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February 2003
Curtain time delayed for performing arts school
Posted Thursday, February 27, 2003
Private money will be needed if the School Department wants to move ahead the plans.
BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer
The proposed Providence Performing Arts Academy, a vision nurtured for years by former Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr., has been put on hold because of budget constraints.
Schools Supt. Melody A. Johnson said in a recent interview that she would be "thrilled to death" if the city had a state-of-the-art high school devoted to the performing arts.
But she said the school district simply cannot afford to follow the established time line, which would have had the Performing Arts Academy ready to open this fall. Instead, Johnson and Mayor David N. Cicilline said they must first address what the mayor termed "serious overcrowding" at the high schools.
About 450 more high school students than the district can accommodate are expected to show up this fall, according to Johnson.
To prepare for the influx, the School Department is soliciting bids for 35,000 to 40,000 square feet of rental space -- enough for 18 classrooms, a cafeteria, offices and conference rooms -- according to Alan R. Sepe, the city's director of public property.
Two new high schools are under construction, one devoted to international studies, and the other to health, science and technology.
The district cannot afford to complete and operate those schools, which together will hold about 800 students; build a performing-arts school for about 400 students, and open a temporary school for about 450 students at the same time, Johnson said.
The most recent demographics suggest that the city will need a performing-arts high school for 800 students, double the number originally anticipated, Johnson said. Those enrollment projections have dire budget implications -- not only for construction costs, but for operating costs as well.
Johnson said she can't consider herself to be fiscally prudent in moving forward with plans for a performing-arts high school unless the community is willing to commit itself to raising private funds to support a "high-dollar school."
Construction costs for a 400-student performing arts high school would well exceed the estimated $22-million expense of a typical high school, Johnson said.
Another school official said that operating costs for such a school also would be high -- about $1 million a year over the average -- because of a variety of special needs associated with the performing arts, from keeping the building open in the evening for performances to the need for extra professional staff.
"What's next is reconvening the same working group who have put their hearts into this," Johnson said of the broad-based community task force that considered preliminary plans for a performing-arts high school.
Johnson said she wants to "see where they want to go."
The Providence Public Building Authority has spent about $98,000 to finance a preliminary design phase for the proposed performing-arts school. The effort has been headed by architect Friedrich St. Florian, whose commissions include the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the Providence Place mall.
The School Department originally had budgeted about $162,000 for research and development of academic and arts programs this academic year. But that allocation became a casualty of the budget axe, which fell harder in 2002 than in previous years.
Real-estate investor and philanthropist Arnold "Buff" Chace said last week that Cianci had told him that he wanted the performing arts academy to be built on the site of Saki's Pizza, at Weybosset and Clemence Streets.
Cianci had wanted Chace to move a historic building off the site to a block bordered by Union and Weybosset Streets, where Chace has proposed building a garage. But moving the building would have been prohibitively expensive, Chace said.
Cianci had wanted a downtown location to give the students easy access to the performingarts district.
With staff reports from Gregory Smith
R.I., city at odds on weak schools
Posted Wednesday, February 26, 2003
State officials say the district must offer aid to students at belowpar middle schools; local officials adhere to a different interpretation of No Child Left Behind.
BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- A difference of opinion has emerged between the city's public schools and the state Department of Education over supplemental services required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
State officials say that five middle schools in Providence -- Esek Hopkins, Nathan Bishop, Nathanael Greene, Roger Williams, and Samuel Bridgham -- must provide supplemental services because the school district cannot offer parents the choice of transferring their children to better-performing schools.
But the district says it has received different legal advice from Maree Sneed, a lawyer specializing in the complexities of the year-old federal statute.
Sneed has advised school officials that the five middle schools need only notify parents of the potential for a transfer option, because that is all No Child Left Behind requires during the first year of intervention.
Susan F. Lusi, chief of staff to Schools Supt. Melody A. Johnson, said that Sneed and the state education department's chief legal counsel, Jennifer Wood, are "very well-informed attorneys."
"And here we are, a moving target," Lusi said of the district.
