Dear Friends and Comrades 

I have a little bit of good news.

Last evening I had the opportunity to speak with Ty’Relle Stephens, the newly-elected (and notably, not appointed) School Board President. There is a lot of political complexity involved with school board politics and one element is that the Mayor can transition the Board from electoral to appointment positions, meaning that he makes the Board into a rubber stamp.

The Providence School Board became one such rubber stamp under the leadership of Mayor Vincent “Return of the Bud-I” Cianci, back during the days of Good and Plenty when he ran the entire municipality like an orchestra conductor. Whether it was smart, ethical, progressive, or democratic, it somewhat made sense given the circumstances. Unfortunately, after Cianci, the rubber stamp became a weapon against the municipal unions and their collective bargaining agreements (to be clear, alongside the Teachers Union, there are separate bargaining units and CBAs that govern the unionized clerical workers and the special education teacher assistants). The succession of Mayors, Superintendents, and State Education Commissioners had repeatedly used this rubber stamp to erode municipal collective bargaining rights to a degree unseen in any other Rhode Island school district. As I write this, the Senate is trying to push through the following bills:

#745 Teacher Tenure: This bill would impact ONLY PPSD teachers!  If approved, this bill would strip away our due process rights that are and will continue to be afforded to all other districts.

# 746 Foundation Level School Support: This bill would impact ONLY PPSD teachers!  If approved, this bill would give Principals and district administrators control over teacher salaries.  This is similar to the career ladder that Steve Smith tried to impose that was overwhelming rejected by over 75% of our membership back in 2014.

#747 Teacher Tenure: This bill would impact ONLY PPSD teachers!  If approved, this bill would allow changes to our layoff procedure while keeping the current procedures in place for ALL other districts in RI.

This is clearly a full-frontal attack on both educators and students. Let’s be precise: This Education Commissioner has made it explicit she desires to convert the District into a Charter network. The ultimate goal is to replicate New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

I taught School Board President Ty’Relle Stephens as a Building Substitute Teacher in 2016-2017. I’m someone who has made a lot of mistakes in my life and I know that my limitations are manifest. The notion of having contributed, even in a minor sense, to the education and formation of the School Board President is extremely powerful and frankly humbling. 

So our conversation divulged, among other things, that the optimal task is to get the word out and get more public scrutiny of the Commissioner. Apparently she broke procedural law in her decision making by failing to abide by requirements for collaboration with the School Board.

In this sense, I would ask you to further promote this petition via various methods of communication so as to help build critical mass to scrutinize the RI Department of Education. This Commissioner has a clear contempt for democratic institutions and governance, as is made obvious by her attitude towards the elected school board.

Thanks so much and solidarity forever!

-Andie