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October 2007
Report: School renovations cheaper than building new ones
Posted Wednesday, October 31, 2007
By Linda Borg
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — A design consultant hired by the Providence Preservation Society says it would be no more costly to renovate existing school buildings than it would to build them from scratch.
The PPS hired David R. Finney, president of Design Partnership of Cambridge, Mass., to examine the cost feasibility of preserving two historic school buildings — West Broadway Elementary and Mount Pleasant High School.
DeJONG Inc., the education planners hired by the city to evaluate its 42 school buildings, has recommended replacing both schools with new buildings. In January, DeJONG proposed a sweeping plan to renovate or replace most of the city’s school buildings, at an approximate cost of $792 million.
The School Board has approved the first phase of the multiyear project, which calls for replacing Mount Pleasant High School with two smaller schools, including a career and technical high school; replacing four elementary schools, including the West Broadway building; renovating the Hanley Career & Technical Center; and building a new alternative high school for 200 students.
Last year, parents and community leaders were up in arms when Supt. Donnie Evans announced the closing of West Broadway because the school was in violation of the state fire code. A handful of parents appealed the decision to the state Department of Education, which affirmed the School Board’s decision to shutter the school to young students.
During a public forum in February, residents also made it clear that they didn’t want Mount Pleasant to be demolished, noting its commanding presence in the neighborhood.
Given its limited budget, the preservation society decided to pick two schools to serve as test cases on which to build their argument that renovation isn’t any more costly than new construction. Even if renovation turns out to be slightly more expensive, society President Jack A. Gold contends that the value of preserving a landmark structure, one with deep meaning to the community, outweighs an analysis based purely on cost.
According to Gold, DeJONG did not take into account the cost of disposing of building debris and remediation of hazardous materials.
“The report,” Gold said in a prepared statement, “while suggesting green elements in new schools, does not value the sustainability of reusing existing buildings.”
Finney calculated that West Broadway could be renovated at a cost less than or equal to the cost of new construction. In arriving at estimates for both schools, Finney looked at recent school construction and came up with average costs per square foot. He also developed estimates based on moderate versus major renovation.
A renovated West Broadway would resolve the egress problem by building a new entrance and reconfiguring the stairs. The Finney plan calls for making the classrooms larger and building a new passage between the main building and gymnasium to make the school fully handicapped-accessible. His firm also included an addition to accommodate three pre-kindergarten classrooms.
DeJONG estimated that a new elementary school would cost $19.6 million. According to Finney, the cost of renovating the building ranges from $18.1 million to $19.7 million, depending on the magnitude of the renovation effort. Both estimates include a small addition for pre-K classes.
Because of its sheer size, Mount Pleasant High School is a more complicated case. In keeping with DeJONG’s commitment to smaller schools, Finney redesigned the three-story school to accommodate two separate high schools that shared certain common spaces, such as the cafeteria and auditorium.
Finney’s proposal calls for a major overhaul of the existing heating and ventilation systems, updating the technology and the lab rooms, and a complete renovation of the building’s exterior.
Because the DeJONG plan recommends building a vocational school, any plan for Mount Pleasant would have to make room for large bays for programs such as automobile repair, which would require tearing down one section of the high school.
Although Finney acknowledges that his numbers are rough, he estimates that a renovated Mount Pleasant would cost between $75.5 million and $83.9 million, depending on the magnitude of the work done. New construction would cost $80.6 million.
“Although the work DeJONG has done is respectable,” Finney said, “it doesn’t appear to recognize that preservation has inherent value from a historic and cultural point of view. We’re showing that if you add the value of an iconic building to your list of criteria, you can come up with something that doesn’t compromise the quality of education or the cost” of bringing the school up to modern standards.
Fortes/Lima Annex Issues/Concerns
Posted Tuesday, October 30, 2007
TO: Dr. Donnie Evans, Superintendent
FROM: Steven F. Smith
DATE: October 23, 2007
SUBJECT: Fortes/Lima Annex
The following issues/concerns have been brought to my attention from members of the Fortes/Lima Annex community. Given the significance of these matters, I’m sure they will be given immediate attention.
1. Certification:
a. Teachers for the Bilingual preschool are all emergency certified.
b. Non – certified subs – 1st grade Inclusion SPED, K Inclusion SPED (2 positions), 1st grade Inclusion Bilingual SPED (2 positions), and K Inclusion Bilingual SPED (2 positions).
2. First grade classroom is lacking supplies and materials. Teacher has to piece together materials from storage. This classroom had been closed then reopened and finally moved to another room.
3. Bilingual preschool is forced to use the men’s bathroom to change diapers. Changing table has been purchased but still must leave the room and cross the hall to use the men’s bathroom.
4. There are few materials for Social Studies or Science. School requires 75 minutes a day of these subjects. Recently, teachers received some Social Studies information. This included a rudimentary curriculum and a stack of read-aloud for the whole school to use (12-15 books) all in English. However, the teachers were given the materials without any training or preparation.
5. Spanish materials are lacking for the Dual Language Spanish teachers. Only half of the required material has arrived for the SRA Math (for Spanish and English teachers). In addition, the game mats, technology, teacher supplementary English manuals, or Spanish assessment books have not arrived.
6. Dual Language Issues:
a. The Program has a cap of 20 students. All classes are over 20.
b. The required screening of students before placement in program is being ignored.
c. No accommodation is made for testing nor is additional assistance provided. English and Spanish teachers test two groups of students. Deadlines remain even though classroom teachers are responsible for twice the testing.
d. The district ordered English and Spanish materials for the Spanish side Dual Language teachers. They will never be used. The school department has wasted hundreds of dollars.
Please advise as to your discussions relative to correcting the above.
c: School Board
Membership
Substitute Coverage for Professional Development During the School Day
Posted Tuesday, October 30, 2007
October 25, 2007
Dr. Donnie W. Evans, Ed.d
Superintendent
Providence School Department
797 Westminster Street
Providence, RI 02903
Dear Dr. Evans:
Please be advised that I am receiving complaints from several teachers about professional development being held during the school day and that the School Department is not providing a substitute for those teachers attending the professional development. Teachers are being assigned paid coverage at the secondary level while at the elementary level, additional students are assigned to other classrooms.
It has always been the position of the Providence Teachers Union and supported by Central Administration that if a substitute is not provided, the professional development is cancelled and the teacher returns to his/her assigned classroom.
When a teacher is assigned coverage on extra students, it only further lowers the morale of the teaching staff.
I will be informing my Membership that if a substitute is not provided, they are to file a grievance in violation of Article 8-7 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Teachers should be in their classrooms doing what they do best - teaching their students. If additional professional development is necessary, it is the obligation of the Providence School Department to provide the proper coverage for that teacher or schedule the professional development after school.
I am requesting that this concern be resolved immediately.
Sincerely,
Steven F. Smith
President
c: Mary McClure
School Board
Tomas Hanna
Sharon Contreras
Letter to Dr. Evans - Veazie Issues/Concerns
Posted Tuesday, October 30, 2007
October 26, 2007
Dr. Donnie W. Evans, Ed.d
Superintendent of Schools
Providence School Department
797 Westminster Street
Providence, RI 02903
Dear Dr. Evans:
Enclosed is a note I received from Michael Fioravanti, a 6th grade teacher at Veazie Street School.
Michael raises some interesting questions as well as some important issues.
I’m sure you recognize the importance of providing teachers with the tools and support they need in order to fulfill their functions. Please address these concerns at your earliest possible convenience.
It is apparent to teachers that they are the only professionals in the Providence School Department who are being held accountable for job performance.
Sincerely,
Steven F. Smith
President
c: Membership
School Board
**** E N C L O S U R E ****
On Wednesday, October 3, 2007 I was given a binder containing the 6th grade Social Studies Scope and Sequence by my assistant principal. After admiring the physical weight of the binder, I questioned why I received it one month into the school year. Why was this never delivered to the school during the past two school years. Did we not have this in place? Did the Administration forget that there were sixth grade classes at Veazie St?
As a professional member of the PPSD, I am informing you that my students have completed local, national, world geography mini units in the absence of district communications regarding Social Studies.
I have received no training, been included in zero emails or communications, and never once consulted or directed as to what to teach in Social Studies. Furthermore, on the title/table of contents page, it states to use text books and assorted materials. I have no text books and assorted materials.
