hut Management Area in Burrillville and two large privately owned parcels; one in West Greenwich and the other in Little Compton.
Rhode Island DFW contacted the New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC) and requested their assistance in providing wild turkeys for the planned release. NYDEC agreed to assist and trapping operations were initiated during the winter of 1994. On two occasions, Rhode Island biologists were able to participate in the trapping providing an opportunity for training in capture techniques. The NWTF provided transport boxes for the captured birds.
During the winter of 1994, a total of 48 wild turkeys, 24 males and 24 females, were trapped and transferred from NY to RI. Collectively, 20 birds, 11 males and 9 females, were released at the Black Hut site on 7 January and 13 January 1994. The West Greenwich site collectively received 13 birds, 4 males and 9 females, released on 3 February and 16 March 1994. The final 15 birds, 9 male and 6 female, were released at the Little Compton site on 13 January 1994.
The birds released at the Black Hut and Little Compton sites were protected by regulation that closed these areas to turkey hunting. The West Greenwich site consisted of a block of several hundred acres on which the owners agreed to post their land with wild turkey restoration signs. The restoration signs, provided by the RI DFW and the RI State Chapter of the NWTF, allow no hunting for wild turkey for the next few years.
In 1995, the RI DFW began its first ever in-state trap and transfer program. The trap and transfer of wild turkeys resulted in the establishment of two new release sites in the towns of Foster and Scituate. With 32 birds donated from the Pennsylvania Game Commission and 13 trapped in Glocester, RI, 45 wild turkeys were released during the winter of 1995. The Foster site received 22 Pennsylvania birds, 4 males and 18 females, released between 12 February and 3 March 1995. The Scituate release site received 23 birds, 4 males and 19 females, released between 24 February and 3 March 1995.

During the winter of 1996, the Pennsylvania Game Commission again donated wild turkeys to assist RI in their wild turkey restoration efforts. These 15 birds, 7 males and 8 females, were released in the town of Tiverton on 3 February 1996. As with other release sites, the Tiverton area was closed to turkey hunting for the next few years to allow the turkey population to take hold and flourish.  This area has since been opened to turkey hunting.
The RI DFW and the RI State Chapter of the NWTF would like to thank the states of Vermont, New York, and Pennsylvania for their tremendous support for RI's wild turkey restoration project. Their generous donations of wild turkeys has put RI's wild turkey restoration project on the road to being a huge success. Thank you very much! Source: Rhode Island Turkey Federation. 
 

 

 
 

First Bird !

PASCOAG PUBLIC LIBRARY

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

PASCOAG PUBLIC LIBRARY

57 Church St.

presents

Collecting Rocks, Minerals, and Fossils

Monday, December 7 at 6pm

RI Mineral Hunters President

Steve Emma

will give a power point presentation on

different fossils and

bring hands-on examples.

This is a family program for

adults and children.

Please RSVP by calling 568-6226.

Broncos Football to the Division IV Super Bowl Again !

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

Burrillville Broncos defeat North Providence Cougars 26-12 and move on to the Division-IV Super Bowl! Awesome game today !

Super Bowl bound versus Smithfield at Cranston stadium December 5

Josh Donaldson wins AL MVP award after fantastic first season with Blue Jays

Posted by Wayne G. Barber  Photos property of Wayne G. Barber

  I was very lucky to sit with my family members and Larry Luchino at a Red Sox/ Blue Jays baseball game this year and could almost touch the players. Josh Donaldson's dad secured two game balls for our Little Leaguers and I knew the photos would be good ones and contain a Big Papi and a American League MVP.

Josh Donaldson's first year with the Toronto Blue Jays will go down in history. After hitting 41 homers, driving in 123 runs and leading the Jays to the AL East title, Donaldson was named the AL MVP on Thursday.
   Baseball Writers Association of America, besting the reigning AL MVP Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels, who got seven first-place votes. Lorenzo Cain of the Kansas City Royals finished third. There was some debate whether Trout could repeat, but in the end, voters preferred Donaldson in rather convincing fashion. Perhaps surprisingly so.
Donaldson received 23 of 30 first-place votes from the

Big PAPI #498

Larry Luchino

New Website for Burrillville

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

The Town of Burrillville is pleased to announce the launch of our newly designed website.  The new website has an updated, mobile-friendly design and is easy to navigate.
There are many new features. Here are just a few:

• You can now subscribe to receive notices from specific departments or receive agendas and minutes from specific boards. Click on the e-Subscribe button on the left-hand side of our home page to make your choices.
• All of our calendars are in one place. You can filter the calendar by event type (holiday, public meeting, etc.) and/or by department/board (Town Council, Conservation Commission, etc.). You can find the calendar right on the front page, just click the tab marked Calendar.
• Looking for a form (voter registration, job application) on our website? Click on the Forms and Documents link to find a list.

