Providence bus assignments for the coming year have a 4 year old scheduled to be on a bus for over 2 hours a day.
A four year old Providence student with special needs is scheduled to be on a school bus for two and half hours a day, according to a parent who received the bus assignment this past week.
"My barely 4 year old child will catch a bus at 6:44 AM to be driven away from his friends and family on a 1 hour and 15 minute ride for a 9 hour total day," said parent Hollybeth Runco. "He will spend 12.5 hours a week on a bus--not out of necessity, but only due to the archaic segregation of special needs children from their home neighborhoods in Providence."
Runco continued, "He will need to leave earlier due to the additional burden of an 8:00 am “bell” time. Due to busing congestion, bell times need to be staggered. Two of the three locations chosen to be burdened with an early bell time house 70% of special needs pre-K students. For perspective, special needs students aged 3-5 will be expected to start school at the same time as Providence middle and high school students—but with longer, rather lonely bus rides."
Now, Runco and other parents are saying the closure of neighborhood pre-K programs are making for longer bus rides, and for some of the students with the most needs.
"Mayor Taveras and Michael Solomon both refused to exercise their power to over-ride the Providence Public School District’s intention to close the last pre-K program local to the north and eastern side of the city," said Runco. "As a matter of fact, Mayor Taveras and Michael Solomon have sat back while the district eliminated 60% of all local pre-K programs in the last four years in a broader effort to “cluster” special needs children—an archaic, pre-1970 philosophy."
"Pleasant View is only 3.4 miles from my house but my son is probably the first child picked up. As some people wouldn't find that "far", in this city he passes several elementary schools on the way," said Runco. "The saddest thing is that he won't be with his neighborhood friends."
"By the way, 4 years ago, there were FIVE pre-K programs closer to our home than ALL FOUR available today," said Runco.
Greater Concerns for Program Closures
"There is an evident lack of care, concern and basic oversight when it comes to ensuring we are bettering the education and well-being of our youngest special needs children. One would think that after stripping a child of his right to attend his neighborhood school, those who are responsible for the well-being of this population of students would see a red flag in having him, or any student of this young age, start their day with a 76 minute bus ride that begins at 6:44 AM," said parent Kira Weidner-Greene, who had pushed for discussions between parents and Providence school department and administration last year when bus issues arose.
"The centralization, or "clustering" of special needs populations into one neighborhood, as is happening under the Taveras administration, will create a ripple effect of hardships, this just being one example. I think our elected officials, who failed to stop the closure of the Vartan Gregorian pre-K should now take on the task of asking the district to audit the bus stop times, location and length of bus rides for this population of children who can no longer access their neighborhood program," continued Greene.
Runco said that she heard from Providence Public School Department Chief Operating Officer Bernie Luger about her situation, who offered to assist her with the issue.
"I got a surprise email from [Luger]. He is willing to help me with my son's bus time," said Runco. "There are those that would help within the school system but are stymied by bad policies."
"I hope people truly understand an important underlying issue regarding the removal of local pre-K access: By removing pre-K programs, Taveras eliminated 60% of crucial pre-K infrastructure. There is no Universal pre-K Plan for the Providence Public School System," said Runco. "That's important. You can't have Universal pre-K without public school involvement."
Runco provided the following image below to illustrate the closure - and clustering -- of the city's pre-K programs.
Can Taveras Keep Up with the Big Boys and Girls in Fundraising?
In America today, one issue that is a factor in nearly every election is fundraising. To date, Taveras has yet to demonstrate any consistent ability to keep up with the leading fundraisers in RI.
Taveras will have to compete with General Treasuer Gina Raimondo, who has $2 plus million on hand and a likely run from Clay Pell (grandson of US Senator Claiborne Pell and whose wife is Olympic skater Michelle Kwan).
Raimondo is on pace to raise $5m and Taveras presently has just $692,000 on hand and would be on pace to raise less than $2 mliion.
Pell's family has access to nearly limitless dollars - back in the 1990's Pell's grandfather was ranked as one of the wealthiest members of Congress.
For more than 60 years, no Providence Mayor has been successful running for Governor of Rhode Island. You have to go back to the 1950 election when Dennis Roberts was elected Governor.
Since Roberts, a number of Providence Mayors have taken their shot at running for Governor and each has failed mightily.
Most notably, Buddy Cianci's run against J. Joseph Garrahy - Cianci got less than 30% of the statewide vote.
Joe Paolino was expected to win the Democratic primary in 1990, but was beaten badly by Bruce Sundlun and then Warwick Mayor Frank Flaherty.
Sundlun went on to win the general election and Flaherty was later named to the state Supreme Court.
