|
|
|
|
May 2005
Forums invite opinion on picking next schools chief
Posted Tuesday, May 31, 2005
"We want to make sure that the process of hiring a new superintendent is as open . . . as possible," says Mayor David N. Cicilline.
BY LINDA BORG
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- Parents, teachers and students will have a chance to tell the Providence School Board what they are looking for in a schools superintendent during a series of public forums that begin tomorrow.
Community Matters, a local consulting firm, will sponsor the sessions, which include three smaller, invitation-only meetings that are aimed at specific groups, such as civic organizations and business leaders.
Tomorrow's forum is from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Del Sesto Complex, 152 Springfield St. The second, which is geared toward students, including high school dropouts, will be held Thursday from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at 10 Dorrance St., Suite 1108.
A third public forum will be held Monday from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Juanita Sanchez Complex, 182 Thurbers Ave. Spanish translation will be provided.
Mayor David N. Cicilline's search committee is making an effort to reach out to young people because their voices are often overlooked. A number of teen groups, including the newly formed Providence Youth Council and the districtwide student government, have been invited to tomorrow's session.
"We want to make sure that the process of hiring a new superintendent is as open and as transparent as possible," said Cicilline. "We all have a stake in ensuring that every child receives a quality education and I welcome the community's imput."
Monday was Supt. Melody Johnson's last day of work. She is leaving to become superintendent in Fort Worth, Texas, a much larger school district in a state where she has spent most of her career. A professional search firm has launched a national search for her replacement. The School Board hopes to appoint a new leader by the beginning of the school year.
Residents who can't make it to the public meetings can go online and fill out a questionnaire that asks them to list the strengths and weaknesses of the district, the challenges it faces and the qualities that make an effective leader. The survey also asks people to choose whether the district is headed in the right direction and whether the next superintendent should continue with Johnson's reforms.
The survey, which is in English and Spanish, can be found on the Providence School Department's Web site, www.providenceschools.org.
23 teachers at Hope High won't return
Posted Thursday, May 26, 2005
Their replacements will be chosen by a team of teachers, parents and students at each of the building's schools-within-a-school.
BY LINDA BORG
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- Almost half of the teachers at Hope High School will not be returning this fall, providing a rare opportunity for school leaders to create a new sense of community at the troubled school.
Nicholas Donahue, the school's special master, said that 20 teachers have decided to go elsewhere; three were not invited back and 20 are longterm substitutes who can choose to re-apply for their current jobs.
"We hope people see this as the opportunity that it is," Donahue said. "This is a serious effort to make a difference at this school and it starts with the staff."
As part of his latest intervention order, Education Commissioner Peter McWalters required all faculty who wanted to remain at Hope to sign a 19-point letter of commitment. Teachers also had the option to leave and apply to another school through the district's yearly job fair.
Because Hope is under site-based management, the new hires will be chosen by a team of teachers, parents and students at each of building's three smaller schools-within-a-school. The final decisions will be made by the principals of each "high school," not the superintendent.
This isn't the first time that the district has experimented with site-based hiring. Donald Zimmerman, the department's senior director of human resources, said at least four schools, including Hope, interview and select teachers rather than use the typical process, which involves teachers bidding on jobs that are awarded by seniority.
Zimmerman said that the teachers' contract includes language that allows for such hiring in site-based schools.
Bumping rights, in which a teacher with more seniority bumps a teacher with less, will not apply to the hiring process at Hope High School, according to Frances Gallo, the district's transitional superintendent.
Donahue said the school is looking for teachers who are committed to trying new approaches, to being part of a leadership team and to reaching out to parents, who have long been the neglected third leg of public education.
"This entire process is about building community," Gallo said. "We're looking for people who are willing to change, who have strong content knowledge coupled with a strong sense of relationship-building."
Gallo said teachers should be comfortable inviting outsiders into their classrooms and be willing to work with businesses to give students real-world experiences.
Donahue acknowledged that it will be an "enormous task" to fill all the positions, but said that the school will recruit candidates in innovative ways.
"I expect that the principals [at Hope] will reach out to their colleagues around the region and get the word out to neighboring districts," he said. "But first and foremost, we'd like to attract teachers from Providence to interview at Hope."
Gallo, who called the job search unusual, said the district has run an ad in The Providence Journal, contacted colleges and reached out to professional organizations around the state.
Since McWalters first intervened three years ago, Hope has been roiled by constant change and public scrutiny, much of it critical. Walters intervened again in February after the teachers and the superintendent couldn't agree on the role of school advisories -- a critical piece of Hope's school improvement plan.
