On Tuesday, 60 community members gathered for a student-organized forum of candidates for Providence’s school board to answer questions on their campaigns. Students said the purpose of the forum was to remedy a lack of outreach from candidates.
The candidates “haven’t made themselves public to youth,” said Lia Tavarez, an organizer with the Providence Student Union and a 16-year-old Providence charter school student.
“I came to the event having no idea who the candidates were,” Michael Pujols, a 17-year-old PSU organizer and student in the Providence Public School District, told The Herald. Although most students are too young to vote in this year’s election, Pujols said it’s important for the candidates to listen to student perspectives. “They are working for us,” he said.
This school board election is the first in Providence since the 1960s, The Herald previously reported. The city has been divided into five regions, each of which will elect one member of the school board. An additional five members will be appointed by Mayor Brett Smiley.
Central issues in the upcoming election include support for multilingual learners and students on individualized education plans, community engagement and budget management, students said. Between the forum and interviews, The Herald compiled the perspectives of 14 candidates running for the school board.
Support for multilingual learners and students on individualized education plans
As of the 2022-23 school year, 36.3% of PPSD students were classified as multilingual learners and 15.8% were classified as students with disabilities. Nationwide, Rhode Island was the state with the highest percentage growth of multilingual students between 2010 and 2020.
Pujols was an English learner when he immigrated to the United States. He attended 360 High School, which closed at the end of last year, partially due to low SAT scores. But nearly half of 360 students were classified as MLLs and only offered the SAT in English. “You can’t expect someone who doesn’t even know the question to answer it well,” he said.
Night Jean Muhingabo, a current board member and candidate in Region 4, expressed support for expanding bilingual education in the PPSD. Michael Nina, a current board member also running in Region 4, shared that vision, noting that he went through an ESL program when he was a PPSD student in the 1990s. Nina also said he would emphasize diversity at “every level” from staffing to the board to reflect the diverse culture of Providence.
Jenny Mercado, a candidate in Region 3, immigrated to the United States at 15 and learned English as she was navigating the school system. She said she would advocate for MLL classes in all of the PPSD’s schools and for professional development for MLL teachers. Mercado said she wants to be “the voice of all the people that are out there that, because of the language barrier, because of a lack of time, they cannot attend” school board meetings.
The Department of Justice opened investigations into the PPSD earlier this year for allegedly violating a settlement agreement that was implemented after the DOJ identified that the district was failing to meet the needs of MLL students. Ty’Relle Stephens, a candidate in Region 5, emphasized the need for developing district-wide policies to ensure that schools abide by the settlement agreement.
Heidi Silverio, a candidate in Region 3, said that supporting MLLs and students on Individual Education Plans was a key motivation for running. She said that teachers are under-resourced when it comes to supporting those students and that she’d work to better allocate resources to give teachers “the proper tools to teach kids.”
Armando Ramos, a PPSD student and 15-year-old organizer with PSU, shared that he has an IEP, but that “negligent” teachers and staff have repeatedly failed to meet the accommodations outlined in his IEP.
DeNeil Jones, a candidate in Region 5, said that she wants to implement more “personalized learning approaches” for all students, which would help ensure that every student receives “the tools they need to succeed.”
Budget management
Improved financial management was also a major concern for forum attendees, who questioned how the panel would handle underfunding from the city, a lack of fiscal transparency and teacher layoffs.
“I’ve seen the district mismanage money,” said Muhingabo (Region 4). He said that he’s advocating for the mayor to “pay his fair share,” but also recognizes the need for better management of the money the district currently spends.
The PPSD started the year with a $10 million budget shortage. Since then, the superintendent and mayor have publicly disagreed over whether the city should provide additional funding to the schools. Mayor Brett Smiley agreed to provide more money to the PPSD if the district conducts an independent audit of its finances and if the state increases its funding of the district.
But Silverio (Region 3) noted that while the city can increase the district’s funding, “if we aren’t allocating it properly, the increase doesn’t help,” she said.
Nina (Region 4) said the PPSD does not disclose sufficient information about spending and emphasized the need for an external, independent audit of district finances. He also proposed participatory budgeting to better engage the community in PPSD spending decisions. Corey Jones, a candidate in Region 1, said his student-focused governance model would allow for local school councils made up of community stakeholders to manage a sliver of the budget.
Corey Jones also said he would save the PPSD money by developing collaborations with other state agencies. For example, he said the district could embed Department of Health programs into the schools to cut costs on physical and mental health initiatives.
Dave Talan, a candidate in Region 4, suggested that his plan to switch Providence’s elementary schools to a neighborhood school model — where students have priority enrollment at the school closest to their home — could help cut down on costs by eliminating the need for bussing for many students.
Region 2 candidates touched on cost-cutting, with current board member Toni Akin saying she will not support budget cuts “unless it comes from the top-heavy administrative costs.” Christopher Ireland, one of Akin’s opponents in Region 2, said that he was concerned about the recent layoffs of social workers at PPSD.
Michelle Fontes, who is also running in Region 2, said she would implement strategies to support students when teachers get laid off or leave the district while working to prevent layoffs by ensuring the budget is properly balanced.
Community engagement
“We really want PPSD leaders to be in conversation with students,” said Preetilata Hashemi, an organizer with OurSchoolsPVD, an alliance of education advocacy organizations in Providence. Pujols expressed frustration with the district’s lack of transparency and community engagement around the closure of 360 High School.
“They just suddenly closed it without any warnings,” said Ramos, who also attended 360.
Nina (Region 4) said at the forum that he would engage with the community by “going where people already are gathering” to discuss their needs. “There’s events that are happening in the community that we should be already attending.”
Tavarez wrote in an email after the meeting that she liked Region 2 candidate Kobi Dennis’ idea of hosting events where the board asked questions of students to gather their input. Dennis also said that he would try and develop a committee entirely composed of young people that mirrors the school board.
Several candidates had ideas for student and parent advisory boards. DeNeil Jones (Region 5) said she would develop student advisory councils at each school that could report to the school board. Corey Jones (Region 1) emphasized his model of local school councils comprising students, parents, teachers and other stakeholders as a means to support community engagement.
Herman Brewster, a candidate in Region 1, emphasized the need for more frequent meetings between the city, school board and community stakeholders, saying that when months pass between meetings, “there’s no continuity.”
Andrew Grover, a candidate in Region 2, emphasized the importance of teachers’ concerns. He said that as a former teacher, he would try to represent teachers’ interests and perspectives on the board.
But even after hearing these ideas, Tavarez expressed concerns about the candidates’ willingness to be frank when addressing key issues at the forum.
She wrote that she felt a “majority of the candidates avoided the questions; most of them would respond to the question but dodge the main point.”
That “didn’t sit right” with her, she said.
Ciara Meyer is a Senior Staff Writer covering the Beyond Brown beat. She is from Saratoga Springs, New York and plans on concentrating in Statistics and English nonfiction. In her free time, she loves scrapbooking and building lego flowers.