Can Teachers Trust Taveras - and Will Voters Trust His Relationship with the Teachers Unions?
In the midst of the city's political meltdown, Taveras just into his first few months in office fired all the teachers in Providence.
Taveras received strong public support, but within months he capitulated to pressure from the teachers' unions.
Three years later, he is emerging as the candidate of the teachers' union leadership. Will teachers trust him in a statewide race and will voters trust him if he is perceived as too close to union bosses?
Will Hispanics Vote as a Block in the Primary for Taveras? Are They Influential Enough in the General?
Conventional wisdom is that Angel Taveras will get a big boost from the Hispanic voting block in the primary, but more recently Council members Luis Aponte, Danian Sanchez and Sabina Matos have all openly battled with the mayor on his tax increases and efforts to close pools in low income wards around the city.
While Taveras can rebound and the impact may be large in the primary, the percentage of voters who are Hispanic in the general election is just 7% according to Pew Research:
Rhode Island’s population is 12% Hispanic, the 13th largest Hispanic population share nationally.
There are 54,000 Hispanic eligible voters in Rhode Island—which ranks 35th in Hispanic eligible voter population nationally. California ranks first with 5.9 million.
Some 7% of Rhode Island eligible voters are Hispanic, the 13th largest Hispanic eligible voter population share nationally. New Mexico ranks first with 39%.
Can Taveras Handle the Campaign Pressure and the Office Pressure of Governor?
Taveras had no experience as a chief executive in business or government before taking office in 2011 in Providence. He has increasingly gotten into some very non-productive scrapes.
In 2012, his law office delivered a document to GoLocalProv as part of a FOIA request and those documents included the social security number of every retiree of the City. Instead of taking responsibility he sent his lawyers to court to try to block GoLocal from writing about the mishandling of social security numbers. The judge ruled against Taveras.
In 2013, Taveras has tried to demolish a commuity swimming pool in South Providence because, according to Councilman Danian Sanchez, Sanchez would not vote for Taveras' tax increase.
Will Taveras be able to prove to voters he has the right stuff?
Can Angel Taveras Build a Political Base Outside of Providence?
While Taveras has a strong political base in Providence, it is unclear if he can build a strong political network in critical Democratic strongholds like Woonsocket, Pawtucket, East Providence, Johnston and North Providence.
It is well known that both Democratic Mayors in North Providence and Johnston have had a strained relationship with Taveras.
This strain has played out over critical matters like mutual emergency aid and in 2012, North Providence, Johnston and East Providence all cancelled emergency aid compacts with Providence.
When Taveras ran for Mayor he won the critical block of East Side Democratic women. Part of his success with this critical block of voters was the support he enjoyed from Democratic power Myrth York.
The two-time Democratic nominee for Governor went all in for Taveras in 2010, but she no longer is active in the inner circle and reportedly would have supported Governor Lincoln Chafee in the primary.
Taveras will need to compete with Raimondo who has already signed former EMILY's list bigwig Kate Coyne-McCoy.
In 2010, Taveras ran under the motto of "from Head Start to Harvard." His claim on the American dream proved a successful juxtaposition to two Democrats who had the same political base - Federal Hill (Steven Costantino and John Lombardi).
Now, Taveras may face the fresh-faced Clay Pell. His bio exceeds Taveras as he can claim the legacy of his grandfather's work and hit the circuit with his superstar wife, Olympian Michelle Kwan.
Can Angel Taveras Articulate a Vision for Rhode Island?
Taveras earned good scores for managing the City of Providence's financial crises, but never seemed to develop major policies for economic development, schools, parking, crime, reducing the cost of government or improving the efficiency.
The Superman building's closure happened on his watch, technology company Dassault Systèmes is moving out of Providence, and no major employers were recruited into the city other than the scrap yard on Allens Avenue.
Taveras will need to define a forward looking vision for Rhode Island.
Can Taveras Explain His Record on Crime and Education?
The biggest problem for Taveras is his record in Providence.
Most people care about the basics - their jobs, education for their children, how safe their neighborhood is. These vary questions could be Taveras' Achilles' heel.
The condition of Providence's schools may be worse. Of the 24 schools ranked as poor (de facto failing) in Rhode Island by the Department of Education, 6 of them were Providence Schools and in the rankings of the best high schools in the state, most of Providence's schools consistently litter the bottom of the rankings.
Taveras lead the city to win the $5 million Bloomberg award. But in a Governor's race one of Taveras' opponents is sure to ask, "Mr. Mayor, are you going to bring the same policies you used on crime and education in Providence to the rest of the state?"