In his latest order, McWalters appointed a special master to oversee his "corrective action plan," and Schools Supt. Melody Johnson appointed three principals, each of whom will run one of the smaller high schools in the building.
This is the second time in less than three years that there has been a complete turnover in administration at Hope High School. The first was June 2002, when McWalters stepped in and called for a replacement of the leadership team. Principal Nancy Mullen left the high school last summer after her two-year contract was not renewed in June.
Meanwhile, Donahue said Hope is trying to fulfill the other parts of McWalters' order, actively recruiting parents to join the school's new school improvement teams, planning summer training programs for teachers and developing learning opportunities at universities such as Johnson & Wales and the Rhode Island School of Design.
Donahue said the changes at Hope are very much a work in progress, adding that the mood varies but the sense of optimism is growing.
"Folks are focused on the end of the year," he said, "on trying to get kids out the door if they are seniors. Things are going well and that's mostly to the credit of the people at Hope. It's been very heartening to see them work so hard."
Board taps interim leader for district
Posted Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Tomas E. Ramirez was most recently the district's assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and professional development.
BY LINDA BORG
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- When Tomas E. Ramirez was a little boy struggling to understand a foreign language and a strange new culture, never in his wildest dreams did he imagine that he would one day run a school district.
The Providence School Board last night voted unanimously to appoint Remirez as interim superintendent, effective June 2. He will remain in the job until a permament superintendent is chosen.
Although Frances Gallo has been serving as transitional superintendent since March, when Melody Johnson announced that she would taking the top job in Fort Worth, Texas, School Board President Mary McClure said last night that the board was told it would be unwise to appoint an interim leader who was a candidate for the permanent position.
Gallo, the former Jamestown superintendent who was hired to run the Providence middle schools, wants to be considered for the superintendent's slot, McClure said.
"The School Board is making history tonight by appointing a Latino to be interim superintendent," Ramirez said before last night's meeting. "I believe that I'm the first Dominican in New England to be appointed to such a position."
Ramirez is no stranger to the Providence schools. His family moved to Providence from New York City when he was 12. Ramirez attended Brigham Middle School and graduated from Central High School, where he was the valedictorian.
The oldest of three siblings, he was the first in his family to attend college, going to Brown University, where he majored in chemistry. After a couple of years in private industry, he saw a job posting for a bilingual science teacher in Providence.
Ramirez got the job and was teaching during the day and working as a chemist at night. At the same time, Ramirez earned a master's degree in education from Rhode Island College in 1990.
"My mother was a teacher in the Dominican Republic," he said. "Teaching was in my blood."
Over the past 18 years, Ramirez has done a little of everything: middle school principal, adjunct professor at RIC, director of science, and, most recently, assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and professional development.
He is working on a doctorate in educational administration at the University of Connecticut in Storrs.
"Never in a million years did I think I would be a teacher," Ramirez said. "To think that the board has such confidence in me is a joy."
Last night was Johnson's last School Board meeting. She will leave Providence on Tuesday.
"I've been in denial about my leaving," a tearful Johnson said. "I'm the luckiest person to have landed here among people who put schools first. Any day that I was feeling really exhausted, I'd go to one of our schools and look into the most beautiful faces. I feel very, very blessed."
McClure, who said she, too, has been in denial, called Johnson first and foremost a teacher, adding, "We have learned so much from you."
A fellow board member, Dr. Milton Hamolsky, called Johnson a "consummate professional as a teacher, a leader and a human being."
A national search firm is soliciting candidates for the superintendent's job, while a local firm, Community Matters, will hold of public forums next month to get the public's input.
The mayor's search committee, chaired by Brown University President Ruth Simmons, hopes to have a superintendent in place by the beginning of the school year.
Teens asked to share ideas on the next school head
Posted Monday, May 23, 2005
Residents of Providence should have a voice in determining the qualifications for school superintendent, according to a local consulting firm, Community Matters.
BY LINDA BORG
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- At least 60 students, including several high school dropouts, have been invited to a public forum next month to share their thoughts on the strengths and weaknesses of the Providence schools.
This is one of a handful of public forums to discuss what kind of person would make a good superintendent of schools now that Melody Johnson is leaving later this month to head the Fort Worth, Texas, school district.
While a professional search firm casts a wide net for Johnson's replacement, a local consulting firm, Community Matters, will ask teachers, parents and business leaders to discuss what qualities they would like to see in the next superintendent.
The mayor, the School Board and the search committee feel strongly that Providence residents should have a voice in determining the qualifications for school superintendent, according to Community Matters, which specializes in education issues.