Sixth grade in the elementary school is a wonderful place for most students. It affords these children a last opportunity to be in a high structured and nurturing environment in which they can succeed academically. In agreement with Administration, we should have more sixth grade classrooms in the elementary buildings. However, with this said, sixth grade elementary schools/children are truly overlooked and orphaned in this district.
In my opinion, I can not believe that every sixth grade student, housed in an elementary building, has been treated equitably. Do the required materials for Social Studies exist at every sixth grade elementary building? Does every sixth grade in an elementary building fall under Middle School governance? Lastly, did every sixth grade class receive this scope and sequence a month into the school year?
I question, where is the training for this unit? I question, why receive this unit after Veazie St. has had a sixth grade for the last 3 years?
Professionally yours,
Michael A. Fioravanti
6th Grade Teacher, Veazie St. Elementary
Nearly 80% of city students want to attend college
Posted Thursday, October 25, 2007
By Linda Borg
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — Nearly 80 percent of Providence high school students say they definitely want to attend college but only a third of those students say that schools prepare them to do so.
That’s just one of the findings gleaned from a survey conducted by a youth group in Providence called Young Voices.
Starting last spring, about 30 teenagers fanned out across the city and interviewed 913 students from eight high schools about what they want from their schools, their Police Department and their community. Some high school dropouts were asked the same questions.
Using a recognized research model, the students also held a number of focus groups with students from the training programs Year Up and YouthBuild; Youth Pride Inc., an advocacy and education organization, and AS220, an urban arts organization. Rhode Island Kids Count, a statewide advocacy organization, helped the young people design the survey. A consultant conducted the statistical analysis.
According to Karen Feldman, the founder of Young Voices, the premise behind youth action research is that young people will reveal things to their peers that they would never share with an adult.
“This approach gives adults data that they would never be able to access,” Feldman said yesterday. “We wanted to speak with students who represented the mainstream of the city — the average Providence youth.”
Young Voices will present its findings to state and local leaders on Nov. 14 in the rotunda of the Rhode Island Convention Center. Scheduled to attend the event are Mayor David N. Cicilline, School Supt. Donnie Evans, the City Council, Police Chief Dean M. Esserman and members of the Providence delegation to the General Assembly. The event will be moderated by Elizabeth Burke Bryant, executive director of Rhode Island Kids Count.
Coincidently, the demographic profile of the students surveyed mirrors the racial and ethnic breakdown of the city: more than half of the students who participated in the survey were Hispanic; 29 percent were black, 10 percent were white and 8 percent were Asian.
The single most striking finding is that 93 percent of the students expressed a desire to attend college — 79 percent fell into the “definite” category and 14 percent fell into the “probable” category. But when the same group of teenagers was asked if their high school prepared them for college, 50 percent said “a little” and 15 percent said “not at all.”
Feldman said that the students’ top concern was “being prepared to be successful in the real world.”
After analyzing the data, students met with members of the mayor’s staff, the School Department and community groups before developing a series of recommendations, called action steps, which they will ask leaders to adopt during the November forum.
Young Voices will recommend that the School Department:
•Create a curriculum that is more challenging and “hands-on.”
Students specifically asked for more Advanced Placement courses and more job internships, urged that science be taught in ways that connect theory to the real world, and asked that business leaders explain how an understanding of math and science is essential for certain types of well-paying jobs.
•Encourage a more positive school climate. Students suggested holding student-teacher conferences in addition to the ones between parents and teachers.
•Make sure that all schools have adequate resources. Students promised to lobby the General Assembly to establish a fair funding formula for all public schools.
While the research project was under way, members of Young Voices were invited to present their views to city officials through membership on various policy committees, including the mayor’s task force on poverty and the police chief’s advisory committee.
Feldman and co-director Chace Baptista, a recent high school graduate, train teenagers how to participate in the adult world, from how to address a group to how to make a cogent argument.
Too often, Feldman said, adults make the wrong decisions because there are no teenagers in the room who are able to articulate their concerns. Feldman wants it to become a matter of habit to include youth in city policy discussions that affect their education, their health and safety.
Would it make sense to exclude women from a discussion on how to urge women to get tested for breast cancer? Of course not, Feldman said.
“And yet that’s what we do with youth. We don’t consider certain avenues because youth are not at the table.”
Superintendent apologizes to teachers, vows better communications
Posted Wednesday, October 24, 2007
By Linda Borg
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — Supt. Donnie Evans wrote a letter of apology to the district’s 2,000 teachers in which he acknowledged the difficult and often unpopular decisions that the central administration had to make in the wake of deep budget cuts and state intervention in low-performing schools.
Evans, in his letter, praised teachers for raising student performance in the latest round of state achievement tests. The number of elementary schools making adequate yearly progress jumped from 8 to 18, which means that 60 percent of the district’s elementary schools are making the grade.
“We, unfortunately, found ourselves making decisions this spring that resulted in troubling layoffs very late in the summer, and, to date, we have not reached full agreement on a contract with the Providence Teachers Union,” Evans wrote. “These and other concerns were exacerbated by what I consider the district’s number-one problem: communication.
“Know that I hear your concerns and for each of the situations that caused them, I am extremely apologetic. Having walked in your shoes as a teacher … I know the challenges you face each day in our classrooms.”
In an interview yesterday, Evans described the events of last spring and summer as having the makings of a perfect storm. First, Peter McWalters, state commissioner of elementary and secondary education, told the district that it would have to get serious about raising student performance in those schools that have repeatedly failed to improve under the federal No Child Left Behind law. That pushed the district to adopt new programs in reading and math, leaving little time to train teachers in the new curriculum.
Then, in June, the other shoe dropped. The legislature voted not to award additional aid to local cities and towns, leaving Providence scrambling to close a $6-million budget deficit.
Meanwhile, teachers returned to class without a new contract. Negotiations came to a halt over the summer while the district grappled with the deficit. Talks have since resumed and have reportedly been positive.
Evans said he recognized that teachers were feeling frustrated and that morale was low. He had planned on holding an open meeting with the entire staff before the school year began, but wasn’t sure he could ask that of teachers who were returning to class without a new contract.
So Evans decided that sending a letter to teachers was the next best thing. (A similar letter was sent to clerical staff and teaching assistants).
“How can I say I’m sorry and help them understand that I know they are demoralized,” Evans said. “I wrote it from the heart and I have gotten a lot of e-mails saying, ‘Thank you.’ ”
But the superintendent didn’t stop there. Evans promised to create a Teacher Council to advise him personally on their issues and concerns. Working with PTU President Steven F. Smith, Evans said he hopes to put together a group of approximately 40 teachers — one from each school — which will meet with him on a regular basis.
“I need to periodically take the pulse of the district,” he said. “I need to hear the things that we’re doing well and we’re doing badly. And, if we’re looking to do something different, I want this group to review it and give me feedback.”
Evans said that he met with a teacher advisory group when he worked in Tampa, Fla., and in North Carolina.
In his letter, sent last week, Evans also announced that he will create a Teacher of the Year program that recognizes outstanding teachers from each school as well as district-wide. He also wants to establish a Providence School Foundation similar to one in Tampa, which would raise money to allow teachers to pay for innovative classroom projects.
“We don’t do enough to recognize the good teaching we see,” Evans said. “We don’t sing their praises enough.”
Evans also wants to reward teachers who receive National Board Certification, a rigorous examination process: “These teachers have clearly demonstrated that they are the cream of the crop,” he said. “The more of those teachers we can get, the more we will be able to enhance student performance.”
In his letter, Evans concluded by saying, “Again, I apologize for the frustrations you have experienced because of the adjustments we have been forced to take. However, know that I remain committed to you as we work together to realize our dream for the children of Providence.”
Schools scramble to meet new graduation requirements
Posted Tuesday, October 23, 2007
By Linda Borg
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — The school district is struggling to comply with one of the state’s new high school graduation requirements, the development of end-of-course exams.
In fact, the School Department has already turned to the state Department of Education for help. Rhode Island, along with a handful of other states, has developed an Algebra 2 exam that will be piloted this year in two Providence high schools — Mount Pleasant, the city’s largest high school, and E{+3}, one of the district’s newest schools.