In the next couple of weeks we will be ironing out the some of the wrinkles that come with such a big project.  If you see anything we missed, let us know.
The Town of Burrillville is dedicated to providing the highest level of service, and our new website is a platform to keep our residents and visitors informed. We will be updating this site regularly and we want to hear from you about suggestions for improvement.

PARCC tests' scores shockingly low in R.I.

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

By Linda Borg & Paul Edward Parker
Journal Staff Writer  

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Only about one in three students met state standards in English and only one in four did so in math, according to the results of a new standardized test that has generated considerable parental opposition nationwide.

Parents who are used to seeing their children’s test scores improve every year may be stunned by these results. In 2013-2014, the last year that the old test, New England Common Assessment Program, was administered, nearly 72 percent of Rhode Island students were proficient in reading and 61 percent were proficient in math.

The new test, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), was administered to all Rhode Island students for the first time in 2015. Seventy-five thousand students in grades 3 through 10 took the tests, 80 percent of them took it on a computer.

State educators, however, cautioned the public against reading too much into these scores because the PARCC is more challenging than the previous test. Moreover, this was the first time that many students took the assessment on a computer (the PARCC was given to a smaller number of students in 2014). And education leaders said scores typically fall whenever a new test is rolled out.

Still, some of the results are troubling: in Providence, less than 10 percent of students met or exceeded state expectations in math. Only 5.2 percent did so in Central Falls, a district that has been working closely with Rhode Island College and neighboring charter schools to boost student achievement.

State education Commissioner Ken Wagner said “These results show, once again, that we have work today.”

“It should come as no surprise that the Central Falls community faces unique challenges as we strive to improve our schools,” said Central Falls Supt. Victor Capellan. “I know that the people of this community care deeply about the quality of education in our schools. The PARCC results show us that we have a long road to travel….”

“Just as no student can be measured by the result of one test, we can’t measure the performance of a school or school district by one test alone,” said Interim Providence Supt. Chris N. Maher. “The results today provide one piece of valuable data that can help us work together toward school improvement."

A couple of districts, Scituate and Burrillville, had exceptionally low rates of student participation in the PARCC, possibly because of strong parental opposition to the test.

In Scituate, considered a high-performing district, only 25 percent of its high school students took the math test and not one of them met the standard. In Burrillville, only 60 percent of students took the tests in math and English.

Last spring, Scituate Supt. Lawrence Filippelli said he was worried that low participation rates would affect his school rankings.

“It’s a nightmare,” he said in March. “Essentially my commended schools are no longer going to be commended.”

According to federal law, 95 percent of a school’s students must take the test or else they can drop a rung in their ranking. Because this is the first year of PARCC testing, no school will drop into “warning” status or lower. However, a commended school could lose its standing if it doesn’t hit the 95 percent participation mark.

In English language arts, only four districts, Barrington, East Greenwich, the Compass Charter School and the Kingston Hill Charter School, had 70 percent or more their students meet expectations in English.

Of the 287 schools that participated in the test, only 13 had at least 70 percent of its students meet or exceed the standards in English

In math, only six districts had 50 percent or more students meet or exceed the standards: East Greenwich, Barrington, Jamestown, South Kingstown, Exeter-West Greenwich and one charter school, Blackstone Valley Prep, a network of schools in northern Rhode Island.

Also in math, only four schools had 70 percent or more students meet or exceed the standards: Nayatt Elementary School in Barrington and three elementary schools in South Kingstown.

Meanwhile, the achievement gaps between poor students and middle-income students, white students and students of color, remain alarmingly wide: Less than 20 percent of black and Latino students have met or exceeded the standard in English compared to nearly 45 percent of white students.

In math, less than 11 percent of black and Latino students have met or exceeded the standard compared to nearly 33 percent of white students.

More than twice as many middle and upper income students reached the standard in English than students from low-income families. In math, three times as many middle and upper income students outperformed disadvantaged students.  have concerns about the use of the PARCC assessments and the validity of the results and for this reason I am grateful that Commissioner Wagner has opened the conversation about the use of assessments as a graduation requirement,” said Tracy Ramos, director of Parents Across Rhode Island.

Many charter schools who performed well in the past struggled with this test, which is shared with 8 other states and Washington, D.C. Only Blackstone Valley Prep scored within the top 25 percent in English and the top six schools in math.