Two public forums will be held early next month. In addition, three smaller invitation-only meetings will be held for a variety of interest groups, including parents, teachers, business leaders, civic groups and members of the religious community.
Finally, residents will be able to fill out an on-line questionnaire that asks for a list the challenges facing the district, to identify the most compelling issues and rank the characteristics that make a successful school leader. The questionnaire will also be handed out at the public sessions.
In an effort to publicize the forums, leaflets will be sent home with every student.
"This is an important hire, not just for students and parents, but for businesses," Fersh said. "Schools are an economic development issue."
The format will vary from the usual large-group setting. Participants will break into small groups with a member of the School Board or Mayor David N. Cicilline's search committee. The comments will be summarized and sent to the committee and School Board.
A variety of teen-oriented groups have been tapped for the student forum, including AS220, the newly formed Providence Youth Council and the districtwide student government committee.
"We've also asked some students who have dropped out, young people who may have been completely disenfranchised by the Providence schools," Fersh said. "This is an opportunity to inform as well as listen. A lot of young people may not know what the job of a superintendent is and how his or her decisions influence their schools."
The public forums will be held June 1 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Del Sesto Complex, 152 Springfield St., and June 6 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Juanita Sanchez Complex, 182 Thurbers Ave. Spanish translation will be provided.
The student forum will be held June 2 from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at 10 Dorrance St., Suite 1108. The invitation-only sessions will be held later in June.
Panel finds school budget all adds up
Posted Thursday, May 19, 2005
A study commissioned by Mayor David N. Cicilline concludes that 97 percent of the budget is fixed, and there are no overlooked sources of revenue or savings.
BY CATHLEEN F. CROWLEY
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- A panel of business people and educators asked to dissect the school budget in search of savings didn't find any.
"We were surprised that 97 percent of the budget is actually fixed," said Barbara J. Dreyer, chief financial officer of Capital Properties and the chairwoman of the committee.
Mayor David N. Cicilline created the Budget Review Committee in February. Cicilline wanted it to make sure the School Department's budget was "accurate and transparent," and identify any areas to trim.
The group's report, released this week, stated, "The committee did not identify any obvious cost savings -- given the current federal mandates, state regulations, and contractual obligations -- or any overlooked sources of revenue."
The School Department has proposed a $305.4 million budget, 5.9-percent higher than last year. Unless the state gives Providence more aid, the budget is short $13.7 million.
In creating the committee, Cicilline said he believed an outside review would give the city more credibility when appealing for more state aid.
The committee concluded that nearly all of the School Department's costs are predetermined by contractual obligations, healthcare costs and mandates.
"That, I found overwhelming," Dreyer said. "That was a very large percentage to be fixed."
The committee said the School Department should conduct a close study of state and federal mandates to identify areas that might offer flexibility.
"It is beyond the scope of the Committee to determine whether the [School Department] is or is not currently using its resources in the most efficient manner," the report said. "However, even if all potential inefficiencies in the [school] system could be identified and ameliorated, the Committee believes it highly unlikely that the school district could eliminate the entire $13 million budget gap."
The diversity of the student body also surprised the group. The district has almost 27,000 students, and 49 languages are spoken in families of 30 percent of the students. About 80 percent of Providence students are eligible for free and reduced lunches, an indication of the high poverty in the city.
"It was an eye-opener to me," Dreyer said.
Dreyer oversees finances at Capital Properties, the largest property owner in Capital Center. The other members of the committee were: Frank Champi, a partner in the accounting firm of Lefkowitz, Garfinkel, Champi & DeRienzo; George Graboys, retired chief executive officer of Citizens Bank; John Nazarian, president of Rhode Island College; Thomas Sepe, president of Community College of Rhode Island; John Tyler, a Brown University professor; and Lila Sapinsley, a former senator from the East Side who was minority leader of the Rhode Island Senate.
The group met for two months and heard presentations from the School Department's financial officer, the city's chief of administration, and an analyst from the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council. The group reviewed previous budgets, union contracts, and federal and state mandates.
The committee found it awkward that the School Department must set a budget before it knows how much money the state will provide. The committee said the state should adopt a funding formula so school departments know what to budget.
Staff writer Cathleen F. Crowley can be reached at (401) 277-7376 or ccrowley [at] projo.com.
Perry School has liftoff in NASA program
Posted Wednesday, May 18, 2005
As one of the NASA Explorers schools, science teachers will work with experts to help make science more meaningful to students.
BY KAREN A. DAVIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- NASA representative Peter H. Schultz looked out at the dozen or so sixth graders and posed a logical question from a space enthusiast.