Michael Sorum, the district's director of assessment, said shifting interpretations of No Child Left Behind are a "nightmare for us."
A spokesman for the state commissioner of education could not say yesterday exactly how the difference in opinion might be resolved.
Elliot Krieger said comissioner Peter McWalters is inclined to wait to see if the federal government "will force the issue" on supplemental services, before considering intervention himself.
McWalters is "not at this point talking about any kind of coercion," Krieger said, although "state law gives him a great deal of authority over school districts."
Krieger said the next step will come next week, after McWalters has collected reports on the implementation of No Child Left Behind by Providence and four other school districts.
Depending on the nature of the district reports, McWalters might or might not send a directive to any of those districts before forwarding the material to the federal government, Krieger said.
Lusi, meanwhile, pointed out that the district cannot offer any supplemental services now, because it is still waiting for the state to identify providers.
Early in January, Johnson had expressed concern that up to $2.9 million of the School Department's $14.5-million federal allocation for disadvantaged students might be redirected to provide supplemental services.
While the exact figure that must be spent on supplemental services still is not known, it would be considerably less if the district's interpretation of the new law were allowed to stand.
Only parents of low-income students at the Perry Middle School are receiving letters this week saying that their children will be eligible for supplemental services. Unlike other local middle schools, Perry is in the second year of intervention.
Three other middle schools -- DelSesto, Springfield Street, and Gilbert Stuart -- have not accumulated enough data to be categorized under the provisions of No Child Left Behind.
Teachers air safety concerns
Posted Tuesday, February 25, 2003
Some at Mount Pleasant High School worry that safeguards are not being put into place fast enough after last month's gunfire in the cafeteria.
BY KAREN A. DAVIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- One month after a student fired a weapon into the ceiling of the Mount Pleasant High School cafeteria, educators and city officials continue to talk about ways to make school safer.
But at least one group of teachers has raised concerns that change does not seem to be happening quickly enough.
"We're hopeful the issues will be addressed -- we just don't see it happening," said Fred Suzman, chairman of the Faculty Committee at Mount Pleasant High School. "We want the school administration to be more proactive, rather than reactive."
Suzman, who has taught history at the high school for 36 years, said he has long been an advocate of school safety.
He is among the Mount Pleasant teachers who believe that not enough has been done to address school safety since the gunfire Jan. 22. A 17-year-old student fired a round into the ceiling as school officials were breaking up a fight between three other boys.
The shooter ran away, but was identified by fellow students, arrested at his home and charged with weapons violations.
The incident prompted Mayor David N. Cicilline to create a confidential hot line, launch an initiative to visit a school each week for 53 weeks and ask the police and school officials to consider expanding the nine-member Police Department school squad. School safety committees were also reactivated.
At a meeting at 7 tonight in the City Council chambers, school administrators will make a presentation about safety in schools to the City Council's Education Subcommittee. Councilwoman Rita Williams said the committee will reorganize itself, becoming an education commission. Its members will include two council members; two School Board members; Patricia Martinez, community relations director for Governor Carcieri; state Sen. Rhoda Perry, D-Providence; a member of the House of Representatives; Philip DeCecco, president of the Providence Teachers Union; Carolyn Benedict-Drew, policy director for Mayor Cicilline; two parents, and Susan Lusi, chief of staff to Schools Supt. Melody Johnson.
Lusi said Johnson has also called for the reformation of a district safety committee to help monitor and enhance safety in the school system. That group is slated to meet next week.
Such a committee existed four or five years ago, but became inactive under the administration of former Supt. Diana Lam.
Suzman said he and his colleagues have identified a number of safety issues, but have not had a forum to voice their concerns.
Among those concerns, Suzman said, Mount Pleasant teachers were told that, no matter what the emergency, school principals are required to call school administrators downtown before calling 911. Suzman said the staff has seen that policy enforced in other years.
But Lusi is adamant that no such policy exists. That would "defeat the purpose of 911" and could put a student or staff member at risk, she said.