For the past four years, districts have been scrambling to switch to a radical new diploma system, one that tests students on their mastery of skills like problem-solving and critical thinking. No longer will students be able to earn a diploma because they have amassed so many credits or spent so many hours sitting in class.
Graduating seniors will now have to demonstrate proficiency by completing two of the following options: completing a senior project, compiling a portfolio of their work or passing an end-of-course exam.
In Providence, two high schools have chosen to have their students complete a research project; the rest will ask students to compile a portfolio and every senior will have to take a comprehensive exam.
Providence isn’t the only district grappling with the new graduation requirements, which are supposed to take effect this year. Roy Seitsinger, the state Education Department’s director of middle and high school reform, said that roughly one-quarter of state’s 36 districts are well-prepared, half have some key elements in place and a quarter are well behind schedule.
Because this shift in diploma policy represents an enormous challenge, especially to cash-strapped urban districts, Seitsinger said that no one will be penalized for failing to fully implement the new requirements this year. In January, the Education Department will issue preliminary approval or approval denied, which means the district’s graduation plans need a lot more work.
“I wouldn’t say Providence is behind,” Seitsinger said yesterday. “We have to recognize the challenge facing a large urban district, with 10 high schools. Providence is fully engaged. Our role is to support them in their efforts to be successful.”
Yesterday, state and local school officials made it clear that students will not be denied a high school diploma because the district hasn’t formulated them yet.
“You cannot hold a child accountable if the requirements are not in place,” said Cathy Oneppo, the principal assigned to the role of high school supervisor.
In the meantime, some districts, like Pawtucket, have already developed comprehensive assessments, but, in some cases, they have had a lot of help. Last year, Pawtucket hired Jane LaBranche, one of two high school reform fellows deeply involved in fine-tuning the state Education Department’s new graduation requirements.
Pawtucket was also able to take advantage of the research done by the Rhode Island Skills Commission, a network of schools that share expertise in a variety of school reforms. LaBranche said that the skills commission has created a series of assessments that measure the skills that the end-of-course test is supposed to assess.
The end-of-course exam, she said, is much more than a fill-in-the blank test. Fifty percent of the assessment must measure complex skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving and communication. Students must be able to prove that they understand the unifying themes of a particular course.
Because each district has its own curriculum and its own grade-level expectations, it makes it difficult to import a test developed by another school system, LaBranche said. Pawtucket hired a testing company to develop the multiple-choice section of the end-of-course exam, a costly endeavor.
“It’s a ton of work,” she said. “We only have two high schools. I can’t imagine doing this in a district the size of Providence.”
When the state Board of Regents first unveiled the new diploma system in 2003, the end-of-course exam was the least-developed concept, LaBranche said. The idea has only been fully fleshed out during the last 12 to 18 months.
“This is a monumental task,” she said. “The ideas are so new and districts are going to struggle with it.”
The good news is that Providence has developed several strong models for other pieces of the new high school regulations. Hope High School has created an advisory system — and an Individual Learning Plan for students — that has been receiving national attention and that the district is holding out as a model.
And the Rhode Island Network for Educational Technology has agreed to provide free Web-based software that will allow students to create electronic portfolios of their work. This year, the district will pilot this project with a handful of high school students.
The district faces additional challenges, however. The Department of Education is beefing up the core curriculum that students need to graduate. For example, students must now take four years of math instead of three. Providence, however, doesn’t have enough teachers in its small high schools who are qualified to teach pre-calculus or calculus.
On Monday, Providence and state school officials will spend the day discussing how the Education Department can help the district meet the new diploma requirements in the context of progressive support and intervention, which maps out how the state can provide financial and technical support to struggling school districts.
Firing and hiring of teachers takes center stage at education forum
Posted Thursday, October 18, 2007
By Linda Borg
Journal Staff Writer
Providence City Council member Cliff Wood answers a question from the audience during a public forum on education at the Martin Luther King Elementary School last night. City Council, State Senate and House members took part in the discussion.
The Providence Journal / Kris Craig
PROVIDENCE — The public’s frustration with the way that public school teachers are hired and fired was palpable last night, as parents demanded to know why highly qualified teachers are displaced based on seniority.
A panel of state and local politicians addressed the state of public education in Providence during a two-hour forum sponsored by the East Side Public Education Coalition and the Martin Luther King Elementary School’s Parent-Teacher Organization. The event was held at the school.
The questions ranged from establishing a state funding formula to consolidating school districts, but the topic that generated the most debate involved bumping, a process in which teachers with more seniority displace those with less.
Harlan Rich, one of the leaders of the East Side coalition, described the process as follows: every March, dozens of teachers receive pink slips warning them that they might lose their jobs in the event of a budget shortfall. During the summer, after the School Department determines its budget, teachers are rehired. When the schools are facing deep budget deficits, like they did this spring, bumping based on seniority creates a ripple effect that tears at the fabric of school communities, Rich said.
This summer, some schools lost a third of their staff because of bumping, and principals and teachers alike say that this process makes it difficult, if not impossible, to build on past successes when there is a constant reshuffling of faculty members.
“It’s clear that this is built into state law,” Rich said. “I want to know what the General Assembly is going to do about it.”
House Majority Leader Gordon Fox explained that the so-called bumping law dates back to 1946, when the legislature felt it was important to protect teachers from being fired for arbitrary reasons.
“Bumping is a product of seniority,” Fox said. “But you can’t throw out the baby with the bath water. There has to be a system to replace it.”
That answer didn’t sit well with the audience. Sam Zurier, another member of the East Side coalition, said that Massachusetts fixed this issue in 1993 when the state gave authority over staffing decisions to principals. Why can’t Rhode Island follow their lead?
City Councilman Clifford Wood agreed, adding that Vartan Gregorian Elementary School lost two of its most dedicated teachers this year, teachers who were let go simply for “committing the crime of being in their twenties.”
“I don’t know much about politics,” said Kira Greene, a member of the PTO at Vartan, “but why can’t someone take this one point and bring it to the one person who can fix it? Why can’t someone say, ‘I’ll be responsible.’ That’s what I came here for.”
Fox said that the issue is more complicated than that. Every school contract in Rhode Island has a seniority provision. If the legislature repealed this law, it would negate every teacher contract in 36 school districts — a statement that generated hearty applause.
“If you repealed this statute,” said Sarah Rapport, the school district’s legal counsel, “you would return this prerogative to the local cities and towns. Now, you impair cities and unions from making innovative decisions. The unions are perfectly capable of preventing arbitrary decisions from running rampant.”
The audience clapped enthusiastically.
When a member of the East Side coalition asked Fox if he would be willing to submit legislation to overturn the seniority law, he said, “Absolutely.”
Parents also wanted to know whether the General Assembly would give Providence more local school aid next year. This spring, the legislature refused to approve a 3 percent aid increase proposed by Governor Carcieri, which left the Providence schools with a $6-million deficit and forced the district to increase the class size for special-needs students.
But elected officials held out little hope that the funding situation would improve this year. The state will face a $200-million budget deficit for the next four to five years, Fox said. That leaves the legislature with two options: repeal certain tax cuts or find new revenue sources.
Several officials said they would consider consolidating some of Rhode Island’s 36 school districts. But state Rep. Edith Ajello cautioned against lumping the urban districts into one mega-district. Instead, Rhode Island should look at Raleigh, N.C., which created a single county system that integrated urban and suburban students rather than pit them against each other. State Sen. Rhoda Perry suggested that the state begin this process by consolidating the smaller school districts.
Again, Fox cautioned against doing anything drastic.
“Are you going for cost savings or quality?” he said. “We have to make sure that the cure isn’t worse than the disease. New England has a long history of local control.”
State Rep. David Segal and City Councilman Seth Yurdin also participated on the panel.
Hope parents can learn about ILPs tonight
Posted Tuesday, October 16, 2007
By Linda Borg
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — When parents gather tonight at Hope High School, they will learn about a new program that spells out each student’s academic and career goals for each high school year.
Created nearly two years ago, Hope’s Individual Learning Plan has been so successful that administrators were asked to speak last week at a daylong conference sponsored by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), an organization that accredits high schools and colleges.
Hope representatives joined administrators from North Providence High School and Mt. Hope High School in the Bristol Warren district in making presentations at Bentley College in Waltham. The forum, in which 16 high schools were invited to showcase their work, was also sponsored by the Center for Secondary School Redesign.
