State, Providence teachers reach tentative contract agreement

Updated at 5:05 p.m.

PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Department of Education and Providence Public School District have reached a tentative contract agreement with the Providence Teachers Union, Gov. Daniel J. McKee announced Tuesday.

McKee, PTU President Maribeth Calabro, R.I. Education Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green and PPSD Interim Superintendent Javier Montanez said jointly Tuesday that details on the new agreement will not be released until the teachers union has discussed the contract’s terms with its members and taken a vote on them.

“This [agreement] is the continuation of a student-centered focus that values students, families and educators,” McKee, Calabro, Infante-Green and Montanez said in a joint statement. “We are all anxious for the new school year to start. We faced unprecedented challenges this year, but are proud of how our educators and school staff adapted to do everything possible to overcome obstacles under extraordinarily difficult circumstances.”

During Tuesday’s press conference, McKee said he was glad that an agreement was reached Monday night. “All parties have agreed to not discuss the details of the contract until it has been ratified,” he said. “We expect that to happen over the next few weeks – and I am going to respect that.”

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“There is an agreement in principle,” McKee said. “We’re not going to get into the details. I’ll let those details speak for themselves. We believe that both sides came to a good place. I think the union did a real strong job, and was a good negotiation.”

The news comes after several months of contentious negotiations and tense public sparring between both sides.

The previous contract expired in August 2020 with no new deal in place and negotiations between the parties have been ongoing since March 2020, RIDE spokesperson Victor Morente confirmed to Providence Business News Tuesday. State officials did not immediately answer as to what led to all parties agreeing on a new deal.

In March, the teachers union took a no confidence vote in Infante-Green. PTU Vice President Jeremy Spencer claimed at the time that the commissioner had engaged in a “continued pattern of ignoring teachers” and refusing to engage in collaborative efforts.

Criticism by the union and elected officials against state education officials further escalated when then-Providence School Superintendent Harrison Peters was asked in May to resign by Infante-Green after the controversy surrounding now former PPSD administrator Olayinka Alege’s arrest. Alege was arrested in Warwick for allegedly taking a juvenile’s shoe off and forcefully massaging his foot without consent.

The fallout resulted in Peters being terminated by the district. Montanez was subsequently named interim superintendent.

Calabro previously told PBN that the vetting process in the past gave the community, parents and students more of a voice, and she believed this should have been the case when Peters was considered for the job.

Providence Mayor Jorge O. Elorza has also criticized the pace of the state’s takeover of PPSD in the past. He said in May that the state was brought in to radically reform the teacher’s contract but “no progress had been made” after two years into the takeover.

(Updated seventh graf to note confirmation from RIDE spokesperson Victor Morente).

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. PBN reporter Cassius Shuman contributed to this report.