Mattiello Disappointed RI Dept. of Education Has No Providence Plan, Commissioner Offers No Details
Saturday, July 27, 2019
Despite having been working towards a Providence School takeover for more than three months, Rhode Island’s Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green is now backing away from promises of transparency.
Her office is now refusing to layout plans as to how to improve Providence Schools.
Appearing on GoLocal LIVE this week, Speaker of the House Nick Mattiello discussed Rhode Island Department of Education voting to take over the beleaguered Providence public schools, following the Johns Hopkins report which identified the glaring problems in Providence -- including school buildings. He voiced concern that there is no public plan.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTMattiello warned that the state was not prepared to assist with additional financial resources beyond those already provided.
“If you don’t invest each and every year you’re going to have a disaster on your hands. They have a problem in Providence and that’s going to have to be addressed. The state is not going to come in with a large sack of money and address the Providence infrastructure needs,” said Mattiello. “They have to come up with a plan. I’m disappointed that I don’t see one at this point.”
“I’m interested to see what the Commissioner and Department of Education’s plan is. In the General Assembly, we passed a lot of legislation addressing curriculum, governance, and so forth that should be of assistance throughout the state,” said Mattiello. “But there are a lot of problems — disciplinary problems, curriculum problems, teachers being disrespected — I think you have to start foundational at the beginning and just rebuild the network one piece at a time.”
State Takeover, No Details
Last week, the RI Department of Education’s Board’s Council on Elementary and Secondary Education voted to authorize a state takeover of Providence schools on Tuesday night.
The unanimous 7-0 vote comes a month after the release of the Johns Hopkins report and three months after Governor Gina Raimondo announced a state review of the schools.
Requests by GoLocal regarding improving security, faculty retraining and facility improvement plans at Providence Public Schools were met with a stiff arm by Infante-Green’s office.
“As we said last Tuesday in our public announcement, PPSD remains under the authority of the city pending the completion of the legal process triggered by the Crowley Act. They will be responsible for opening school on Sept. 3. The timeline for the legal process is hard to predict with precision, but will last approximately 90 days," said Infante-Green’s spokesperson.
“The next step is for the Commissioner to issue a Draft Proposal for Decision and Order Exercising Control over the PPSD and Reconstituting Schools, which will outline the future decision-making structure for Providence schools. We anticipate that the Draft Proposal for Decision and Order will be issued in the next two weeks,” he added.
Initially, Infante-Green had promised in Providence “community” meetings that Providence’s education failures would not continue and that the process would not continue.
But now, with just over a month to open Providence schools, there are few details, more process and little indication Providence schools will be any different come September.
More and More Questions Are Emerging Over the State’s Ability and Support
As GoLocal reported earlier this week, Governor Gina Raimondo’s longstanding Chair to oversee education in Rhode Island has not visited any Providence Schools except for press events in four-plus years.
According to the Chair of the Providence School Committee, Barbara Cottam, the State of Rhode Island’s Chair of the Board of Education has never visited a Providence School other than for “maybe a press conference.”
Cottam, a long-time Democratic staffer and close personal ally to Raimondo was appointed by Raimondo in February of 2015. She refused to respond to a series of questions about her involvement with Providence schools during her four-plus years as chair of the Board. Today, she serves as a top communications executive for Citizens Bank.
Nick Hemond says that in the three-and-a-half years that he has chaired the Providence School Committee Board, he and Cottam have only met one time — two years ago.
Hemond while appearing on GoLocal LIVE on Monday said, “We met one time and it was in response to talk of this sort of thing -- two years ago under Ken Wagner [former RI Commissioner of Education] and you know we pushed back at that time to say listen, all of our winds are together.”