“We identified schools that we thought had outstanding programs,” said Janet Allison, deputy director of the Commission on Public Secondary Schools, which is part of NEASC. “We picked Hope because of its advisory program. It’s very personalized and it includes a great deal of information about each student.”
Diane West, a guidance counselor at Hope, brainstormed the concept of the I-Pass, which stands for Individual, Physical, Academic, Social, Success Plan, in conjunction with some of her seniors, who provided invaluable feedback on making the language teenage-friendly.
On one side of the plan, students are asked to identify their academic goals, including the courses they need to graduate. On the flip side, students list their personal and emotional goals, areas that high schools have too often ignored.
Teenagers map out their expectations during weekly advisories that pair a teacher with 15 students. Working together, teacher and student complete an Individual Learning Plan, a guide that is constantly subject to revision as the student matures.
The goals can be as simple as eating a balanced breakfast or as challenging as enrolling in an Advanced Placement math class.
The point is to get students thinking more seriously about their high school career and what lies beyond. The Individual Learning Plan is also an attempt to recognize the whole student, not just the person who takes tests and hands in papers.
“Hope explained not only what they did, but how they did it,” Allison said. “They made it very clear that any school can do something like this. As an urban school, they’ve made the I-PASS work very well.”
Hope isn’t alone. Starting this year, every high school in the state must develop an Individual Learning Plan that includes a student’s personal and academic goals. The plans are part of a much larger effort by the state Department of Education to transform high schools from impersonal, degree-granting factories to institutions that operate on a much more human scale.
Hope High School, which was placed under state intervention four years ago after years of academic failure, has been getting a lot of national recognition lately. The school has been invited to a national secondary school reform conference in February sponsored by The Center for Secondary School Redesign. Hope staff participated in a similar conference in Chicago this spring.
Principal Scott Sutherland and West also discussed the I-PASS at a summer institute sponsored by the College Board in Orlando, Fla.
Response to Perry Vandalism
Posted Friday, October 12, 2007
October 4, 2007
Steven F. Smith
President – PTU
99 Corliss Street
Providence, RI 02904
Dear Mr. Smith:
I wish to inform you that my staff and I have worked closely with Mayor Cicilline, Colonel Dean Esserman, and members of their staff to address and end the vandalism of teachers’ cars at Oliver Hazard Perry Middle School. I have attached for your viewing, an e-mail that reflects action steps that have been taken.
Please let me know if you will need additional information.
Sincerely,
Donnie W. Evans
Superintendent of Providence Public Schools
DWE/crw
E N C L O S U R E>
Perry Middle School
Some of the changes include:
1) The School Resource Officer is parking his car at the entrance of the parking lot to the School ( This officer can also assist you)
2) The day patrol officers in the area are aware of the amount thefts that have taken place and were told by Lieutenant Lepre to pay attention to the activity to and from the lot. Lieutenant Lepre has also gone through the area when he is in the district.
3) The school begin using the camera's at the facility for surveillance on the premises
4) The bushes located behind the school be cut and/or removed for better view to the parking lot
5) The gate around the parking lot be fixed to prevent easy access to the lot from the street
Response to Hope High School Concerns
Posted Friday, October 12, 2007
October 1, 2007
Dr. Donnie W. Evans, Ed.d
Superintendent of Schools
Providence School Department
797 Westminster Street
Providence, RI 02903
Dear Dr. Evans:
Several important matters have been brought to my attention from members of the Hope High School community which requires immediate attention. They are as follows:
1. To date, four classes do not have student text books or appropriate teacher resources.
PSD RESPONSE:
Only two classes remain without books. The other two classroom orders came in. The forensic class is new and books are on order. In the mean time, the class is using Conceptual Physics Books. Hope is short one set of physiology/anatomy books (originally two but they borrowed one set from Mt. Pleasant). They are looking into obtaining another set.
RESPONSE FROM UNION BUILDING DELEGATE:
The forensics class is not using any books at present, the teachers is currently supplying all documents to the students. In addition, the class cannot use conceptual physics if it is a forensics class. (!?) The Anatomy classes never had books ordered. When this was brought to the attention of the administration this year, there was no direct response of where books for this class were coming from. Teachers have heard there are books in the building. The last class without books is an Art class.
2. Common copy machines are in disrepair or breaking down on a daily basis. Teachers are paying office supply stores to print student materials or students are doing without.
PSD RESPONSE:
There are 12 copy machines in the building. There is no issue. If someone comes in at 8:00 and jams a machine, then the service is called to repair it. The majority of copy machines are working on a daily basis.
RESPONSE FROM UNION BUILDING DELEGATE:
According to the administrative assistants in charge of the 12 copiers in the building: There have been 12 service calls on copiers in the building since 9/4/07. On an average, copiers are down 1-2 days; one copier was down for four days. The copier is the leadership planning room has been repaired; however, it jams frequently due to the high volume.
There are three copiers in room 217A (?). According the faculty member in charge of these copiers last year, none were working as of June and in fact, requested that they be replaced, not repaired. In addition, these copiers are not available to the faculty.
3. Several classes and significant areas of the building either do not have speakers or the speakers are inoperable.
PSD RESPONSE:
Workers have come in and have been sent away by teachers. Teachers do not want them there during the school day. The workers get mad and do not return. There are work orders in the system to repair the speakers.
RESPONSE FROM UNION BUILDING DELEGATE:
Quality education does not include noise from repair services which should be performed before or after school in is session. In addition, the teacher involved in this incident (which occurred again just last week) was never informed a repair person was coming and subsequently could not make alternative plans without disrupting class. Even if 24 hours notice were given to a teacher, the library and classes that are already scheduled there will likewise be disrupted.
4. Repair workers are interrupting instruction as directed by their supervisor against teacher complaints.
PSD RESPONSE:
Aramark is in the building during the school day completing work orders that should have been done this summer. A handicap ramp was recently installed. Wayne M. has asked Aramark to do the repairs after school hours. If work is being done and teachers do not want to be around it, they can ask to have their room assignment changed. They can also utilize the library.
RESPONSE FROM UNION BUILDING DELEGATE:
Please refer to the above response.
5. Teacher planning rooms are being used for student advisories. Sensitive student information is stored in these areas.
PSD RESPONSE:
For the past three years these rooms have been used and no one complained. The teachers in charge should be monitoring the rooms and not letting students access any information. Principals are not sure there are any sensitive materials in these rooms.
RESPONSE FROM UNION BUILDING DELEGATE:
Principals of each community may have forgotten that holding advisories in teacher planning rooms where students telephone numbers, addresses, and advisory communication between planning teams has always been a topic of conversation, especially in one community where a guidance counselor expressed this concern at a community meeting. Access to REG has been limited for this same reason of protecting information. Concerns and complaints have been ignored for three years.
6. Several teachers are sharing the cafeteria for advisories.
PSD RESPONSE:
What is wrong with this? There are 4 groups in 4 different corners of the cafeteria.
RESPONSE FROM UNION BUILDING DELEGATE:
Perhaps the administrators should join these advisory classes and share the experience.
7. Several Science classrooms are without appropriate laboratory facilities,lack sufficient electrical outlets and water and gas resources.
PSD RESPONSE:
These rooms were just upgraded. Principals need specifics.
RESPONSE FROM UNION BUILDING DELEGATE:
Please review work orders from last year that clearly outlined the lack of electricity, gas and water supply in rooms 319 and 322 to make these rooms functional science laboratories. In fact, the former district leader of Science was involved in this very problem. Just recently, a fume hood was installed in 319 and 322 classes in response to a NEASC request. (The work was accomplished after school). Still, neither 319 nor 322 are able to perform many laboratories activities because electricity, water and gas, sufficient to provide 24 students with safe and appropriate laboratory sessions are not available to Biology (319 and 322), Forensic and Anatomy and Physiology classes (in 319) that could utilize the fume hoods newly installed. This is likewise true of room 308, which has two laboratory science classes occurring on M and T days. Please note the fume hoods appear to be working well.
8. Physical Education room (formerly Special Education space) has not been renovated.
PSD RESPONSE:
This space was to be used for the old BD room that was transferred to Hanley at West Broadway. No one is currently assigned to this room.