"Are you students ready to go to Mars?"
The reply was sincere: "Noooooooo," in a resounding chorus.
"You're not? Well, you may change your mind after three years of this," Schultz told the students during a news conference at the Oliver Hazard Perry Middle School.
This is the NASA Explorers Schools Program, a unique partnership that links the resources and expertise of the Texas-based space center with selected schools throughout the country.
Perry was chosen as the first and only Rhode Island school -- and one of only 50 nationwide -- to participate in the three-year program, officials announced yesterday.
Schultz, a Brown University professor and director of the Rhode Island Space Grant Program, applauded the designation along with Schools Supt. Melody Johnson and Mayor David N. Cicilline.
"It is with great pride that I make this announcement and extend congratulations to the science teachers and staff who made this possible," Johnson said. "The students are fortunate to have all of you working so hard on their behalf to better our science programs and seek out opportunities that all inner-city students deserve."
The Explorer Schools Program, created in 2003, is sponsored by the NASA Education Office and the National Science Teachers Association.
The five-member Perry science team will work with NASA staff or representatives to help make science come alive at Perry.
The school will receive $17,500 in grants for educational tools and a free one-week workshop at Goodard Space Flight Center near Washington, D.C. The session will give teachers "real world and practical applications" of science, technology, engineering, mathematics and geography from NASA sicentists, researchers and engineers.
Perry science teachers David Baxter, Nancy Raftery and Steven Mancini applied for the grant.
Principal Luke Driver noted that the program fits well with the hands-on curriculum that has space exploration as the primary theme of sixth grade instruction.
Baxter said the most valuable aspect of the program is that students and teachers will be able to go online with NASA officials to find out how science is being applied in a concrete way.
For example, Schultz is leading a NASA mission in July that aims to land a shuttle on a comet.
Schultz said schools in the program will be kept abreast of such missions and projects conducted by NASA.
Baxter said he believes students will discover that the robots used in space exploration are not that different from the robots they create with Legos. He hopes to help them "take the science that they're learning and apply it to real life."
He said the students could compare local weather with the weather conditions on other planets and research those far-off places as possible places to vist or live.
Raftery said the program will give the school more information, more technology and access to experts.
While the students may not have been thrilled about the idea of traveling to Mars, they said they were excited about the program.
"It's different from everything else," one student said.
"We get to talk to an astronaut? Oh, cool," said another.
Schultz told the students that, as a youth, "everywhere I went I thought about science. . . .Was that a geeky thing? Perhaps. But not if it's what you love."
Schultz said Perry students will be on the cutting edge of space exploration and will be able to "convince all the other schools that they want to be just like you."
"This is an incredible opportunity for our students and we owe it all to these teachers," Driver said.
City seeks leader in education as school head
Posted Thursday, May 12, 2005
A search committee and a recruiting firm are looking for candidates to replace Schools Supt. Melody A. Johnson.
BY LINDA BORG
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- Brown University President Ruth Simmons said she wants a schools superintendent with the knowledge and experience to build on the foundation created by outgoing Supt. Melody A. Johnson.
"We're excited about the direction that the former superintendent has taken us in," she said Tuesday. "The idea is to continue that approach and to build on it.
"Anybody who is a leader in education must be a believer," said Simmons, the chairwoman of the city's search committee. "The most important thing that a leader must have is a passion for children and a passion for the mission of education."
Johnson is leaving Providence later this month to become superintendent in Fort Worth, Texas, where she spent most of her career and where she will earn $300,000, twice what she makes here.
Mayor David N. Cicilline and School Board President Mary McClure have said they want a superintendent who has the ability to build strong relationships with political leaders, the teachers' union and the community -- all areas where Johnson gets high marks.
While Simmons didn't make promises, she did say that the university is willing to consider giving the new superintendent an affiliation with Brown as a way to make the job more attractive.
"We are open to that possibility," she said. "We want to do what we can to be helpful to the city."
Simmons said, however, that the candidate must have the right qualifications to be considered for a teaching position at Brown. Former Supt. Diana Lam was given an adjunct teaching position at Brown when she was hired in 1999.
Brown University is paying for a professional search firm, Hamilton, Rabinovitz & Alschuler of New York, at a cost of $40,000. Hamilton is a nationally known firm whose credits include recruiting the superintendents of Boston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Portland, Ore.
Hamilton was one of three search firms recommended by the Broad Foundation, a national educational research organization. Cicilline and his staff, working with Simmons, made the selection.
