Providence Schools in Crisis — First Forum Held at Underperforming School
GoLocalProv News Team
Providence Schools in Crisis — First Forum Held at Underperforming School
Attendees in the crowd of approximately 150 could be seen waving the meeting handout as fans, trying to stay cool in the small cafeteria of the William D’Abate School in Olneyville.
D’Abate is a Providence elementary school in which 70 percent of the students fail to meet state “expectations” for both English Language Arts (ELA) and Math, according to the RI Department of Education data.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTD’Abate is far from the poorest performing Providence School, but just 30% of the students are meeting expectations in ELA and only 23% in math.
In contrast, Barrington Middle School sees 85% of students meet or exceed expectations for ELA and 80% in math.
Providence’s Mary Fogarty Elementary School on the Southside of Providence may be the poorest achiever — just 9% of the students meet expectations for ELA and dismal 2% for math.
The crowd was comprised of approximately 50 Department of Education staffers, City of Providence employees, consultants and media. The rest of the attendees were parents and children, with many from the neighborhood. A lot of parents brought their children to the event.
The crowd was briefed on the report — a G-Rated version — that overviewed the Hopkins report. The overview avoided many of the most disturbing Hopkins findings.
Hopkins reported, "There are gang problems. According to one teacher, “I had 12 gang members in my classroom who ended up being arrested. Nobody had warned me…”
Another insight from the Hopkins report, "Assaults have gotten “very violent,” with girls throwing other girls on the floor, and then surrounded by other people kicking them. There are violent attacks on buses. “I had a new-arrival student go into the bathroom and another student pummeled his head into the wall and there were no consequences for it. Teachers have almost given up entering infractions because they know there is no follow-through.”
Both Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green and Elorza spoke in English and Spanish to the crowd.
Elorza failed to repeat the words that Governor Gina Raimondo had spoken early in the day.
Raimondo unveiled that the Hopkins team had told her that Providence was the worst or among the worst in the country.
Elorza who has repeatedly said that his number one priority as Mayor has been to fix the Providence schools continues to take no responsibility for the dismal condition of the education system.
“We are all part of the solution. We need transformational change,” said Elorza at the parents' forum — words that he had repeated earlier in the day during a press conference with Raimondo in the State House. SEE VIDEO BELOW.