There are additional items which are being addressed; however, the above remain problematic.
Please advise as to your plan to correct the above including a timetable.
Sincerely,
Steven F. Smith
President
SFS/mmf
c: School Board
Membership
Teacher: Phys-ed program failing in Providence
Posted Wednesday, October 10, 2007
By Linda Borg
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — Physical education is getting shortchanged and the city’s children are suffering because of it, according to a physical-education teacher.
Shauna Southern, a physical-education teacher at the Lillian Feinstein Elementary School at Sackett Street, said that elementary school gymnasiums are grossly overcrowded. At one school, four kindergarten classes share the gymnasium, making it difficult for teachers to be heard.
“How can we serve our children with 75 students in the gym?” she told the Providence School Board last night. “It’s impossible.”
Southern said that many schools use physical education as a “dumping ground,” a place to conveniently house students when teachers are on break. She also said that the gyms and cafeterias are inadequate and said that many schools lack the proper equipment.
At the Leviton Annex, where gym is held in the cafeteria, physical education teachers have to maneuver around garbage cans, lunch tables and refrigerators, and teachers have to wait for the floors to be cleaned and dried before class can begin. At Carnevale Elementary School, students are only receiving 90 minutes of physical education a week instead of 100 minutes, which, by the end of the year, adds up to 400 minutes less than the state minimum.
Southern also complained that there is no common planning time at many elementary schools, which makes it impossible for gym teachers to share information with their colleagues.
At Cooley Health, Science and Technology High School, pregnant teenagers are required to participate in physical-education classes, which poses a safety issue, Southern said.
“There is no money to replace equipment,” she said, “and the equipment we have is insufficient.”
Springfield Middle School shares a gym with West Broadway Elementary School:
“We have three middle school teachers on half of the gymnasium,” Southern said. “This is a situation where student success cannot happen. There is too much noise and too much confusion. It’s unsafe.”
At Pleasant View Elementary School, Southern has filed a grievance about the disrepair of the gymnasium and another grievance claiming that special-education students are not getting adequate instruction. She also said that for the past two years, the school hasn’t received any of the supplies that she has ordered.
“We have educators who are willing to go above and beyond the call of duty,” Southern said. “But we’re being pushed off to the side.”
Board grudgingly approves $314-million school budget
Posted Wednesday, October 10, 2007
By Linda Borg
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — The Providence School Board approved a $314.3-million budget last night that even the finance director acknowledged was inadequate to improve student performance.
“This is a sorry state of affairs,” Finance Director Mark Dunham told the board. “We’re on an unsustainable path given our [population] growth.”
The budget’s bottom line was set by the City Council this summer, but the School Board decides how that money is spent, approving line items such as salaries, supplies, equipment and transportation costs.
The final budget figure was a bitter pill for the School Department to swallow. The district had to slash $6.2 million from the mayor’s proposed budget after a perfect storm of bad news hit the city: the legislature refused to approve 3 percent local aid increases to cities and towns and, at the same time, passed a law that limits property tax increases.
The budget crisis led the district to lay off dozens of teachers, most of whom became long-term substitutes, which means they bounce from one class to another. Supt. Donnie Evans also sought a waiver from the state Department of Education allowing the district to increase the size of special-education classes, which wound up in court. The Providence Teachers Union sued the district, claiming that students and teachers’ rights are being violated, but the court sent the dispute to the Rhode Island Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education, which is expected to hold a hearing.
Meanwhile, the deep cuts have left teachers dispirited during a year in which a new contract is being negotiated and the budget has created friction between the union and the administration.
Last night, Dunham described how state aid to education has dwindled over the past six years, with the state’s share slipping from 63.5 percent of the city’s school budget to 60.3 percent. He also said that the skyrocketing cost of teacher pensions threatens to absorb any future budget increases, adding that pension fund contributions increased by 13 percent or $2.8 million in one year.
Because of reductions in staff, salaries only make up 51.8 percent of the school budget compared to nearly 80 percent a few years ago, Dunham said.
At least one School Board member, Ronnie Young, wondered whether he could approve a budget that was so harmful to students and teachers alike.
“What if I don’t vote for this?” he said. “What happens then?”
Dunham said that the School Board has little choice but to approve the budget because the City Council has already established the bottom line and is highly unlikely to change its mind at this late stage.
“I’m voting no because this is ridiculous,” Young said. “I can’t approve a budget that’s not working.”
But in the end, Young joined the rest of the board in passing the budget.
Mediator hired for teacher contract talks
Posted Tuesday, October 9, 2007
By Linda Borg
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — The Providence Teachers Union and the School Department have hired a mediator from the University of Rhode Island to help facilitate contact negotiations.
Both parties met with the mediator, Matthew Bodah, two weeks ago, largely to bring him up to date on negotiations so far. Mary McClure, president of the Providence School Board, and Steven Smith, president of the union, said that bringing in a mediator does not mean that talks have reached an impasse.
“Our relationship with the district is professional and cordial,” Smith said yesterday. “Both sides want to get this done. At this point, we felt having a neutral third party would be helpful. We realize that we have difficult issues, money being one of them.”
Negotiations resumed in late August after a summer-long hiatus. Talks were suspended late last spring while the district and the School Board wrestled with a $6-million budget shortfall resulting from a decision by the General Assembly not to award a 3 percent increase in education aid to local communities.
Contract talks resumed after the state commissioner of education, Peter McWalters, ruled that Providence could increase class sizes for special-education students, which closed a $3.4-million budget gap. The union sued McWalters in Superior Court last month and a judge ruled last week that the matter should be heard by the Rhode Island Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education, which sets state education policy. No hearing date has been set.
Meanwhile, the school system had a rocky opening this fall when Hope High School found itself with too many students and too few teachers, and at least 50 high school students had no school at all for the first couple of weeks.
McClure said the district was once again using a strategy called interest-based bargaining, a less-adversarial approach that identifies common goals rather than starting from extreme positions that both sides recognize are completely unrealistic. Neither side, however, would hint at the key issues under consideration, although money or the lack thereof, is certainly high on everyone’s list.
Yesterday, Smith hammered away at the same outstanding challenges: a large urban school district that is struggling to do more with less. He said districts were being squeezed by the cap on property taxes on one hand and the legislature’s refusal to come up with an adequate financing formula on the other.
“These things are putting pressure on both parties,” he said. “It caused the kind of calamity we witnessed this week in Superior Court. It’s a shame that we’re in this position.”
“Resources are an issue,” McClure said. “From my point of view, people are working very hard on important issues. I feel that we are all acting in good faith and trying to do the right thing.”
A negotiating session is scheduled for Thursday and two more sessions are planned for the following two weeks.
Special Education Class Size Complaint
Posted Thursday, October 4, 2007
TO: Building Delegates
FROM: Steven F. Smith
DATE: October 3, 2007
The enclosed article accurately describes the status of our Special Education Class-Size Complaint.
Although the matter was redirected to the Rhode Island Board of Regents, Judge Rubine indicated strong support for our argument.
I will keep you informed as we proceed further with our complaint.
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to call me at the Union office.
***ENCLOSURE****
Special-ed class-size question goes to regents
By Linda Borg
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — The Providence Teachers Union will have to make its case against an increase in the size of special-education classes before the Rhode Island Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education.
Superior Court Judge Allen P. Rubine yesterday denied the union’s request for a preliminary injunction, which would have restored the original class size until the matter was resolved in court. Instead, Rubine ordered the union to make its arguments before the Board of Regents, which oversees the Rhode Island Department of Education.
Rubine, however, did not answer the central question raised by the union: Does state Education Commissioner Peter McWalters have the legal authority to alter the state’s special-education laws?
The teachers’ union and the parents of two special-education students sued McWalters and Supt. Donnie Evans after the commissioner permitted the School Department to raise class size for mild to moderate special-education students from 10 to 12. The union argued that the School Department sought the waiver because it faced a $3.4-million budget shortfall, not because the change in class size would be beneficial to students.
The union claims that the commissioner does not have the statutory power to change special-education laws, because they are specifically protected from such interference by the Caruolo Act, a state law that allows a school board to challenge a municipality’s education appropriation in court.
According to Rubine, McWalters denied a similar class-size request from the Town of Johnston in 2005. At that hearing, a lawyer for the commissioner testified that he lacked the authority to modify special-education regulations.