The search committee recruits dozens of candidates from around the country, conducts background checks and interviews the candidates and people who know them. It is also responsible for condensing voluminous amounts of information into packages that the search committee and the School Board can digest.
"We cast a wide net," said Ed Hamilton, president of the search firm, who says his company sends personal letters to 6,000 people around the country. "Some of them are superintendents. Some are assistant superintendents. Some are business leaders. Others are deans of education schools."
It is not uncommon for large districts to hire superintendents from other fields -- business, for example, or higher education. That's why the job description in Providence does not list academic requirements. Instead, the job calls for someone with strong leadership skills.
"The capacity most needed in the superintendent is the ability to lead," the posting says, "the combination of vision, will, talent and the personal qualities that can . . . make the Providence schools the best they can be."
From the original responses to their queries, Hamilton will take approximately 100 potential candidates and prepare short resumes for the search committee. The committee will select 15 to 20 semi-finalists, whose names will be given to the School Board.
"These people get interviewed by me," Hamilton said. "I go to them in person and then come back to the School Board with the reports on those interviews."
The mayor and the School Board will interview the semi-finalists in August, and the hope is that a superintendent will be chosen before the beginning of the school year.
Hamilton said that the selection process is usually confidential because it can be politically damaging for a superintendent to publicly apply for a position elsewhere.
During the search for Johnson's predecessor, the School Board announced the names of the two finalists, including Diana Lam, who later got the job. In some cases, Hamilton said, the School Board will tell the runner-up that she she didn't get the job so she can withdraw her nomination and save face in her district.
While the School Board is scrutinizing candidates, another firm, Community Matters of Providence, will hold public meetings to find out what qualities and skills the community wants in its next superintendent. That information will be shared with the School Board.
Those forums are expected to start next week and run through the middle of June.
The job posting will run in local and national newspapers starting this weekend or next. In the posting, Providence is described as a district of 27,000 children, where 80 percent live in poverty and one in three is enrolled in an English language program.
It says that the district has a $370-million budget and employs more than 3,000 people. The job description notes that 98 percent of the district's operating costs are determined by labor contracts, state requirements and health and safety regulations.
The posting, however, does not mention that the district is facing a $13.7-million budget shortfall, nor does it say that the state has intervened at Hope High School and Perry Middle School.
The superintendent's base salary is listed as $165,000 to $185,000. The appointee would receive a three-year contract.
Governor gets a D for deficiency at rally for schools
Posted Thursday, May 12, 2005
Organizers chide the governor over education financing, and call on legislators to give public schools a bigger slice of the state-budget pie.
BY ELIZABETH GUDRAIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- It's as easy as ABC -- Anyone But Carcieri -- in 2006, one sign in the crowd read.
Not everyone at yesterday's State House rally faulted Governor Carcieri for his handling of public-education funding problems. But there were plenty who did.
"Is the governor listening to the needs of public education?" Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline bellowed into the microphone.
"NO!" the crowd roared.
Carcieri did not attend. The rally's organizers -- Kim Rose and Maria Tocco, the public engagement director and a communications specialist, respectively, for the Providence School Department -- said they did not specifically invite him, but that the event received ample publicity and he could have chosen to attend. Asked what they made of his absence, they declined comment.
The rally's emcee, Colleen Callahan, said she was primarily there in her role as director of professional issues for Rhode Island's chapter of the American Federation of Teachers. Callahan stayed away from governor-bashing. "Our Rhode Island schools are facing severe budget crises at the same time they are being asked to do more and more and more," she said in her remarks. Still, her presence made a statement. As a member of the state's Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education, she is subject to appointment by the governor.
Journal photo / Bob Thayer
Noema Castillo, of Providence, shouts in support of Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline's speech at the State House yesterday that assailed Governor Carcieri for his handling of public-education funding problems.
The rally's purpose was threefold: to push legislators to give public schools around the state a bigger slice of the state-budget pie, to argue for instituting a formula, applied uniformly around the state, to determine how much aid each community gets; and to urge the repeal of some unfunded mandates.
To promote the event, Providence schools sent a letter by mail to every Providence public-school parent, and another letter home in the backpack of every student. It made 12,000 telephone reminders using an electronic phone tree.
Ultimately, Rose and Tocco estimated that about 1,500 people filtered in and out of the State House plaza from the time a student protest began, at 4 p.m., to the end of the main event around 7:30.
The event drew more than 20 speakers: School Committee members from Jamestown and Chariho, and a spate of people from Providence -- students, parents, community organizers, the transitional superintendent, and plenty of elected officials ready to rail against Carcieri.