Suzman said the 14-member Faculty Committee also believes there should be a team of support counselors established to respond if and when traumatic events occur in the schools or involving local children.
Suzman said his group is also concerned that schools are not adhering to state laws requiring 15 fire drills each school year. And, he said, teachers are concerned about reports from the Fire Department that have found 20 schools in noncompliance with state fire codes. The violations ranged from defective fire doors to nonfunctioning emergency generators to broken exit signs.
Also, Suzman said, the high schools continue to grapple with the problem of false fire alarms. And some school administrators are not adhering to policies that require incident reports to be filed with the Police Department.
Williams said she has talked with the Mount Pleasant group and has heard their concerns that teachers "are not feeling safe" and that situations are not handled as well as they could be.
While tonight's meeting does not provide for public comment, Williams said it will include a question and answer period.
Parents learn options for transferring
Posted Monday, February 24, 2003
Letters are sent to homes of Providence public school children, outlining remedies of the No Child Left Behind Act.
BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- Parents of the city's lowest-performing schools, including the Veazie Street Elementary School and six of eight middle schools, are to receive letters this week outlining their options under provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
Schools Supt. Melody A. Johnson said Friday that she wanted to send out the notices earlier, but interpretations of provisions of the year-old federal law have kept shifting.
Friday morning, Johnson said, she was still waiting for a legal opinion to firm up the last piece of information she needed before she mails the letters. Johnson said she was hoping to receive the opinion by the end of the day.
Parents of children at Veazie Street will have the option of transferring their children to other, better performing elementary schools.
The school district cannot offer the transfer option to middle school students because most of the middle schools have been sanctioned under No Child Left Behind.
Johnson said she has written to school officials in several surrounding communities asking whether any of them could take students from Providence on a tuition basis.
Johnson said she has heard only from Cranston, which turned her down because it has no room.
Johnson said parents of middle school students will be notified that waiting for a legal opinion to firm up the last piece of information she needed before she mails the letters. Johnson said she was hoping to receive the opinion by the end of the day.
Parents of children at Veazie Street will have the option of transferring their children to other, better performing elementary schools.
The school district cannot offer the transfer option to middle school students because most of the middle schools have been sanctioned under No Child Left Behind.
Johnson said she has written to school officials in several surrounding communities asking whether any of them could take students from Providence on a tuition basis.
Johnson said she has heard only from Cranston, which turned her down because it has no room.
Johnson said parents of middle school students will be notified that tutoring and other supplemental services will be offered in their children's school.
Affected are students of the Esek Hopkins, Nathan Bishop, Nathanael Greene, Oliver Hazard Perry, Roger Williams, and Samuel Bridgham middle schools.
Two relatively new middle schools, both on Springfield Street off Hartford Avenue, didn't have sufficient testing data to be categorized for the purposes of No Child Left Behind, according to a spokesman for the state Department of Education.
But scores for those schools -- the Governor Christopher DelSesto Middle School, and the Springfield Street Middle School -- are similar to the failing middle schools that are subject to sanctions.
Johnson said Friday she was waiting for a legal opinion to determine whether the law requires supplemental services to all students in a failing school or only to those children who come from low-income families.
And she said she can not tell parents the names of providers of supplemental services because the state Department of Education has not yet selected them.
Johnson said she wants to comply with the law, but doesn't want to send anything to parents that raises more questions than it answers.
"I'm trying to swim through a murky pool," Johnson said.
Although the state Department of Education publicly identified the schools subject to sanctions in early December, Johnson noted that an official list did not come to the School Department until mid-January.
Among the details in the letteris a list of elementary schools and the number of spaces available in each for parents of children at Veazie Street who might choose a transfer.
There were about 250 elementary seats available throughout the district on Feb. 14, the day a tally was taken.
Last fall, the nationwide Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now issued a critical report saying that state governments and local school districts in many states -- including Rhode Island -- had been too slow to implement No Child Left Behind.
At the time, the state Department of Education was still negotiating with the federal government on a time frame for implementing the new law.
