Home Editor's Choice An independent review of Providence schools is coming. Will state intervention end?

An independent review of Providence schools is coming. Will state intervention end?

By

James Bessette

-

05/29/2024

AN INDEPENDENT REVIEW of the Providence Public School District conducted by SchoolWorks will determine whether or not the Providence Public School District will be handed back over to local control. / COURTESY CLASSICAL HIGH SCHOOL

PROVIDENCE – After being under state intervention for the last five years, is the Providence Public School District ready to be handed back over to the city? It all depends on an upcoming independent review to be conducted over the next month. R.I. Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green in a letter to the community said that

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PROVIDENCE – After being under state intervention for the last five years, is the Providence Public School District ready to be handed back over to the city? It all depends on an upcoming independent review to be conducted over the next month. R.I. Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green in a letter to the community said that the review, to be conducted by Massachusetts-based SchoolWorks LLC, will assess PPSD’s progress thus far and evaluate local authorities’ capacity and readiness “for a return” to being under city governance and oversight. Infante-Green told Providence Business News on Wednesday that the review and process will look at both the district’s progress since the R.I. Department of Education began directly overseeing PPSD in late 2019 and the entities that work with the district to see if they are prepared to take PPSD over again. “[We need to know] if they are ready to be able to govern the district without the state being involved,” Infante-Green said. RIDE spokesperson Victor Morente also told PBN it will likely take until the end of June for local officials to come up with the actual findings in SchoolWorks’ upcoming review. The upcoming review, Infante-Green said in her letter, is in accordance with approved state regulations for all interventions of school districts under the state’s Crowley Act and comes near the end of RIDE’s initial five-year intervention phase. Infante-Green said the report will then be presented later this summer to the R.I. Council on Elementary and Secondary Education along with her formal recommendation as to whether or not to hand PPSD back over to the city. Infante-Green told PBN that if the state needs to continue its intervention of PPSD based on SchoolWorks’ findings, a time period will be determined based on what needs to be worked on. SchoolWorks, a national education consultant with experience in Rhode Island, will be paid $120,600 to conduct the review. RIDE assumed control of PPSD on Nov. 1, 2019, following a scathing Johns Hopkins University report on the district’s various failings at the time. In her letter, Infante-Green says that initial report was “just the tip of the iceberg” and the department over time “peeled back layers of dysfunction” that existed within PPSD. [caption id="attachment_457027" align="alignleft" width="300"]

R.I. EDUCATION COMMISSIONER Angélica Infante-Green says an independent review of the Providence Public School District will help determine if it is ready to return to city, rather than state, control. / PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO[/caption] Infante-Green in her letter noted multiple achievements, including improved math and English language arts proficiency, more 5-star prekindergarten programs and career and technical education pathways than before, new curricula to improve student outcomes and opening of three new schools this year alone, that PPSD had since RIDE intervened. She also mentioned that PPSD opened three new SMART Clinics within schools to provide students, families and teachers in need with free health care services. “We did all of this despite doing the work during some of the most trying years in education,” Infante-Green wrote, and also mentioned to PBN the various challenges brought forth by the COVID-19 pandemic. When asked if she is confident that SchoolWorks will give a strong review of PPSD and the city can reassume control of the district, Infante-Green told PBN it is hard to say at this point either way and wants the review process to play out. She did acknowledge there have been strides and progress made within the district over the last five years and hopes SchoolWorks gives a “fair review” of this work. What Infante-Green also hopes for PPSD is zero regression if and when the district is handed back over to local control, she says. “What we don’t want is for [the district] to slide back,” she said. “We don’t want it to go back to the status quo. We need to ensure that all the systems and structures are in place so that it can continue to thrive and grow. That is our goal.” James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.