Minority Parents Say Rep. Blazejewski Won’t Respond to Calls or Emails, So We Tried to Contact Him

Minority Parents Say Rep. Blazejewski Won’t Respond to Calls or Emails, So We Tried to Contact Him

Minority parents who are opposing legislation that would block the planned expansion of more than 5,500 publicly funded charter school seats say they have tried to reach House Majority Leader Chris Blazejewski with no success.

He won’t answer phone calls or respond to emails.

The parents who have organized the group “Stop the Wait RI” are all women of color and they say families should no longer have to sacrifice their children to inferior schools in Providence, Pawtucket, and other urban corridor schools.

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Providence schools made national news nearly two years ago after a study by Johns Hopkins University found that they are among the worst in the country. Districts such as Pawtucket and Central Falls have equally poor test results - SEE TEST SCORES BELOW.

In tweets to Blazejewski parents wrote, “@CBlazejewski your voicemail's been full for a week & you're not answering calls from Black and Latino parents advocating for their kids to have access to a quality public charter school education. We need leadership! #answerthephone."

Blazejewski, who represents one of the most affluent districts in the state -- College Hill on Providence's East Side -- was elected House Majority Leader after now Speaker of House Joseph Shekarchi replaced Nick Mattiello.  According to his bio, he is a lawyer at a Boston law firm and has two degrees from Harvard.

The parents also tweeted, “In fact, while @CBlazejewski says Black Lives Matter - his inaction to listen to Black and Latino parents says something completely different. Putting a BLM lawn sign up won't change the world. Educating our children will. Center the voices of those most impacted. #stopthewaitri." 

Janie Seguí Rodríguez -- Board President of Stop the Wait -- told GoLocal in an interview, “It is frustrating that we have been unable to even leave a voicemail. How does he know who is calling him? Which bill we are calling about? What side we are on? We have been trying to call him for almost two weeks at this point, he doesn't ever answer and certainly doesn't call back. Not sure how he is responding to constituent concerns.”

“We will get as creative as we need to! A group of moms and our children stopped by his house today. We wanted to plead our case. Latinx students in RI are last in the nation for student outcomes. Our children are trapped in failing schools. We must center students and think of their futures when making difficult decisions. He was not home but his wife happened to arrive at that same time we did. She was very understanding and supportive of our reluctance to send our children to schools where proficiency rates are 8% in ELA and 5% in Math,” said Seguí Rodríguez.

 

Mom Question's Blazejewski's Motives

Seguí Rodríguez said she was frustrated that elected leaders like Blazejewski claim to believe in issues that are important for people of color, but refuse to even listen to concerns.

"People co-opt the language of strong movements by learning how to say the right things. Actions always speak louder than words. You can't center the voices of Black and Brown families, who are most impacted by the decisions you're making, if you won't even speak to them," said Seguí Rodríguez

"Not one representative has tried to reach out to Stop The Wait RI to speak to any parents. A couple of Reps that I know personally were responsive to calls, but even my own Representative Barros hasn't responded to me. Some Reps have responded to individual calls from other parents, but not one Rep that I have left a voicemail for, or just called has answered or called me back. I am an Afro-Latinx mother who wants a voice in my child's education and it seems I've been blacklisted," she said. 

Seguí Rodríguez recently appeared on GoLocal LIVE -- See Interview Here

 

Blazejewski’s Side of the Story

GoLocal wanted to hear Blazejewski’s side of the story — was he really fighting to block Black and Brown parents from getting their children into new charter school seats?

We reached out via:

Office Phone: No Response

Cell Phone: No Response (mailbox full and will not accept new voicemail messages)

Text Message: No Response

Campaign Email: No Response

State Email: No Response

Facebook Message: No Response