CENTRAL FALLS – Calling it an “all hands on deck” approach, the city created a new office of education strategy to perform a total analysis of the Central Falls School Department in the hopes of improving overall education outcomes within the city.
Additionally, the data slated to be collected by the new office and its education strategy chief could provide clarity as to whether or not the city can feasibly take back control of its schools from the state, according to the city’s mayor.
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Learn MoreMayor Maria L. Rivera told Providence Business News on Wednesday she has brought aboard Sarah Friedman, the co-founder and co-director of The Learning Community Charter School, to lead the new office of education strategy, which is supported by $75,000 in seed funding from the Rhode Island Foundation. The city in a release Wednesday said that Friedman will look at successes and system barriers over time and across the years during the state’s three-decade-plus intervention of the city’s schools.
“I am starting by listening to every educator in the schools and listening to families so that our work is rooted in the real experiences of the people who live and work in the city,” Friedman said in a statement. “The goal is to support the strengths and successes of the district team, and help remove systemic barriers that have impeded progress over time.”
The city says Friedman will meet with all the school department’s educators, including Superintendent Stephanie Downey Toledo, parents and students and “key leaders” to various organizations, such as the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council and Brown University’s Annenberg Institute, to help improve student outcomes in a city that has struggled recently in that realm.
In the R.I. Department of Education’s Star Rating system release back in December 2022, four of the city’s schools, including Central Falls High School, received one star, the lowest-performing rating possible. Four months later, RIDE released for the first time its local education agency accountability results, showing both a baseline for districts to meet moving forward beyond the COVID-19 pandemic and note areas where the districts must improve on. There, Central Falls, with 14 total points out of 44 total points a district could receive, had the lowest mark of all the local education associations in the state – and all six metrics are marked for “focus.”
“We have to work out these challenges and help our students succeed,” Rivera said, “and try to reach these [positive] student outcomes. We all have to come together to help our students. I know there are people who are dedicated to this community, but our students are failing.”
Rivera also noted that RIDE officials will also be part of the conversations Friedman and her office will have to help improve the city’s education outcomes, as well, saying now is “the perfect time” to do that with the state helping better the city’s physical school infrastructure. That includes upcoming construction on a new Central Falls High School. She said the new office “needs to hear” from the teachers to find out what is going on directly in the classrooms, including possibly hearing about things “that we don’t know [about].”
“There might be resources they need that we don’t know about and can help them,” Rivera said. “We want to make sure the principals are involved, the superintendent is involved and … we’re listening to everyone.”
The mayor also said the new office’s analysis will also include how the city can properly support its schools via a financial budget and determine if it is possible for the city to take its schools back from state control. The state took over the schools more than 30 years ago because the city at the time could no longer afford to pay its teachers and a collapse of the school department was imminent.
While she said she would “love” for the city to reclaim its schools, Rivera said that is “not a possibility” right now until Friedman and her office collects data that provides a clearer financial picture to make that decision. Rivera said the city’s current budget “will not allow” for the state to turn the schools back over to the city.
“I can’t put this burden on the taxpayers at the moment,” she said.
Friedman and her new office are expected to take between 18 and 24 months to perform the necessary full analysis on the city’s school department, Rivera said. The mayor also said there will be a focus on workforce development within the city to help increase revenue and, in turn, increase the possibility to financially support the city’s schools.
Rivera is optimistic the new office and Friedman can provide the city clarity on what is best needed for the schools within the city, especially with several stakeholders being involved in those conversations. And, most importantly, hope for better learning outcomes for the city’s students.
“I absolutely believe that we can start seeing change here,” Rivera said.
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.