The federal government finally ruled that sanctions went into effect at the start of the second semester, which began the first week of February in Providence.
Johnson said the School Department welcomes the accountability of No Child Left Behind. The district has capitalized on the clout of the new federal law by developing its own intervention program, with the most intensive attention reserved for the worst-performing schools. That effort, called Operation Smart!, got under way in January.
More changes sought at Hope
Posted Friday, February 14, 2003
The commissioner of education looks for signals from the school's teachers that they will back sweeping changes at the Providence public high school by September.
BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- Hope High School's plan to reinvent itself along the lines mandated by the state last June is fine as far as it goes, but it doesn't go far enough, Commissioner of Education Peter McWalters said yesterday.
McWalters says the plan -- three small schools operating independently in the same building -- still needs several key features to gain formal acceptance.
Hope has caught the attention of Governor Carcieri, who has termed the school the "litmus test" of the state's ability to reform public education.
Carcieri earlier this week asked McWalters to brief him on the outline Hope submitted Jan. 31, as well as the commissioner's response. .
According to McWalters's directives, the three small independent schools must be up and running by September.
In a letter to principal Nancy Mullen, McWalters said the plan must be expanded to ensure that each small school has authority to hire and assign staff on the basis of student need rather than teacher seniority.
McWalters also said that the plan must provide for substantially more professional development for teachers, as well as time during the school day for them to talk about their teaching and their students.
He said students should have access to a more flexible instructional day, because some of them -- those who work nights to help support their families, for example -- aren't well served when classes begin at 8:30 and end at 2:30.
Each student also should be matched with an advisory teacher responsible for "personalized case management" as spelled out in statewide high-school reform regulations the Board of Regents approved last month.
Students, as well as their parents, must have "significant" membership on school improvement teams that are envisioned as key instruments for the three self-governing schools, McWalters said.
Teachers must be allowed to signal that they will leave Hope at the end of the school year before the faculty takes a vote next month on a revised and expanded plan.
McWalters said he is optimistic his conditions will be met.
But if the comprehensive plan he gets back from Hope after the faculty vote does not meet the grade, he said, he is prepared to step up the level of intervention under authority granted him by state law.
McWalters said he is gratified by Carcieri's interest in Hope and his apprarent willingness to make a significant financial commitment to meet the costs of reform.
At the meeting on Tuesday, the governor "clearly got that [Hope] is a test of all of us" to transform ineffective, large urban high schools, McWalters said.
And Carcieri was willing to look clear-eyed at the financial implications of high-school reform, McWalters said.
There is an estimated $2.3-million price tag attached to additional staffing, professional development, and other incidentals necessary to make the three small schools work, although Schools Supt. Melody A. Johnson said yesterday those figures are subject to change.
Of the total $2.3-million estimate, the Providence schools would cover about $1,172,000, leaving $1,122,742 unfunded, according to the Hope proposal.
Carcieri's staff said last month that the governor is prepared to put about $600,000 in extra state aid into Hope, although McWalters noted yesterday that no specific sum has been formally committed.
The next few weeks will be critical in determining the course of the relationship between Hope and the commissioner, who describes himself as engaged in a "joint venture in partnership with the district and the union" in reconstituting the school.
The contract between the city and the Providence Teachers Union allows schools to bypass the teacher seniority system and make the other types of changes that McWalters seeks as long as 75 percent of the faculty agree.
The faculty vote on an expanded, detailed plan is scheduled for the first week in March, after teachers have had a chance to signal whether they want to opt out of Hope at the end of the school year.
Those teachers would be assured of jobs elsewhere in the system.
Johnson, the superintendent, said last night, "I completely support and believe in the Hope High School faculty and staff.
"I have confidence in their ability to go forward and develop a plan" that will meet McWalters's criteria, she said.
The outline submitted to McWalters two weeks ago models each of the small independent schools after the Hope Essential School, which was launched in 1986 with the help of Theodore Sizer, former chairman of the education department at Brown University.
Sizer also founded the Coalition of Essential Schools, which holds that a command of a few core subjects, along with the skills of critical thinking necessary to dig deeply into any topic, better prepares students than a superficial survey of many areas.