"Where's the governor?" someone in the crowd shouted while Rep. Thomas C. Slater, D-Providence, was speaking.
"Good question!" Slater replied. "Where is the governor?"
The crowd's chanting -- "We want the governor! We want the governor!" -- threatened to drown out the voice of the next speaker, Rep. Grace Diaz. "I'm not the governor," Diaz, D-Providence, said, "but I'm ready to fight against the governor, OK?"
Rep. Joseph S. Almeida, D-Providence, continued the anti-Carcieri invective. "I'll tell you why he's not here," Almeida said. "He's afraid of you all!"
Newcomer Academy gets new principal
Posted Wednesday, May 11, 2005
The move follows recent skirmishes between students in the academy and Nathan Bishop Middle School students.
BY LINDA BORG
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- A full-time administrator has been named to oversee the Newcomer Academy in the wake of the recent squabbles between middle school and high school students at the Nathan Bishop Middle School, where the academy is located.
Oscar Paz, one of three directors at Hope High School, will serve as the academy's principal. Paz will provide support to teachers and students at the mini-high school, which opened this fall to teach 75 new immigrant students whose previous education had been interrupted in their native countries.
The Nathan Bishop school building on the East Side, which includes 540 middle school students, has been rocked by tumult since April 29, when 12 students were suspended and eight were arrested after a fight between eighth graders and several high school students.
The fight began when a Newcomer student hit a Nathan Bishop student, and other teenagers jumped into the fray. A three-inch knife was taken from one student and another was treated for injuries at Hasbro Children's Hospital.
Principal Earnest Cox said that five of the suspended students returned to school on Monday and Tuesday to serve the remainder of their 10-day suspension in school. However, when the students continued to act up, they were sent home at day's end yesterday to serve the rest of their suspension.
Cox also said that seven adults, including parents and other members of the community, are volunteering as hallway monitors in the cafeteria and the schoolyard. And a group of Youth Street Workers from the Institute for the Study & Practice of Non-Violence have been talking with students about the causes of the fights.
City renews lease at Harrison St. School
Posted Wednesday, May 11, 2005
The proposed high school on Adelaide Avenue won't be ready until January, at the earliest, school officials say.
BY KAREN A. DAVIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- Faced with a shortage of high school seats, school officials will continue leasing the Harrison Street School for another year to accomodate a burgeoning enrollment of 9th and 10th grade students.
Maria Tocco, a School Department spokeswoman, said administrators renewed the lease on the former Bishop McVinney School because a proposed new high school on Adelaide Avenue will not be ready until at least January.
School officials are trying to determine what has to be done to fix fire-code violations in the building.
Alan Sepe, the city's acting director of public properties, said yesterday the School Department will have to repair or install fire doors and update the sprinkler system, "the same things we've been doing at other schools."
He estimated that the work will cost about $200,000.
School officials have been scrambling to find more seats for high school students because plans to build a school in the Reservoir Triangle neighborhood have been delayed.
The city did not file a completed environmental report and remediation plan required by the state Department of Environmental Management.
Plans for the new school drew a chorus of protests from Adelaide Avenue residents and others who complained the project was on a fast track and did not allow for their input.
School officials had planned to use the building, which would cost an estimated $15 million, as an overflow school for the increasing number of ninth grade students, according to Schools Supt. Melody A. Johnson.
Johnson says the Harrison Street School is "unacceptable" because of the fire-code violations and the lack of a library or gymnasium.
The School Department has used the building for two years and did not plan to keep leasing it for long-term use.
Sepe said the investment in repairing the violatons will not go to waste because the city plans to continue using the building as a transitional building, as other schools undergo renovation.
Harrison Street, which has 12 classrooms, can hold 325 to 350 students, Tocco said.
As of this month, 206 9th, 10th and 11th grade students are enrolled there.
School officials predict they will need 650 more seats for ninth and 10th graders this fall.
The plan now calls for placing about 175 ninth graders at the DelSesto School complex on Springfield Avenue.
About 300 9th and 10th grade students will attend Harrison Street and 175 are over-enrolled at other high schools, Tocco said.
Tocco said the School Department usually over-enrolls to account for students who may leave the system during the summer or the first semester of the school year.
Educators, parents brainstorm over budget
Posted Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Transitional Supt. Frances Gallo says she hopes the forum to discuss the budget crisis will be the first of regular public workshops on education.
BY LINDA BORG
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- They were asked to help the Providence School Board choose where to make millions of dollars in cuts. Instead, they said that the schools couldn't afford to trim anything else from next year's budget.
