Guest MINDSETTER™ Barden: My School Choice Story
Guest MINDSETTER™ Lori Barden
Guest MINDSETTER™ Barden: My School Choice Story
By this point in the game I had been contacted by three other charter schools to let me know my son was “number whatever” on their waiting list, and basically there was no chance of him starting there in September. I had also already committed and signed a contract with my parish school stating if I withdrew him before school started, I’d owe a quarter of the tuition; if I withdrew him after the first day of school, I’d owe the whole thing. And unfortunately, my designated town school -- based on my zip code-- was not meeting my expectation and was just not an option for him.
So, I sat. I sat and listened to the names being called out. I sat there hoping and wishing that he’d be lucky (like many did that night). And then it happened, with just three names left, his name was called. In that moment, I officially became the parent of a kindergartener and the parent of a charter school child.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTI realize I was lucky and that my family had the means to have more than one option. That is not the case with every family in Rhode Island, and that is why I speak up to enlighten those who question why we need school choice. I usually start with the fact that we are given choice with almost everything else, so why not in education? We have the right to choose a dentist, a doctor, even a drive- thru. But when it comes to our children’s opportunities, their future, we are told “This zip code means this school”.
One option. It’s hard to imagine anything less fair and less equitable than letting a child’s zip code or neighborhood determine the school they can attend. It brings to life the image of the round hole and square peg- we’ll just make it fit. But it really doesn’t fit. RI needs choice, our children deserve better than a single option. Our state’s future depends on it.
Finding the Best Fit
Our decision to look for alternatives to the traditional school lead us to his charter school. Like school choice has done for my son, it too will afford others an opportunity. When I look at our public schools of choice, our career and technical, our arts schools, home-schooling families and our charters, I see Rhode Island’s future. They are our performers and artists, environmentalists, religious and political leaders. They are our mechanics, our nurses, our engineers and our educators. Choice also allows for otherwise life altering situations not to be the moments that define some of our most vulnerable. School choice makes it far more likely for all our children, regardless of backgrounds and levels of need, to have access to their dreams.
Eight years ago, I did not realize the magnitude that tiny manila envelope would have on my life. I had hoped it would have a great impact on my son’s journey, but in turn, it has had an even greater impact on mine.
Let us not lose sight of the future, let us not lose sight of the right of ALL of Rhode Island’s children to attend the school that best meets their needs. Let us not lose sight of the need for choice.
Lori Barden is the mother of two boys who attend Blackstone Valley Prep.
Voice for change, choice and RI families
The Power List - Health and Education, 2016
Inside Man
Russell Carey - A name few outside of Brown’s campus know, but Carey is the power source at the Providence Ivy League institution.
Today, his title is Executive Vice President and he has had almost every title at Brown short of President. Carey is a 1991 graduate of Brown and has never left College Hill.
While Brown’s President Christine Paxson — who is functionally invisible in Rhode Island — is managing alumni affairs and fundraising, Carey is influencing almost everything in Rhode Island.
Top Raimondo Appointment
Nicole Alexander-Scott - MD, MPH, and rock star in the making. As Director of the Rhode Island Department of Health, she is fast developing a reputation as someone in the Raimondo Administration who can get things done. Her counsel and leadership on developing a strategy on opioid addiction has been widely been lauded.
In addition, she has handled the mundane - from beach closings to food recalls - with competency. An expert in infectious disease, it may be time for her to become a strong leader on Zika.
The CEO
Ronald Machtley - Bryant University's President rightfully deserves to be on a lot of lists, but what few understand is that Machtley’s influence extends far beyond Bryant’s campus in Smithfield. Machtley could make this list as a business leader or as a political force as much as for education.
Machtley is recognized for transforming Bryant University from a financially struggling regional college to a university with a national reputation for business.
Machtley serves on Amica’s Board and the Rhode Island Foundation, and also serves on the Board of Fantex Brands.
Power Broker
Larry Purtill - While Bob Walsh gets the face time as the Executive Director in the media for the NEA of Rhode Island, NEARI President Purtill tends to be the inside man who gets things done.
The teachers' largest union is formidable, but is still reeling from the beat down it took when Gina Raimondo’s pension reform cut the benefits of teachers disproportionately over other employee groups.
Make no mistake about it - not much happens in education in Rhode Island without Purtill's sign-off.
Visionary
Mim Runey - While Rhode Islanders wait, and wait some more, for development on the 195 land, Johnson and Wale's University's Runey is watching it come to fruition, as JWU is set to open the first completed building on the former Interstate on September 1, when it will host a ribbon cutting for its John J. Bowen Center for Science and Innovation.
Under Runey, JWU continues to establish its foothold as one of the country's top schools for culinary training. Now Runey will oversee the addition of the new building on the old 195 which will house the university's School of Engineering and Design and its biology program.
In 2015, students from the School of Engineering & Design participated in the construction of the Holocaust Memorial on South Main Street, a collaboration between the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island and the Holocaust Education Resource Center of Rhode Island.
A true community partner in every sense, JWU under Runey's watchful eye is expanding to an even greater presence in Providence.
Chairman of the Board
Edwin J. Santos - The former banker is Chairman of the Board of CharterCare, after having been a top executive at Citizens Bank. He has been a board leader for Crossroads, Washington Trust, Rocky Hill School -- you name it and Santos has helped to lead it.
His best work to date just might be at CharterCare, where he has helped the once fledgling hospital (Roger Williams Medical Center) into a growing hospital system.
Lion Tamer
Weber Shill - He serves as the Chief Executive Officer of University Orthopedics, or in other words, dozens and dozens of oh-so-confident docs.
Shill has a background in Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration from the Whitemore School at the University of New Hampshire. Experienced in managing medical groups, but this group is big and influential.
Boss
Timothy Babineau - President and CEO of Lifespan, Rhode Island's biggest healthcare organization, where financial challenges make the job that much more complicated.
Now, the critics (GoLocalProv included) are raising concerns about the multi- billion dollar organization's refusal to make any contribution to the City of Providence. Lifespan is like General Motors, big and hard to innovate the organization.