At Hope, the Essential School will continue to focus on the arts, and two new schools will have leadership and technology themes.
The Essential School was originally intended to lead the way in transforming the rest of Hope, but as McWalters has observed, the school has been stuck in the planning mode for too long.
He stepped in last June, not simply because of low test scores -- common enough in large urban high schools -- but the fact that they had gone from bad to worse in the previous three years.
In addition, the dropout rate had climbed to more than 50 percent, and other warning signs, such as the number of suspensions, were on the rise.
McWalters said he has no hidden agenda at Hope, seeking to dispel rumors circulating around the school that this intervention is a cloak for a state takeover.
"There's a rumor this whole thing is a setup so that they will fail and I will take it over," he said yesterday.
"One version is that I'm intentionally putting up hurdles or I want to clean house," McWalters said.
"These are urban myths," he said.
"I don't need for any of them to go. I don't even know them," McWalters said of the faculty.
He noted that the teachers' union and management are both "saying we want to change," and the governor has signaled that he is willing to commit the resources necessary for the improvements.
"This is not a takeover," he said. "We're doing this through the city and the school," he said.
"Right now, the most powerful control is Phil and the union," McWalters said, referring to Phil DeCecco, president of the Providence Teachers Union.
"Every time things are a little rocky," he said, it is DeCecco and Johnson who step in to control the rumors.
"This has to be done through people who are invested in making it work," he said.
"This is about union-management building . . . about capacity building," he said.
"I know that sounds a little fuzzy," he said, but past experience has shown that top-down, heavy-handed state takeovers simply don't work.
Having said that, McWalters made it clear he is not prepared to take a "no" from the Hope faculty should their vote for self-governing schools fall short of the 75 percent required by the the union contract.
A "no" vote would signal that "it's time to move into a much more direct mode" to reconstitute the school, McWalters said, but he could not say how direct or forceful he would be.
Summer school passes the test
Posted Thursday, February 13, 2003
The success has prompted the Providence School Department to propose that any failing student be allowed to attend summer school.
BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- Last summer's experiment in summer school -- opening the doors to failing students who had shown little or no effort during the regular academic term -- appears to have been a success. In most cases, middle and high school students who took the trouble to slog through summer school in English or math had a better chance of having a passing grade at the end of the first quarter of the academic year, according to statistics from school officials.
So ends a debate that occupied the School Board for three months last spring over the value of summer school for students who had done virtually nothing during regular classes.
Until last summer, only students who failed by a maximum of 10 percentage points were eligible for summer school.
Last spring, then-Supt. Diana Lam proposed liberalizing the entrance requirements to admit any failing student -- even one with a zero average. She maintained that allowing more students into summer school might stave off the sense of hopelessness that prompts teenagers to drop out of school.
Teachers protested, arguing that open access to summer school sent the message that students could ignore teachers' standards during the regular term and suffer no long-lasting consequences.
In a compromise crafted by School Board member Leonard Lopes, the board allowed a one-time change and required school officials to keep records to determine whether summer-school students applied themselves in the fall.
The positive results from the experiment has prompted the administration of Schools Supt. Melody A. Johnson to propose a permanent change in policy that would allow any failing student to attend summer school.
The proposal got its first reading before the School Board on Monday. No vote was taken.
The proposal allows any student with an E or F to attend summer school as long as that student has missed no more than 20 classes in the failing subject during the regular school year. An E corresponds to an average of 50 percent, and an F covers averages of 49 percent and lower.
The old policy allowed students to rack up as many as 40 absences during the regular term and still attend summer school. Last year, the maximum number of absences was reduced to 30, and the proposal before the School Board would cut that to 20 absences.
The data showed that in grades 6 through 11, 16 percent of students -- or 1,864 out of an enrollment of 11,900 -- failed English. Within the same group of 11,900 students, 2,421 -- one out of five -- failed math.