Yesterday, Rubine said that he was inclined to agree that the commissioner’s hands are tied when it comes to special-education laws. According to Rubine, the real question is whether the commissioner has the authority to tinker with class size under a state law called progressive support and intervention, which, according to lawyers for the state Education Department, gives McWalters broad authority to take control over school programs, personnel and budgets.
Because Providence is one of six low-performing “intervention” districts, the commissioner’s office says that the district is subject to progressive levels of state control. Rubine, however, expressed concern that the commissioner has “unbridled jurisdiction” to assert his authority over low-performing districts.
“The safety valve,” the judge said, “appears to be the Board of Regents.”
The regents have already agreed to allow the union to argue its case before them, and they even set aside time for a hearing this afternoon. On Friday, however, the union’s lawyer, Marc Gurksy, told the court that he would be out of the country at the beginning of the week and would be unable to attend a hearing today.
“The Board of Regents will have to determine if the waiver is tied to the district’s academic goals or whether [the district] was motivated by a funding inadequacy,” Rubine said. “If the regents believe that the commissioner’s actions are not related to improving student performance, then we would expect them to reject the variance.”
In denying the union’s request for a preliminary injunction, Rubine said that the union had failed to demonstrate that students are being harmed under the increased class size.
Finally, he ordered the commissioner’s office to proceed with a hearing as soon as possible.
After the hearing, Deputy Education Commissioner David Abbott said that he was pleased that the judge appeared to agree that the commissioner has the authority to act under progressive, support and intervention.
“We’re grateful,” Abbott said, “that the judge [has found] that educational policy decisions fall within the gamut of the state Department of Education and the Board of Regents.”
But Steven Smith, president of the teachers’ union, refused to concede defeat, noting that the regents will decide whether McWalters was motivated by monetary considerations when he granted the class-size waiver.
“I’m in court advocating for special-education children, and the commissioner is saying that he is providing progressive support by increasing the number of kids in the classroom,” Smith said.
“This is a defeat for the commissioner [because] he has to make this argument.”
Rotating Schedules/Middle Schools
Posted Thursday, October 4, 2007
TO: All Building Delegates
FROM: Steven F. Smith
DATE: October 1, 2007
I have expressed my concerns, on many occasions, about the unilateral elimination of the rotating schedules at all our middle schools by Superintendent Evans. In addition, the Providence Teachers Union has filed and processed one school level grievance and a union grievance on behalf of all middle schools in regards to this matter.
On September 24, 2007, Superintendent Evans sent a memo to all principals (copy attached) allowing the middle school principals to submit a proposal for a rotating schedule at their earliest convenience but no later than November 9, 2007.
It is the position of the Providence Teachers Union that the rotating schedule is a matter for the School Improvement Team to discuss and that any proposal comes from the School Improvement Team.
I would like to thank the teachers who expressed their concerns and contacted the Union with their input on this issue.
Should you have any questions or concerns relative to this matter, please do not hesitate to contact the Union office.
***Enclosure***
PROVIDENCE SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
Memorandum
To: Sharon Contreras, Denise Carpenter
From: Donnie Evans
cc: Mayor Cicilline
Middle School Principals
PSD School Board
Date: 9/24/2007
Re: Rotating Schedules
Expressions of concern have come to my attention regarding the elimination of rotating schedules and common planning time in middle schools. These concerns range from the lack of teachers, parent and principal involvement in decision-making as well as the absence of communicating this decision with parents. While many seem to relate these two decisions, common planning time and rotating schedules evolved for very different reasons.
First, early release from school for common planning time evolved over the years as a means by which some schools provided common time for teacher teams to get together and plan for instruction. Students were regularly released early from school so teachers could meet and plan without the presence of students. Although common planning time is an effective teaching practice, early release from school to accomplish this task it is not.
In regular meetings with school resource officers and other members of Police Chief Esserrman’s staff, I repeatedly heard that incidence rates among children of middle school age increased significantly between 1:00 and 3:30 P.M. on early release days. They attributed this increase solely to early release. In addition, research clearly demonstrates an increase in pregnancy rates among teenage girls during the hours immediately following dismissal from school due to the absence of supervision at home or in the community. For this reason, during the winter of 2006-07, I made the decision to discontinue early release to become effective the beginning of the 2007-08 school year. This decision was communicated to middle school principals and the Providence Teacher’s Union. I also encouraged principals to seek ways to provide common planning time during the school day. On this issue my decision remains unchanged.
It is my understanding that rotating schedules evolved years ago from schools exploring ways of accommodating students who frequently arrived to school after the school day had begun. The intent was to reduce the impact of the tardiness on any one class. More recently, the impact of rotating schedules on student learning styles has been noted. Since the readiness level for some students (and adults) is greater at certain times of day, rotating schedules expand the opportunity for student learning to be maximized among all students.
With the designation of our middle schools as being in corrective action or restructuring, both No Child Left Behind and Rhode Island’s Progressive Support and Intervention requires that these schools institute interventions to significantly increase their performance. This includes academic interventions such as new reading and math programs. As a result of introducing new academic programming to our middle schools that required double periods of reading or math instruction, the rotating schedule surfaced as an obstacle. As a result, last spring, I authorized discontinuing the use of this approach to enable implementation of the new programs.
I have been advised that at least one school has recently devised a rotating schedule that allows for double periods of instruction. To this end, my decision on this matter is to invite the principal of any middle school to submit a proposal for a rotating schedule they wish to implement at their earliest convenience. I will review the schedule together, and will determine jointly whether to support it. Interested schools should submit their proposals by the end of the first quarter, Friday, November 9, 2007.
Please call (401-456-9211) or email (donnie.evans@ppsd.org) me if you have questions.
New approach at Hope looks to break down cultural barriers
Posted Thursday, October 4, 2007
By Linda Borg
Journal Staff Writer
Judah Lakin is one of two Hope High School teachers working to find fresh ways to comunicate with families who don’t speak English. Some of the changes they’ve made seem obvious, like putting up welcome signs at the entrance to the school in English and Spanish.
The Providence Journal / Andrew Dickerman
PROVIDENCE — Two Hope High School teachers spent five weeks traveling through the Dominican Republic this summer, meeting the families of their students and asking them what the school could do to make parents feel more welcome.
Some of the answers were surprising in their simplicity. In the Dominican Republic, students walk to school, often accompanied by their parents, and families routinely chat with teachers and staff.
But when they move to the United States, the families no longer live near school. They hold two or three jobs. They don’t speak English or don’t speak it fluently.
Meanwhile, the teachers arrive in class with their own expectations. They think that they can send a letter home and the family will respond. But the family doesn’t understand what the letter says or who it’s from.
“The family may or may not be illegal,” said Judah Lakin, who teaches social studies to English language learners. “They are afraid or maybe they are confused. They think, ‘I don’t know anyone here and I don’t look like anyone here.’ ”
That’s why Lakin and Erin Leininger, who teaches English as a Second Language, brainstormed something called “Juntos,” which means together in Spanish. The notion is that high schools have to find fresh ways of communicating with families who don’t speak English and for whom the American public school system presents a daunting challenge.
The idea emerged last spring, during a conversation Lakin had with one of Hope’s principals, Arthur Petrosinelli.
“I was telling Dr. P that we should have Spanish translation at graduation,” Lakin said yesterday. “That turned into a larger discussion about how we can better serve our non-English speaking parents.”
Approximately 8 percent of Hope students are classified as English language learners and at least 15 languages are spoken in the building.
Some of the changes that the two teachers have made seem obvious, like putting up welcome signs at the entrance to the school in English and Spanish. Others are not. Teachers are creating a database that catalogs what languages are spoken by every adult in the school, so translation can be provided at a moment’s notice. Teachers have been asked to post whatever languages they speak on their classroom doors.
But Juntos wants to go much deeper than that. The two teachers want to start a before-and afterschool tutorial for students who are learning English; offer English language instruction to families (Rhode Island College sponsored ESL classes last year); and educate teachers on some of the nuances of Latino culture.
Thanks to a new partnership with Brown University, bilingual college students are already assisting teachers in the classroom.
