'I don't want to continue this anymore': Why Providence's School Board wants control back

PROVIDENCE – The School Board got a chance at least to vent its frustration with the state takeover of the city’s schools when it voted unanimously Wednesday to recommend that local educational officials resume control by next June.

Since the state's takeover of the Providence Public School District five years ago, the board has only an advisory role in decisions – much to the chagrin of some members who say they're tired of feeling powerless and question whether the takeover has been worth it.

What School Board members are saying about the takeover

While the takeover has strengthened collaboration between the board and the community, School Board member Anjel Newmann said, “I don’t see the collaboration from the top [with state officials]. I don’t see transparency or the trust. All I’ve seen are students, families, teachers, principals, being ignored, including board members. So, I don’t want this to continue anymore.”

Said fellow board member Michael Nina: “I definitely want the power to go back to the School Board, to the city, to the parents [who can] have a voice in the decisions.”

What is the future of the state takeover?

The state took over running the city's school district in 2019 after a damning report by a team of educators from Johns Hopkins University that found the Providence school system one of the worst performing in the country.

Whether the state’s intervention plan continues, is revised or school control returns to city officials will be up to Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green and what recommendation she gives to the state Council on Elementary and Secondary Education.

She is expected to give that recommendation to the council when it meets next week.

In a letter to the school community last week, Infante-Green said she hasn’t made a final recommendation and was weighing the findings of two “midterm” reviews, released last week, of the takeover’s impact on Providence’s poorly performing schools.

A report by the national consulting firm SchoolWorks and one from the Harvard Graduate School for Education’s Center for Education Policy Research found areas of both notable progress and lingering deficiencies.

“The district is on the right track, but it remains at a vulnerable point where progress can be easily reversed if the right conditions for long-term success are not in place,” wrote Infante-Green.

More: How is the state takeover of Providence schools going? Here's the breakdown.

The commissioner said, “I want to be clear,” the Rhode Island Department of Education “does not and never intended to have oversight over PPSD in perpetuity.”

“We are seeking to put in place the right systems and structures for academic excellence that PPSD has lacked for more than 30 years,” she said.

The School Board’s vote on the local control resolution came Wednesday after RIDE presented the findings of the two reports.

RIDE spokesman Victor Morente said the department “is appreciative of the board's consideration and feedback in their advisory capacity."

Mayor Brett Smiley said in June that the city would need a year to prepare before it resumed running its own schools.

Contact Tom Mooney at: tmooney@providencejournal.com

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: 'I don't want to continue this anymore': Why Providence's School Board wants control back