Fewer than half the failing students attended summer school. But in the case of most English and math courses, a larger percentage of those who attended summer school maintained passing grades at the end of the first quarter in November than those who did not.
The differences were most dramatic in English.
School officials who presented the statistics to the School Board recently also recommended changes in the summer-school curriculum to better meet the needs of failing students.
Kenneth G. Swanson, assistant superintendent for special services, and Patricia Nailor, director of counseling and social services, also recommended that summer school be scheduled so that ninth graders are still able to participate in high school orientation for incoming freshmen.
Nailor and Swanson also recommended that computer-assisted instruction be made part of the summerschool curriculum and that the course content be made more consistent with the material offered the rest of the year.
Swanson said that summer school grades must be factored into a student's overall grade in a consistent fashion. Schools now have different ways of figuring the summer-school results into a student's final grade.
Mayor goes back to school
Posted Monday, February 10, 2003
The second school visit for Mayor David N. Cicilline is to Laurel Hill Annex.
BY KAREN A. DAVIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- When Mayor David N. Cicilline arrived at the Laurel Hill Annex School last on Friday, the students in Susan Hahn's second grade class greeted him with smiles, handshakes and a barrage of questions.
Most of the queries had been crafted by the students as part of a homework assignment. But it was clear that some of the questions might have been formed with a bit of outside influence.
Does he like being mayor?
Does he eat lunch in his office?
And, one pupil wanted to know, does Cicilline need an alarm in his office? Because, if he does, she informed the mayor, "you can call my father."
Cicilline's visit to Laurel Hill in the Silver Lake neighborhood was his second stop on a 53-week tour.
The mayor has pledged to visit a school every week in an effort to meet students and get a feel for their experiences.
Cicilline took time Friday to answer questions.
Yes, he does like his job; in fact, what he likes best is visiting schools and talking with students.
Yes, the mayor advised, he often brings a brown-bag lunch to work.
And, no, he's not in the market for a new alarm system at City Hall because "we have a good system in place now." However, the mayor said he would keep the suggestion in mind for future reference.
The mayor gave the students a brief civics lesson, describing how a mayor is elected by the citizens.
He read them a story about the heroic life of Harriet Tubman, the former slave who led more than 100 other slaves to freedom.
Then -- much to the excitement of the children -- Cicilline encouraged them to visit him at City Hall one day.
Then it was on to visit Rosa DeVarona's bilingual kindergarten class, where students welcomed a break in their beginner's writing lesson.
"They all wanted to meet him and shake his hand," their teacher said. Even if they don't quite understand what Cicilline does "they're excited to meet someone new."
Cicilline began making good on a campaign promise to visit local schools after gunfire at Mount Pleasant High School brought the issues of school safety and school improvement to the forefront.
On Jan. 22, a 17-year-old student fired a handgun into the ceiling of Mount Pleasant High School and fled. The shooting occurred as school officials were breaking up a fight between three other boys.
While police quickly apprehended the shooter at his home, the incident sparked a debate about what should be done to make schools safe and deter violence.
Cicilline has said his role as mayor includes providing resources and supporting school administrators in efforts to improve schools and keep them safe.
Chief Judge Williams courts elementary school
Posted Thursday, February 6, 2003
Justice Rules is a pilot program that aims to teach students about the legal system.
BY KAREN A. DAVIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- With its audience of students, teachers, elected officials and lawyers, the Anthony Carnevale Elementary School gymnasium was clearly transformed.
"All rise, Judge Aaliyah, Judge Joshua and Chief Justice Frank J. Williams presiding," kindergarten courtroom Sheriff Sony Prasith announced with authority.
Yesterday's mock trial in the case of the State vs. Members of Kindergarten Room 101 had commenced.
The charge? A suspicion that some classmates had failed to wear their seatbelts.
The plea? Guilty, said defendant Jared Webb.
The mission of yesterday's mock Supreme Court trial was to launch a pilot program dubbed Justice Rules that aims to teach students about the justice system and its importance in their lives. Since last fall, the program has sent members of the state's legal community into classrooms at Hope High School and Carnevale Elementary.
