Providence voters will elect a School Board for the first time in decades

On Election Day, Providence voters will make history by voting for the school board for the first time since the 1960s. 

Up until 2022, the mayor appointed all board members. But two years ago, the city was divided into five regions, each of which will elect one member to the school board this November. Another five members will be appointed by the mayor. Though the election is nonpartisan, some candidates have openly shared their party affiliations.

Despite the historical significance of the election, the newly elected school board’s power will be severely limited due to the ongoing takeover of the Providence Public School District by the Rhode Island Department of Education. 

Under the takeover, the school board operates primarily in an advisory capacity. RIDE’s Commissioner of Education and the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education have the final say on most decisions. 

The Herald contacted all 17 candidates for school board listed on the City’s website, with the exception of one candidate for whom no contact information could be found. Ten agreed to be interviewed. 

Herman Batchelor Brewster MA ’92 is running for the seat in Region 1, which includes College Hill. Though Brewster acknowledged the limited power that the school board will hold, he finds that it’s still worth running because “no one is making a noise.”

“Everybody complains in silence, and if you complain in silence, it’s sure as hell not going to get changed,” Brewster said.

Brewster finds current plans to improve the district under state takeover insufficient. He described the Turnaround Action Plan — the City’s guide to creating a model school district — as “very general” with no clear path for recovery. Brewster said he would rally community members to get involved and create a new plan with specific benchmarks to track how schools are progressing. 

The current action plan features a “PPSD Transformation Scorecard” that outlines several metrics for success within four key categories. The scorecard features baseline rates from the 2018-19 academic year and goal rates for the 2024-25 academic year. Since the takeover began, RIDE has released periodic updates on how PPSD is progressing toward those goals. 

Corey Jones, one of Brewster’s opponents for the Region 1 seat, intends to create a plan for transition back to local control by using his past experience in advocacy and policy work to negotiate between state and local leaders. 

While the state takeover is expected to continue for three more years, Commissioner of Education Angélica Infante-Green wrote that a return to control before then is possible, if enough progress is made. 

Jones envisions PPSD transitioning to hyper-local governance through a system of school building councils composed of parents, teachers, students and community stakeholders. The councils would have control over the school’s academic improvement plan, a sliver of the school budget and some power in the selection of school administrators.

Ty’Relle Stephens, a current board member and a candidate for the Region 5 seat, emphasized the need to prepare school board members for an eventual return to local control. Stephens said his number one priority if elected is to work collaboratively with state and local leaders to improve schools and expedite that return. 

When he was appointed to the board in 2021, Stephens said “there wasn’t a strong onboarding process.” He said he would aim to establish a subcommittee or develop an onboarding plan for new board members so that “they’re able to really understand their role as a board member under the takeover” as well as under local control. 

DeNeil Jones, Stephens’ opponent in Region 5, emphasized the need for the PPSD to meet specific benchmarks to end the takeover. “I feel like, right now, the school board just wants to turn (control) over without beginning to move … in a positive direction,” she said.

Jones plans to use her influence on the board to advise RIDE to implement “best practices in education” — advocating for things like universal pre-kindergarten and precise training for teachers.

Jenny Mercado, a candidate in Region 3, said she wasn’t happy when she first heard that the takeover was going to be extended. But, she wants to use the extension as an opportunity to ensure the state provides schools with more funding and support, with a specific focus on meeting the needs of multilingual students. 

Dave Talan, a candidate in Region 4, said he believes he can successfully influence state leaders to implement changes in the district during the takeover. Having previously worked with Infante-Green on her community design committee that planned the takeover, Talan said “I found that if you do your homework … she's willing to listen.”

Talan believes that the state needs to negotiate — or potentially impose — a new contract with the Providence Teachers Union before the schools can return to local control. “The state actually has the authority to override the teachers union contract and impose things on them — whether the teachers union agrees to it or not — and the City does not have that ability,” he said. “If they turn the schools back to the City with a contract the way it is, you can forget about ever having any kind of reform.”

The Providence Teachers Union endorsed Corey Jones in Region 1, Andrew Grover ’02 in Region 2, Heidi Silverio in Region 3, Night Jean Muhingabo in Region 4 and Stephens in Region 5. 

Grover emphasized the urgency of ending the takeover and said he believes it’ll be harder for state leaders to ignore the demands of an elected board. “A board that has people that have been democratically elected by the city is automatically going to carry a bigger bullhorn,” said Grover. 

He added that he would work to get the City Council, Mayor Brett Smiley and the Providence contingent in the general assembly to stand together and put pressure on the Governor and Commissioner to end the takeover.

Silverio, a candidate in Region 3, shared a similar sentiment, saying that “if enough of us get together and voice our concerns, they’re gonna have to listen.” 

In planning for a return to local control, Silverio said she’d use her advisory power to elevate the voices of community members. “Although we're only an advisory board, I feel like we have the power” to be “talking to the community” and “voicing the concern of our parents,” she said. 

Christopher Ireland, an opponent of Grover’s in Region 2, also said he would advocate for the end of the takeover and talk “to different people involved in different departments” to determine what has caused PPSD school performance to remain subpar. 

Toni Akin, a current school board member who is also running in Region 2, has opposed the extension of the takeover. If elected, she said she would focus on meeting the PPSD action plan metrics and getting the PPSD fiscally ready to take back control of the schools.

Akin noted that working in an advisory capacity has been difficult because a number of the board’s proposals have not been implemented. If elected, she said she’d work collaboratively with RIDE to try and get more advisory recommendations approved moving forward.