Perhaps the biggest push, however, is to encourage more parents to attend Hope’s open house events, which are seen as a first step toward more meaningful parent engagement. Juntos has already been gearing up for a “Together Night,” on Oct. 16 from 5 to 7 p.m., complete with food and dance from a variety of countries. Childcare and translators will be available.
Besides translating the invitations into Spanish, each teacher has been urged to contact twice by phone every family in his or her advisory — a small-group setting designed to foster closer relationships between teachers and students
Teachers have also been asked to make contact with the family in person because leaving a message often doesn’t get to the right person.
“Families have been sending RSVPs saying that they’re bringing seven to ten people,” Lakin said. “One teacher told me that it made her weekend when she reached one of the families in person.”
Meanwhile, students in the school’s Junior ROTC program have volunteered to translate on parent-teacher nights, and Lakin and Leininger want to train student translators by setting up an internship program. And, during a recent staff meeting, some 75 percent of Hope’s teachers expressed an interest in taking Spanish lessons. The school is also looking for people who can speak Portuguese, Creole, Chinese and Khmer.
Hope is also translating into Spanish its student handbook and the state’s new graduation requirements.
This summer, during their trip to the Dominican Republic, Lakin and Leininger met with about 10 families, sharing a meal and sometimes staying the night. At first, families seemed shocked. What were two American high school teachers doing in a small village in the Dominican Republic?
Once the Americans arrived, however, the families were very gracious, preparing a special meal, inviting some of their neighbors and calling their children in the United States to say, “Guess who’s here?” Many families have children living with relatives in the United States.
At every home, the teachers asked, “What is your experience with the schools here?”
What they heard surprised them.
In the Dominican Republic, public schools are part of the fabric of the community and the connection between teacher and child is strong. Missing is the huge bureaucracy that so often characterizes urban education in America.
The challenge, Lakin says, is getting Hope’s teachers, many of whom have never experienced the sensation of being a stranger in strange land, to change the way they reach out to Spanish-speaking families.
“I’ve lived in Ecuador and Peru,” he said. “I know what it’s like to feel lost and not be able to ask for directions. But the majority of our teachers are unaware of the issues facing these communities.”
Even the smallest obstacle, like the fact that there is no Spanish speaker in the front office, can turn off newcomers to this country.
Far from being uninterested in their children’s education, Dominican parents are desperately struggling to make contact with the schools, the two teachers said. The challenge is how to make them feel welcome.
As Lakin put it, “It’s the personal contact.”
W. Broadway students, teachers warming up to new quarters
Posted Wednesday, October 3, 2007
By Linda Borg
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — They expected the worst but their fears turned out to be unfounded.
The transition from their beloved West Broadway Elementary School, which parents and neighbors lobbied ferociously to keep open, to the Del Sesto complex off Hartford Avenue, has gone much more smoothly than anyone could have anticipated.
“I’m very pleased,” said Osiris Harrell, one of the most outspoken opponents of the school closing. “Morale is at an all-time high. My kids are very happy there.”
No one — not the parents, the teachers, even the principal — could have predicted such a happy ending in June, when West Broadway, an elegant 19th-century Federal Hill landmark, closed its doors for the last time.
When Supt. Donnie Evans announced that he was shutting the school because of fire code violations, parents and teachers were outraged. They stormed one public hearing after another and even took the school district to court, filing an appeal with Peter McWalters, state commissioner of elementary and secondary education.
Although their efforts to keep West Broadway open failed, the community did persuade Evans to move the entire faculty to the school’s new location, in the Del Sesto complex in the Hartford neighborhood. The elementary school now shares a building with students from Springfield Middle School. Carnevale Elementary School occupies an adjacent building.
The new West Broadway could not be more different from the old. Del Sesto is one of the city’s newer school facilities, all pink granite and windows, with wide corridors and ample sunlight. West Broadway, for all its old-world charm, felt dark and cramped, a throwback to the city’s industrial age.
Principal Frank Piccirilli, for one, misses his spacious former office, with its elaborate woodwork and high ceilings. But that’s about all he misses. The Del Sesto building is air-conditioned and students have a field, not a parking lot, to run around on during recess.
“It’s been nice,” Piccirilli said. “Parents and teachers are really excited about the brand-new building.”
One of the biggest fears was mixing younger children with much larger middle-school students. But that has not been a problem. Both parents and teachers say that the older students have risen to the occasion and treated the younger students with kindness and respect.
“I think it’s given the older kids a sense of responsibility,” Piccirilli said. “And the little kids are excited to be around the older students. They look at the older students with awe.”
Piccirilli hopes to start a “reading buddies” program next month, which would pair middle school students with elementary ones.
At the beginning of the new school year, a dozen parents said they wanted to move their children to another school. So far, not one student has transferred, Piccirilli said. Still, 125 parents — representing more than a quarter of the former total enrollment — chose to send their children to other schools after the decision to shutter West Broadway was made last spring.
At the new school, middle-school students start the day 30 minutes before the younger students, which helps keep the populations separate. Middle-school students do, however, share the first floor with kindergartners through second graders, and the second floor with grades 3, 4 and 5.
There is even some talk about sharing professional development between the two faculties, Piccirilli said.
“We’d like to see sixth grade added,” he said. “That’s the missing link.”
Meanwhile, the West Broadway Elementary School Task Force recently met for the first time. Created by Evans in the wake of the West Broadway closing, the task force, composed of parents, teachers and administrators, is looking at whether the school should be reopened at a new site and what kind of school it should be.
“I’m happy because the school community is the same,” said John Zayas, a parent and task force member. “The teachers here treat their students so well; that’s why I decided to stay.”
Zayas said the hurt and anger sparked by the school closing has dissipated, and the teachers now seemed to be energized by the prospect of a fresh start.
One day recently, classrooms were decorated with colorful alphabet letters and pictures. Children were reading out loud in one classroom; in another, the teacher was leading a group discussion.
Maria Nadeau, a veteran teacher, spent the summer decorating her new classroom. She even bought material to make curtains to warm up the plain room.
“Everybody is upbeat,” she said. “The kids are thrilled that we’re all together.”
In Nadeau’s class, the children seemed to have settled into their new environment nicely.
“I like it here because it’s new,” one child said.
“I like it because it’s fun,” said another.
And one little boy said he liked school because he likes to read books.
Vandalism Outbreak - Perry Middle School
Posted Tuesday, October 2, 2007
September 27, 2007
Dr. Donnie W. Evans, Ed.d
Superintendent
Providence School Department
797 Westminster Street
Providence, RI 02903
Dear Dr. Evans:
There has been a recent outbreak of vandalism of teachers’ automobiles at the Oliver Hazard Perry parking area.
Since late August, four (4) cars have been damaged or stolen. Windows have been smashed to gain entry and valuable automobile equipment has been stolen. Police reports have been filed in each instance.
According to Perry personnel, the surveillance camera installed to monitor the parking lot is inadequate since only a portion of the parking lot is viewed.
Please direct appropriate personnel to correct this inadequacy immediately.
Teachers need to know that they can come to work on a daily basis, park their automobiles in a designated parking area (on school grounds) and not worry about theft and vandalism.
Sincerely,
Steven F. Smith
President
SFS/mmf
c:School Board
Membership
Hope HS Concerns/Issues
Posted Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Dr. Donnie W. Evans, Ed.d
Superintendent of Schools
Providence School Department
797 Westminster Street
Providence, RI 02903
Dear Dr. Evans:
Several important matters have been brought to my attention from members of the Hope High School community which requires immediate attention. They are as follows:
1.To date, four classes do not have student text books or appropriate teacher resources.
2.Common copy machines are in disrepair or breaking down on a daily basis. Teachers are paying office supply stores to print student materials or students are doing without.
3.Several classes and significant areas of the building either do not have speakers or the speakers are inoperable.
4.Repair workers are interrupting instruction as directed by their supervisor against teacher complaints.
5.Teacher planning rooms are being used for student advisories. Sensitive student information is stored in these areas.
6.Several teachers are sharing the cafeteria for advisories.
7.Several Science classrooms are without appropriate laboratory facilities,lack sufficient electrical outlets and water and gas resources.
8.Physical Education room (formerly Special Education space) has not been renovated.
There are additional items which are being addressed; however, the above remain problematic.
Please advise as to your plan to correct the above including a timetable.