Yesterday, it had Justice Williams presiding as the Carnevale students showed some of what they have learned.
Upon hearing the mock guilty plea, Judge Williams informed Jared, who stood nervously next to his pint-sized lawyer and classmate Ivan Grand, that state law requires children to wear a seatbelt for safety reasons.
That said, Williams asked his fellow justices, what do you want to do with them?
Josh crinkled his face in thought; Aaliyah gave Williams a "don't know" look.
"Should we make them practice" putting on their seatbelts? Williams asked.
Yes, it was agreed.
A recess was declared and after another "all rise," Williams left the bench.
"Buckle up: It's the law!" Eileen LaMountain's kindergarten class chanted in unison.
Williams said he came up with the idea for the Justice Rules program after recent studies showed that students don't understand their government and legal system.
He and his staff designed the program, which targets grades kindergarten through 12, and implemented it with the Rhode Island Bar Association. The program matches teaching teams of lawyers and judges with classrooms that are studying the courts, criminal and civil law and legal and human rights.
The program also included a puppet show written by Dyana Koelsch and lawyer Andrea Krupp of Williams's staff, and performed by Carol Costa and lawyer Mark Dana.
"Especially in times of war, ensuring the survival of democracy is absolutely crucial," Williams said, calling the judicial system the "last refuge of democracy."
Williams, whose wife Virginia taught kindergarten for 27 years, decried the fact that some students graduate from high school having only cynicism for the judicial system and mistakenly believing that the courtroom portrayals they see on television tell them all they need to know.
Williams said he believes those within the system should "de-mystify the judicial process," in addition to making sure that the system is available and open to all people, regardless of gender, race or ethnicity.
State Commissioner of Education Peter McWalters said he hopes students will glean even more from the program than knowledge about the system. It will expose students to people who work in the legal system, enhancing their education and, perhaps, inspiring students who would like to pursue careers in law or public service.
McWalters said his department hopes to expand the program to more schools and more communities.
Michael St. Pierre, president of the state bar association, noted that it was only 40 years ago next month that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that indigent defendants have the right to a lawyer. To that end, St. Pierre said "you don't have to be studying to be a lawyer to appreciate the importance of the judiciary on society."
Mayor David N. Cicilline and schools Supt. Melody Johnson praised and thanked Williams and his staff for starting the program.
Cicilline surmised that the program could be a model for a "democracy rules" program, teaching the workings of government.
And Johnson called the program a perfect example of how the community can work with educators to help "fulfill a responsibility to the young people of our community."
Asst. U.S. Atty. Richard Rose, who graduated from the Providence school system, has led the discussions for Law & Civics classes at Hope High. He echoed praise for the program.
Misty Delgado, a Hope High School junior, said that after working with Rose, her classmates are convinced that "you don't have to come from a rich neighborhood or from money. . . to be successful. Nothing should hold us back just because we come from the inner city."
Chief to place police in schools full-time
Posted Wednesday, February 5, 2003
BY AMANDA MILKOVITS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- At a Summit neighborhood meeting, Esserman vows change is coming
The neighborhoods have clamored for community policing for years, wanting officers dedicated to preventing crime on their streets.
The plan for the city is under development. But the plan for community policing in the city's public schools is under way -- starting with officers in the schools on a full-time basis, said new police Chief Dean Esserman.
After a warm welcome at last night's Summit neighborhood meeting at the Hillside Health Center, Esserman told the crowd of about 50 residents of his plans for the Providence Police Department.
He's been on the job for 3 1/2 weeks, long enough to deal with a spate of armed robberies, a shooting at Mount Pleasant High School, and the first homicide in Providence this year.
In that time, Esserman has met individually with every police major, captain, and lieutenant. He's talked with city officials, neighborhood groups, law enforcement agencies. He's attended each roll call, gone out on calls to observe the officers at work, and hired a well-respected retired New York City investigator as his consultant in turning around the troubled department. On Friday, he formed a task force to re-open an investigation into a promotions examscandal.
