Providence School Board members were sworn in during a historic ceremony that followed Thursday night’s city council meeting. The event cemented the results of the school board election in November 2024 — the first Providence School Board election held since the 1960s. Before November’s election, the school board was entirely appointed by Mayor Brett Smiley.
Five of the 10 of the school board members were appointed by Smiley, while the other five members were elected by Providence voters. After a 2022 vote creating the hybrid elected-appointed board, the city was divided into five regions, each of which is represented by one elected and one appointed member.
Smiley nominated Melissa Hughes (Region 1), Anjel Newmann (Region 2), Jenny Mercado (Region 3), Night Jean Muhingabo (Region 4) and Steven Williamson (Region 5) last month.
In November 2024, Providence voters elected Corey Jones (Region 1), Michelle Lee Fontes (Region 2), Heidi Silverio (Region 3), Mireya Mendoza (Region 4) and Ty’Relle Stephens (Region 5).
During the council meeting, Majority Whip and Councilor Miguel Sanchez (Ward 6) congratulated the board members. “You guys have a very important role to fill,” Sanchez told the board members.
In an interview with The Herald, Sanchez also expressed the importance of collaboration between local leaders to ensure the future success of the Providence Public School District especially “under a state takeover.”
Since 2019, the PPSD has been under the control of the Rhode Island Department of Education following a Johns Hopkins report highlighting the district’s systemic dysfunction.
“The school board, the city council, the mayor’s office, are working as united as possible to have a very good plan” for a return to local control, Sanchez said.
Stephens said his priority for this term is to facilitate that return. Smiley has been for a July 1 end to the state takeover. In August 2024, the Rhode Island Council on Elementary and Secondary Education approved a three-year extension of the takeover.
“The current governance structure hasn’t worked,” said Jones, adding that his top priority will be to reevaluate how the school board can better address student needs.
Jones also mentioned that concerns over the U.S. Department of Education’s funding cast a “bittersweet” cloud over the event. According to NBC News, President Trump is preparing an executive order “to eliminate the Education Department.”
“We have this new group that is ready to … fight for our schools to come back to local control,” Jones said. But questions remain about how changes at the federal level could set back progress in the PPSD, he added.
Fontes felt “humbled” and “blessed” to join the cohort of elected board members. Being elected “feels like one of the most rewarding things that I think, an educator, a human being could really just have as an experience,” she said.
Fontes said her outfit for the night took inspiration from educational civil rights pioneer Ruby Bridges, who Fontes praised for her “courage.”
During her term, Fontes hopes to use the Turnaround Action Plan as guidance for her work. The Turnaround Action Plan was created by RIDE in June 2020 to improve the condition of the PPSD schools under the state takeover.
Mercado shared that her first priority is to facilitate parent involvement with the school board, especially for those who are unfamiliar with the American public school system and who experience language barriers.
Community member Darius Henderson, who attended the ceremony, said that he hopes for more communication between the school board and the Hispanic community. “I would just like to see them engage with the community a little bit more outreach-wise,” he said.
“These are elected officials now, so we have to hold them more accountable than we ever had before,” he said, adding that he wanted to see more efforts to connect across language and cultural barriers.
Pedro Espinal, Mercado’s partner, expressed his optimism for her term. “I’m in awe, I can’t wait for what’s going to happen for the future of the city and the schools,” he said. Espinal said he was excited about the possibility that Mercado could be elected to the board in the future, rather than appointed.
Kadeem Leslie, a community member who attended the ceremony in support of Stephens, expressed high hopes for the school board.
“I think that we have some catching up to do … with other states,” Leslie said.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly identified Pedro Espinal as a Providence city councilor. The Pedro Espinal cited in this story is not the Providence city councilor by the same name. The Herald regrets the error.
