#dan warner

Wither: A Novel

BY CAROLYN THORNTON

Rhode Island Interscholastic League

     WARWICK, RI (December 1, 2025) - The final item of business at the Principals’ Committee on Athletics’ November meeting was a bittersweet one as its members recognized outgoing chairperson Dan Warner for his more than 20 years of dedication and service both to the Rhode Island Interscholastic League’s governing body and to the tens of thousands of high school and middle school students across the state who play interscholastic athletics.

     “It was 2004 when Dan rolled onto this committee,” said RIIL Executive Director Mike Lunney, as he presented Warner with a commemorative plaque at the November 17th meeting in the RIIL office. “That was quite a few years ago. I was an athletic director at the time and just getting involved at the state level, and I know that the amount of institutional knowledge that Dan has is immense. So we’re definitely going to miss that, and his leadership of this organization during a really difficult time, as well. These past few years have been really challenging, and you’ve had a steady hand in leading us through all of that.”

RIIL Executive Director Mike Lunney presents outgoing PCOA Chair Dan Warner with a plaque recognizing his service to the organization. (PHOTO: CAROLYN THORNTON/RIIL)

      A Newport native and Rogers High School graduate, Warner began his career out in Colorado, but returned to Rhode Island in 1999 and spent the next 24 years working for the Narragansett School Department, the first several years as assistant principal and another 20 years as principal of Narragansett High School. Upon retiring from Narragansett in 2023, Warner then served as principal of Block Island School for two years.

     Over the course of his career, Warner was recognized as the 2007 School Administrator of the Year by the Rhode Island Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association and the 2009 Principal of the Year by the Rhode Island Association of School Principals.

     After serving for 15 years as a member of the RIIL’s Principals’ Committee on Athletics, Warner was appointed Assistant Chair in 2019. He was then named PCOA Chair in 2022.

     “I’ve seen a lot and I’ve seen a lot of camaraderie and I can’t express enough the awesome responsibility that you folks have as members of the PCOA,” Warner said at his final meeting leading the group.

     “This appointment and your service on this committee should never be taken lightly,” he continued, sharing some of the sentiments he had expressed in a letter to the members. “The responsibility you have to the thousands of student-athletes we serve can sometimes feel overwhelming. It is your duty, and really your honor to deal with those situations with thoughtfulness, courage and reverence. Do not ever take your role, or the decisions you make lightly, because their impact can be far reaching. I know in my heart that in working with you on this committee, the student-athletes of Rhode Island are in good hands. Again, thank you for allowing me to chair such a wonderful and talented group of principals, I will miss you and the work we share. Your work is indeed without measure.”

      WARWICK, R.I. (August 25, 2022) – The Principals’ Committee on Athletics unanimously approved the nomination of Narragansett High School principal Daniel F. Warner to the position of PCOA Chairperson, at its August meeting held at the Rhode Island Interscholastic League Office. With Mr. Warner’s ascension to Chair creating a vacancy for the PCOA’s Assistant Chairperson, the PCOA also unanimously approved the nomination of Toll Gate High School principal Candace Caluori to that position.

     The Principals’ Committee on Athletics serves as the governing body for the Rhode Island Interscholastic League, a private, non-profit voluntary organization of principals, whose mission is to provide educational opportunities for students through interscholastic athletics. The RIIL membership consists of 73 public, private, and parochial high schools, as well as alternate education/charter schools. The League sponsors athletic activities in 30 sports with more than 36,000 young men and women competing each year. 

      A member of the Principals’ Committee on Athletics since 2004 and the PCOA’s Assistant Chairperson for the last three years, Mr. Warner was honored as 2007 School Administrator of the Year by the Rhode Island Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association and 2009 R.I. Principal of the Year by the Rhode Island Association of School Principals. In addition to serving on the PCOA, he has chaired the RIIL’s Sportsmanship Committee and served as a co-director of football.

     The principal at Toll Gate High School for the last six years and its assistant principal for six years prior to that, Mrs. Caluori served on the PCOA from 2001 to 2005 and re-joined the board last year. Formerly a physical education teacher and successful boys and girls volleyball coach for more than a decade, she previously served as the RIIL’s sport director for girls tennis for a number of years. 

     Mr. Warner succeeds Sean Kelly, who submitted his resignation as PCOA Chairman after stepping down from his position as principal of Cranston High School East to work in Central Administration in the Cranston School Department. RIIL Executive Director Michael Lunney presented Mr. Kelly with a plaque recognizing and thanking him for his 10 years of dedicated service to the Principals’ Committee on Athletics, including the last three years he has served as the chairperson.

Film Review – Valley Of Love (2016)

Made before his enigmatic tour de force, The End, played the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Guillaume Nicloux released Valley of Love in a few select territories. This French language-feature marks the third screen collaboration between legendary stars Gerard Depardieu and Isabelle Huppert (1974’s Going Places and 1980’s Loulou). However, I would argue that Nicloux’s meta-narrative is…

Valley of Love showcases talents of French acting greats in surreal narrative — A film review

Every once in a while a movie comes around that solely achieves its greatness due to its performances. It seems like French writer/director Guillaume Nicloux has made such a movie by design. The performances of Isabelle Huppert and Gérard Depardieu drive Valley of Love so much so that their characters are even called Isabelle and Gérard, and the actors are only credited with their last names (see…

Guillaume Nicloux’s ‘Valley of Love’ Starring Isabelle Huppert & Gérard Depardieu

    In ‘Valley of Love’ French icons Isabelle Huppert and Gérard Depardieu play two movie stars and a long-divorced couple whom have been out of contact for years who go to a strange appointment in Death Valley, California. They have not seen each other for years and are here to answer to an invitation from their son Michael, a photographer, which they received after his suicide, six months ago.…