Last night, for the first time, the School Board invited parents and teachers to discuss the budget crisis, then present their findings. More than 160 members of the community turned out at the Sanchez School complex on Thurbers Avenue for an hour-long exchange of ideas.
The forum was the brainchild of Frances Gallo, the transitional superintendent, who went on a Spanish-language radio show, WPMZ 1110 AM, on Saturday to answer questions about the budget and publicize last night's forum. Gallo hopes that this will be the first of a series of regular public workshops on education topics.
At each table, parents, teachers and community activists engaged in lively discussions about how to close the department's $13.7-million budget shortfall. Parents were asked to consider making cuts to sports, school buses, assistant principals and special education.
At one table, parents were debating whether to reduce bus schedules by increasing the distance children would have to walk to school, depending on the child's age.
"We don't have that luxury," said one woman, referring to driving her children to school.
"A mile is a long way for a little child to walk," said another.
"You can't cut anything," said a third. "We need to tell the mayor that we can't cut another $5 million."
Mayor David N. Cicilline has offered to give the schools $4.4 million, but that still leaves the department with a huge financial hole to fill.
At another table, the conversation revolved around athletics.
"It's a nice thing to have," one woman said, "but I'd put it down at the bottom of our priorities."
But several parents objected. For many students, they said, playing sports is the only hook that keeps them in school. It builds self-esteem and a sense of community. Participation in school sports has been linked with improved academic skills, according to one adult.
At another table, a community activist from ACORN suggested putting a 50- cent tax on every telephone, cell phone and Internet connection in Rhode Island. A similar tax netted millions of dollars for a large Texas school district, he said.
After the discussions, each school board member reported on the recommendations from his or her group. The suggestions ran the gamut from moving to a four-day school week to returning to neighborhood schools. But the overwhelming consensus was that it would be very damaging to cut busing, sports, special education and high school administrators.
One group of parents urged the School Board to take legal action against the mayor, the governor, the General Assembly -- whatever was necessary to restore funding to the city schools. Another called for a statewide referendum on how to adequately finance public education without breaking taxpayers' backs.
"The feeling was no more cuts, period," said board member Maila Touray. "They said we should be going to the State House and asking for adequate funding. How do we reform the system so that children are given what's due to them?"
One school board member, Bert Crenca, questioned whether the board was trying to curry favor with the public by soliciting advice on the budget crisis.
"It offends me to have a conversation that is not about finding solutions," he said. "I'd rather use this time to mobilize people around finding a more equitable way to fund education.
"I'm not interested in passing a balanced budget because it's my legal obligation to do so," he said. "I'd like to pass an unbalanced budget. This has to stop."
No one responded to his comments, but Gallo concluded the session by thanking the School Board for allowing the public's comments to be heard.
"This," she said, "is a board that has been about solutions and you showed us that tonight."
The district is staging a rally at the State House at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday to lobby for more money. Several urban districts have been asked to attend the rally, which is expected to draw 2,000 people.
More skirmishes among middle school students, officials report
Posted Wednesday, May 4, 2005
The incidents Monday follow the events of last Friday when 12 students were suspended and eight were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct or simple assault.
BY LINDA BORG
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- Two more incidents involving six students, most of them from Nathan Bishop Middle School, broke out at bus stops Monday on Hope Street.
Details were sketchy. School Department spokeswoman Maria Tocco said two middle school girls were involved in a skirmish.
Less is known about the second incident, which apparently involved four students from either Nathan Bishop or the Newcomer Academy, a mini-school for recent immigrants located at the middle school.
These are the latest in a series of disruptions that are roiling the middle school on the East Side. On Friday, 12 students were suspended and eight were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct or simple assault after a fight between eighth graders and several high school boys.
Tocco said the fracas began when a Newcomer student hit a Nathan Bishop eighth grader and other students jumped into the fray. A small knife was confiscated.
One student was bitten on the cheek and was treated at Hasbro Children's Hospital. The rest of the injuries were mostly bumps and bruises.
"We think the eighth graders, who normally would be the biggest kids in the school, are feeling challenged by the presence of older kids, especially when it comes to girls," Tocco said. "We're not sure if [the first] incident was over a specific girl."
The Newcomer Academy opened last fall as a place where students with little formal education could start afresh. Many of the teenagers read and write on a third-or fourth-grade level in their native languages. Their educations have been interrupted by civil war or famine.
The 75 Newcomer students share space with the 540 students who attend middle school. Eighth graders who are used to ruling the roost now have to share space with bigger and older students.
