PROVIDENCE REPUBLICAN
CITY COMMITTEE
NEWS RELEASE
| Release Date | 2019-07-11 |
| Subject | Providence GOP Offers Solutions For Failing Schools |
| Contacts | DAVID TALAN < DaveTalan@aol.com > |
| WILLIAM RICCI < ProvidenceRepublican@gmail.com > |
The Co-Chairs of the Providence Republican Party, David Talan and William Ricci, have offered a number of ideas on how to fix the failing Providence Public School System. Their ideas include allowing parental and community involvement in the schools; bringing back neighborhood schools; cutting through the bureaucracy; fixing the teachers union contract; having the state Commissioner of Education override the contract; allowing charter schools to expand, and to share their successful techniques with traditional public schools; using the City's colleges & universities to take over some school operations; doing something about shoddy maintenance; improving security; and getting the City Council involved in fixing the schools.
Lack of involvement by parents, the community & neighborhood associations is a major problem. "Our children's education is too important, to leave just to professional educators", said the GOP leaders. The absence of neighborhood schools is the major cause of this. Especially in low-income areas, where 50 percent of families do not have a car available, and parents can not go to the school that their child is bused to.
Currently, 9,000 school children are forced to take a school bus, even though almost every single child in the City lives walking distance to a nearby Elementary or Middle School. We need to return to a system of neighborhood schools, for those parents who would like to be able to choose this option (instead of having their children used as pawns in a game of musical-chairs forced busing). Talan and Ricci believe that at least half of the 9,000 students, who are now bused, would be walking to school, if their parents were given this option. Transportation costs $16,000,000 a year, in the school budget. Cost savings in transportation costs would be at least $6,000,000 per year.
Another reason for lack of parental involvement is the extreme bureaucracy in the school system, and the impossibility of getting to anybody who can help with problems. The city has implemented a PVD311 system, for people to get help with city services. This system works somewhat for problems with public works or public safety, but it does not work at all for school problems. The PVD311 office needs one or more people, who understand the school department bureaucracy, and can help people deal with it.
The Teachers Union Contract is a major problem. Principals need the power to hire staff, and make decisions, without being held back by the terms of this contract. The contract should include salary & benefits, and reasonable protections against being unfairly fired or disciplined, and nothing else. Everything else in the contract – a hundred pages about what a teacher can or can not be made to do – should be eliminated entirely. The Mayor had talked about having a "transformational" contract, but the contract he recently negotiated and signed does nothing of the kind.
We assume that the Teachers Union will never voluntarily agree to give up any of its excessive power, and that the Mayor will never stand up to them about this. So it is up to the new Commissioner of Education, Angelica Infante Green, to use her power to override the contract, and impose needed reforms. One of her predecessors, Deborah Gist, did just this a few years ago, to end the practice of teachers using seniority bumping to replace other teachers, in the middle of the school year (which was causing total disruption, and lack of continuity, in those classrooms). Commissioner Infante Green needs to use this power, to wipe out all provisions of the contract, that hurt our children's education.
Make use of the excellent public Charter Schools in Providence, to help all the other schools. The original intent of Charter Schools was to develop innovative techniques for teaching, and then share those ideas with other traditional public schools. In Central Falls, former Superintendent Victor Capellan (now a top assistant to Commissioner Infante Green) willingly accepted help from the Learning Community Charter School, to assist the other public schools. In Providence, the teachers union has adamantly resisted accepting help from Charter Schools. They must be forced to accept this help.
For instance, the Achievement First Mayoral Academy on Hartford Ave., with a demographic of students that looks like the City of Providence, has outperformed schools in Barrington and East Greenwich. Achievement First Mayoral Academy has developed a system, where English Language Learner (ELL) students are able to transition into traditional classes in a matter of months, instead of years; and perform very well. Providence needs to let Achievement First mentor the other Providence schools on how to use their successful system.
Support the expansion of successful Charter Schools in Providence. At least 2 successful Charter Schools wanted to expand in Providence (where most of their students are from), but were forced to expand elsewhere, when the city was unwilling to help. Highlander Charter School (at Lexington Ave. & Broad St.) wanted to add a Middle School and High School, right next to their Elementary School. They wanted to take over the operations of the Elmwood Community Center (on Atlantic Ave.), which is currently non-functioning. The city was unwilling to help, so instead Highlander acquired the former Fatima School in Warren, and now buses students every day to Warren.
Achievement First has outgrown its building on Hartford Ave., and needed another building to move its Illuminar Academy into. Providence has empty former Elementary School buildings available (Flynn in South Providence and Windmill in the North End), but was not helpful. So instead, Illuminar is moving its students (mostly from Providence) to Cranston, into the former Katherine Gibbs School property off Cranston St.
These, and other Charter Schools, will be expanding again in the future. We need to make facilities in Providence available to them.
Make use of the excellent Universities and Colleges in Providence. Politicians always talk about using Brown and RISD as a cash cow, and extracting more property tax money from them. A much better use would be to have Brown and RISD completely take over some of the Providence public schools. Free them from the constraints of the teachers union contract, and allow them to use their facilities and students, to operate these schools. They could do this, at a much lower cost than the $18,000 per student we now pay.
Similarly, let Johnson & Wales University use its expertise in these areas, to take over maintenance and food operations for the city schools. They certainly could not do any worse at maintenance, than what we have now, and could probably do it much better and cheaper.
Regarding maintenance, we are concerned about the shoddy work done on relatively newer construction projects. Examples are the playground at Carnevale School (which had to be replaced after just 15 years), and leaking roofs at Reservoir Ave. and Webster Ave.
Security and safety in Middle & High Schools was a major concern of the recent report. We need full-time police (School Resource Officers) in each of these schools. Currently, these police can be called away at any time, if needed elsewhere in the city. (Which is often, since the Providence Police force is so badly understaffed). The Mayor's top advisor, Aaron Regunberg, is the leader of the Providence Student Union, which has called for removal of all police from Providence schools. "What a crazy idea! We need more police in the schools, not less", said the GOP leaders.
We also need for students who disrupt class, or threaten teachers or other students, to be immediately removed, and placed in an alternate setting.
Finally, the all-Democrat City Council needs to get involved with our public schools. Previously, the City Council used to have an Education Committee, headed by former Councilmen Sam Zurier and Bryan Principe. But under the current leadership of the Council, this Committee was completely eliminated. So the City Council has Committees on Public Works and on Public Safety. But the School Department, which makes up more than half the city's budget (almost $400,000,000 out of the $770,000,000 that the city spends), is not considered important enough to have its own Committee. "What the heck is that all about?", observed the Republican Chairs.