Sincerely,
Steven F. Smith
President
SFS/mmf
c:School Board
Membership
Special-ed class-size question goes to regents
Posted Tuesday, October 2, 2007
By Linda Borg
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — The Providence Teachers Union will have to make its case against an increase in the size of special-education classes before the Rhode Island Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education.
Superior Court Judge Allen P. Rubine yesterday denied the union’s request for a preliminary injunction, which would have restored the original class size until the matter was resolved in court. Instead, Rubine ordered the union to make its arguments before the Board of Regents, which oversees the Rhode Island Department of Education.
Rubine, however, did not answer the central question raised by the union: Does state Education Commissioner Peter McWalters have the legal authority to alter the state’s special-education laws?
The teachers’ union and the parents of two special-education students sued McWalters and Supt. Donnie Evans after the commissioner permitted the School Department to raise class size for mild to moderate special-education students from 10 to 12. The union argued that the School Department sought the waiver because it faced a $3.4-million budget shortfall, not because the change in class size would be beneficial to students.
The union claims that the commissioner does not have the statutory power to change special-education laws, because they are specifically protected from such interference by the Caruolo Act, a state law that allows a school board to challenge a municipality’s education appropriation in court.
According to Rubine, McWalters denied a similar class-size request from the Town of Johnston in 2005. At that hearing, a lawyer for the commissioner testified that he lacked the authority to modify special-education regulations.
Yesterday, Rubine said that he was inclined to agree that the commissioner’s hands are tied when it comes to special-education laws. According to Rubine, the real question is whether the commissioner has the authority to tinker with class size under a state law called progressive support and intervention, which, according to lawyers for the state Education Department, gives McWalters broad authority to take control over school programs, personnel and budgets.
Because Providence is one of six low-performing “intervention” districts, the commissioner’s office says that the district is subject to progressive levels of state control. Rubine, however, expressed concern that the commissioner has “unbridled jurisdiction” to assert his authority over low-performing districts.
“The safety valve,” the judge said, “appears to be the Board of Regents.”
The regents have already agreed to allow the union to argue its case before them, and they even set aside time for a hearing this afternoon. On Friday, however, the union’s lawyer, Marc Gurksy, told the court that he would be out of the country at the beginning of the week and would be unable to attend a hearing today.
“The Board of Regents will have to determine if the waiver is tied to the district’s academic goals or whether [the district] was motivated by a funding inadequacy,” Rubine said. “If the regents believe that the commissioner’s actions are not related to improving student performance, then we would expect them to reject the variance.”
In denying the union’s request for a preliminary injunction, Rubine said that the union had failed to demonstrate that students are being harmed under the increased class size.
Finally, he ordered the commissioner’s office to proceed with a hearing as soon as possible.
After the hearing, Deputy Education Commissioner David Abbott said that he was pleased that the judge appeared to agree that the commissioner has the authority to act under progressive, support and intervention.
“We’re grateful,” Abbott said, “that the judge [has found] that educational policy decisions fall within the gamut of the state Department of Education and the Board of Regents.”
But Steven Smith, president of the teachers’ union, refused to concede defeat, noting that the regents will decide whether McWalters was motivated by monetary considerations when he granted the class-size waiver.
“I’m in court advocating for special-education children, and the commissioner is saying that he is providing progressive support by increasing the number of kids in the classroom,” Smith said.
“This is a defeat for the commissioner [because] he has to make this argument.”
Issues/Concerns
Posted Monday, October 1, 2007
TO: All Building Delegates
FROM: Steven F. Smith
DATE: September 28, 2007
As a follow-up to my memo date September 4, 2007, it is imperative that I know about any action or lack of action taken at your site regarding changes in teaching programs, inappropriate administrative action, reassignments, lack of supplies, materials, physical plant issues, etc. to bring it to the attention of the Superintendent for remedy.
Please continue to report all class size overages to Maribeth Calabro in a timely manner.
Please contact your field representatives, Ed Neil, Eneil@proteun.org or Phil DeCecco, Pdececco@proteun.org of said information on a regular basis.
As always, thank you for your continued support.
c:Membership
Court reviews ruling by commissioner on special-ed class size
Posted Monday, October 1, 2007
By Linda Borg
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — Does state Education Commissioner Peter McWalters have the statutory authority to change special-education laws governing class size?
That is the question before Superior Court Judge Allen P. Rubine, who has been asked to rule on whether McWalters exceeded his authority in granting the Providence school district permission to increase the class size for special-education students from 10 to 12 students.
The court challenge is going forward at the same time that McWalters is trying to lift restrictions on special-education class sizes statewide. On Thursday, the Rhode Island Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education gave the commissioner approval to hold public hearings on the proposed changes in class-size regulations. Depending on the public response, the regents can approve the changes or modify them.
Elliot Krieger, a spokesman for the state Department of Education, said yesterday that it is unlikely that the Providence case will set a precedent for the rest of the state because the lawsuit involves the commissioner’s authority while the proposed changes to the special education regulations involve the regents.
Yesterday’s hearing was the result of a lawsuit filed earlier this month by the Providence Teachers Union, which claims that the commissioner’s decision last month to increase special-education class sizes would harm students and deprive teachers of employment benefit opportunities.
The union is seeking an immediate return to the 10-student class size while the case works its way through the court system. On Sept. 8, Rubine decided not to order the district to reinstitute the original class size, saying that he wanted to review written arguments first.
Much of yesterday’s hearing revolved around whether McWalters, under a statute called progressive support and intervention, has the power to change special-education laws.
Under progressive support and intervention, the state education commissioner has the ability to intervene in chronically low-performing schools and school districts. Six districts, including Providence, are classified as intervention districts.
Deputy Education Commissioner David Abbott argued that progressive support and intervention gives the commissioner broad latitude to “take control over programs, personnel and budgets” in local school districts. This authority is in addition to the power conferred on state departments of education by the federal No Child Left Behind law.
“This is sort of like the wild west,” Rubine said. “What you are suggesting is a broad granting of unconstrained authority. What constraints are placed on the commissioner?”
“We can close schools, fire personnel and remove leadership,” Abbott said. “The commissioner has quite a bit of authority.”
But the union’s lawyer, Marc Gursky, asked, “Where does the commissioner’s authority end? It doesn’t. I don’t think the commissioner is motivated by ill will. He’s taking on powers that he doesn’t have.”
Gursky argued that the School Department doesn’t have the right to ask the commissioner to repeal a state regulation simply because the district doesn’t have enough money. School Supt. Donnie Evans sought the class size waiver to close a $3.2-million shortfall in his budget. The change allowed the district to move 22 teachers into other areas.
Rubine brought up a similar case involving the town of Johnston. In 2005, the Johnston School Department filed a lawsuit against the town seeking an additional $2.7 million to pay for the public schools. Earlier, the Johnston School Committee had asked McWalters to increase class size for special-education students from 10 to 12, but McWalters denied the board’s request.
During the Johnston hearing, Jennifer Wood, who was then the commissioner’s chief legal counsel, testified that the commissioner did not have the authority to change special-education regulations.
“When the town said it wanted to increase the size of special-education classes, I assume there was a monetary consequence,” the judge said. “And Jennifer Wood said, ‘You can’t go there.’ It was forbidden territory.”
Rubine asked Abbott what he would say if the same issue came before him today.
“My response,” Abbott said, “would be more nuanced.”
The Department of Education also argued yesterday that the union had not exhausted its administrative remedies, adding that the union should have appealed to the board of regents before bringing its case to court.
Meanwhile, Sara Rapport, the lawyer for the Providence School Board, said that any changes to class size would be extremely disruptive four weeks into the school year.
“We are not in a position to reconfigure classes,” she said. “We have teachers in place and students in place. And [state] testing begins the first week of October. This is the most delicate time to change anything.”
The lawyers for the education department said the regents would be more than willing to hear the Providence case, adding that the regents set aside time for such a meeting on Tuesday. When Gursky said he would be out of the country for three days next week, Abbott said that the department would be able to schedule a hearing at the plaintiff’s convenience.
Rubine concluded yesterday’s hearing by saying that he would issue a decision Monday afternoon. The judge could rule on any number of issues: he could continue to hear evidence, grant the union’s request for a preliminary injunction, deny the union’s appeal or order the union to make its case before the regents.
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