Nathan Bishop is trying to get to the bottom of the tensions. On Monday, school officials held a meeting with Newcomer students to discuss the fight and talk about alternate ways to resolve conflicts. Guidance counselors did the same with seventh and eighth grade class.
Additional police officers and school administrators were assigned to the school, especially during the beginning and end of the school day.
A letter was sent home to parents explaining the incident and what steps were being taken to resolve the problem. Monday night, the principal met with members of the Parent Teacher Student Organization to answer their questions and dispel their concerns.
Tocco said that several parents and community leaders have volunteered to help monitor the school.
"Yesterday was a bit hectic but today the atmosphere was quiet all day," said Earnest Cox, principal at Nathan Bishop. "I think the students are remorseful. They realize that what happened was wrong and the majority of students want this incident to be behind them."
The criminal cases have been referred to Family Court. The suspensions are for five days. Suspended students were referred to the Student Affairs Office, where they could face further action.
City's $4 million for schools leaves shortfall
Posted Tuesday, May 3, 2005
Even if the General Assembly chips in more money, the School Department will still face a deficit.
BY LINDA BORG
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- Mayor David N. Cicilline has proposed giving the schools an additional $4.4 million next year. However, the city's budget depends on the state contributing $4 million to $5 million in school aid.
If the state comes through with its share, it would go a long way toward erasing the $13.7-million budget deficit the schools faced last week. Governor Carcieri has proposed giving Providence $3.1 million in next year's budget.
"We appreciate that the city raised their end by at least $4 million," said Mark V. Dunham, the schools' chief financial officer. "But if the state aid doesn't come through, the city has only two choices: raise taxes or cut us."
"We're looking for more state aid," said John Simmons, the mayor's chief of administration. "Is it just the city's responsibility for the schools? Does the state want to help cities and towns, or do they want us to increase taxes?"
But there is no guarantee that the General Assembly will increase local aid to cities and towns, despite the fact that communities across the state are crying poverty this spring. If the House Finance Committee is any indication, there is little support at the State House to spend more money on urban schools, especially in Providence.
Even if the General Assembly meets the mayor's request, the school department will have to cut $5 million from its proposed $305.4-million budget, which the School Board approved last Monday.
Unless the state steps into the breach, school officials say that they are facing several equally unpalatable possibilities, from laying off 20 guidance counselors to cutting bus routes.
The cuts couldn't come at a worse time, because under the federal No Child Left Behind law, schools are under serious pressure to raise student performance on standardized test scores. Next year, Rhode Island has to make an incremental jump in scores or more schools will fall into the low-performing, nonimproving category, which triggers sanctions.
In a statement, Cicilline acknowledged that the School Department has reduced the size of its work force and made substantial cuts at the same time that enrollment was increasing.
"Further reductions in school funding will have the potential of eroding the advances we have made in every school within the city," Cicilline said. "We need to continue to move forward but we can't do it alone."
The school budget absorbs more than half of the city's overall expenditures, dwarfing any other individual budget, including the cost of police and fire protection.
State aid to the Providence schools has declined dramatically over the past seven years, according to Simmons. And these cuts have occurred at the same time that new demands, including NCLB, have been placed on the schools.
But Simmons said that the mayor sees a property-tax increase as a last resort.
"I will do absolutely everything I can to ensure a flat tax rate," Cicilline told the City Council. "If that means spending every penny of my political capital on Smith Hill, I'll do it . . . . If it means controversial legal action, I will pursue it."
During a briefing before the City Council hearing, Simmons said the state has to assume a greater share of the cost of public education. Both Massachusetts and Connecticut spend slightly more than Rhode Island on state aid to public education, Simmons said.
Even if the schools were to receive an additional $12 million, Simmons said it will be "extraordinarily hard" for the School Department to meet its obligations.
This year's budget crisis comes on the heels of several successive years of cuts. More than $11.5 million worth of positions has been eliminated during the past two years. And more than $25 million has been cut during the past four years, Dunham said.
Just last month, state Education Commissioner Peter McWalters ordered Providence to restore at least four librarian positions in each of the city's comprehensive high schools, adding another $200,000 to the deficit.
At the time, Schools Supt. Melody Johnson accused McWalters of micromanaging the schools and called the ruling another unfunded mandate.
"The city is doing what's it's supposed to be doing," Simmons said, adding that the schools have tried to hold the line on costs. "But someone has to decide how we support education in this state."
He said Cicilline has been discussing the school-funding issue with the several urban mayors and the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council, which proposed a new way to finance education last year. The legislature created a committee to study the idea of a state funding formula last spring but it hasn't begun to research the issue.
|
|
