PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island’s largest public school district will remain in the R.I. Department of Education’s control for the next three years at the longest.
And while the vote received complete approval by state education leaders, not everyone is happy about the decision.
The R.I. Council on Elementary and Secondary Education on Thursday voted unanimously to have the state continue its takeover of the Providence Public School District for no longer than the next three years, per R.I. Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green’s recommendation. The decision came after two independent third-party reviews were conducted by both SchoolWorks LLC and Harvard Graduate School for Education’s Center for Education Policy Research on how PPSD has performed since RIDE assumed control of the district in 2019.
The council’s vote also was made a week after the PPSD school board unanimously voted to recommend RIDE to
end the state intervention of the district at the completion of the 2024-25 academic year. That decision, however, was nonbinding, meaning Infante-Green and the council could accept that recommendation from the board or not.
PPSD representatives, including school board President Erlin Rogel, did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment from Providence Business News.
The Harvard report, which RIDE officials said was done free of charge to the state, stated that PPSD under RIDE control did a better job at mitigating learning loss and gained learning recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic than districts of comparable size in neighboring states, including Connecticut. Infante-Green said during Thursday’s meeting that while the pandemic was not that long ago, its impacts will still be felt by PPSD “for years to come.”
SchoolWorks, however, in
its review offered mixed results on the takeover. The report said PPSD has made “notable progress” in giving students needed learning materials to succeed in math and English language arts, increasing the number of teachers of color in the candidate pool and improved across the district in filling hard-to-fill positions. The school board has also improved some operational functions and have “participated in presentations” tracking the district’s progress toward PPSD’s turnaround action plan goals, the report states.
SchoolWorks’ report also noted PPSD “has not yet” set clear expectations for instruction. Stakeholders, the report says also “consistently shared concern” about PPSD’s fiscal health, the impact of recent layoffs and uncertain futures for support positions on PPSD’s improvement efforts.
In her
recommendation letter to the council, Infante-Green said it is the “mutual goal” of all stakeholders, including RIDE and PPSD, to “eventually return” the district to local control and not the state’s desire to “indefinitely maintain care” of it. The extension, she said, should provide “clear stability” for PPSD to build off its foundational progress in this next phase of improvement, and provide a clear runway and notice for local governance entities to build and demonstrate their readiness and capacity to sustain the district’s progress.
“We remain committed to better serving Providence students and ensuring the right systems and conditions are in place that will not allow PPSD to revert to the ways of the past that have negatively impacted students,” Council Chairperson Patti DiCenso said in a statement. “We appreciate the Commissioner’s recommendation to allow ample time for proper planning and action by all Providence stakeholders to prevent a backslide of PPSD.”
But not all were pleased with the council’s unanimous vote Thursday. In a joint emailed statement to PBN, Mayor Brett P. Smiley and Providence City Council President Rachel Miller said they are “disappointed” by the state’s recommendation to continue the takeover for up to the next three years. They said that while it is “great” that the recently issued reports acknowledge progress with PPSD, city officials have also heard from families, teachers and from its own city departments that there is still “a lot of room for improvement in fostering a climate of collaboration and community that is required to move the district forward on a timeline that our students deserve.”
Smiley and Miller also jointly said the city is “well on track” to begin a transition year during the 2025-26 academic year with the district returning back to city control in the 2026-27 year.
“We are ready to work collaboratively to integrate operations, finances and functions that have become disconnected at times during the current takeover,” Smiley and Miller said. “In the meantime, we will continue to work with the community to advance key turnaround action plan metrics, support early childhood education and invest in both after school and summer learning programs to improve educational outcomes and set our students up for long-term success.”
The Rhode Island Businesses for Better Education, an alliance of business associations and local Chambers of commerce seeking strong educational outcomes across the state who were already critical of the state’s lack of progress with PPSD, doubled down on that after Thursday’s vote. The group reiterated their earlier view that Rhode Island as a state cannot compete with other states if “we don’t quickly chart a new path for students” within PPSD.
“Any extension of the state’s takeover must include a more inclusive and accountable approach, with more urgency to deliver better outcomes for all students,” RIBBE spokesperson Chelsea DeCesare said in a statement.
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 X at @James_Bessette.