Along the way, the questions he has asked each officer, as well as residents, have been leading to ideas on how to restructure the department, Esserman said.
One major change is happening to the school squad. After a student fired a gun into the cafeteria ceiling at Mount Pleasant last month, Esserman asked the officers and school officials what they wanted to see from the police.
The 10-member school squad currently rotates among all of the nearly 60 public schools; no officers are stationed permanently at any school. But the officers told the chief that being allowed to stay in the schools would help them build trust among the students, Esserman said.
They're getting their wish, starting with the high schools. The officers are being moved into the schools full-time, instead of part-time, Esserman said. The department is seeking a grant to train them as school resource officers. Meanwhile, each principal will choose an officer for their school, Esserman said.
This worked in Stamford, Conn., where Esserman was chief, and in New Haven, Conn., where he was assistant chief, Esserman said. "The officers get engaged in the life of the school. They call the children 'their children,' " he said.
And when community policing is taken to the neighborhoods, the police officers will see their side of the city as their own -- just as residents will see the officers as their "family cops," Esserman said.
The department will be decentralized, with the officers moved into neighborhood storefronts and substations instead of the great glass and brick public safety complex at 325 Washington St.
Esserman said he forsees having officers and supervisors dedicated to different neighborhoods across the city. They'll be overseen by a commander who will be accountable to the neighborhood. Residents and business owners will have pager and phone numbers for their officers.
"They'll be held accountable, and let me tell you, they're waiting for the opportunity," Esserman said. "And those who are not, I'm waiting for them."
He has the vision, but he doesn't yet have a plan, Esserman admitted. That will come through discussions with the officers and the residents, he said.
What's the deadline? one woman wanted to know.
Esserman said he was giving her the same answer he gave to Mayor David N. Cicilline. "We have to move quickly. If you don't see change in the next six months, you should ask me to leave," he said.
Community gives back to school
Posted Monday, February 3, 2003
Anthony Carnevale Elementary School sponsors a fundraiser to allow it to restore field trips and other projects that were the victim of budget cuts.
BY KAREN A. DAVIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- When school administrators announced last fall that the system would have to eliminate field trips and special programs to compensate for a projected budget shortfall, educators and parents winced.
At one elementary school, however, school officials got busy planning community fundraisers that would generate school support and provide enough funding to restore field trips.
On Thursday, the Anthony Carnevale Elementary School staged a fundraiser at Roger Williams Park, featuring the videotaped work of its students, ethnic food, music and a presentation by teachers and staff, highlighting their goals for their students.
The event, which was attended by at least 200 people, raised about $7,000, said Fran Rotella, school principal. That total is expected to increase as the school continues receiving donations that have been pledged.
"It went tremendously well," Rotella said. The event raised enough money to allow the students to take field trips to the Mystic Aquarium, the Pequot Museum, the Boston Museum of Science and the Providence Children's Museum, where three Carnevale classes contributed to one of the exhibits.
While Carnevale and other public schools have held family fundraisers before, this one was promoted as an effort to restore much-needed enrichment programs and as a way to attract support from the community and from the school's education partners.
Rotella promoted it as "a good way for our partners in education to financially support our inner-city children." She said the school needs "help from the broader community to give our children experiences that they may not have otherwise had."
Located on Springfield Street, off Hartford Avenue, Carnevale serves 490 pupils in pre-kindergarten through fifth grades.
The school -- which is named after a prominent lawyer, judge and educator -- has forged partnerships with the legal community. A venture with the Rhode Island Judiciary and Rhode Island Bar Association led to the creation of a program called "Justice Rules," which introduces students to civics, the court system and the concept of justice, Rotella said.
In addition to supporting field trips, money raised at the event will also help purchase basic supplies and finance Justice Rules and programs that promote literacy and math skills, Rotella said.
Among those in attendance was Mayor David N. Cicilline, a former defense lawyer, who spoke about education, Rotella said.
School officials were grateful that so many people came out to support Carnevale Elementary. But just as important, Rotella said, the event "brought the staff and the community together to casually talk about the things that we do."
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