Providence Schools Withhold Settlement Documents - "Incompetence or Corruption"

Providence Schools Withhold Settlement Documents - "Incompetence or Corruption"

A month after GoLocal filed an Access to Public Records Act (APRA) request with the Providence Public School Department (PPSD), the agency has failed to provide the requested materials or even respond to the request.

The refusal raises questions if the PPSD action was punitive against GoLocal after an extensive investigation in 2023 by GoLocal unveiled that PPSD had fixed the bid for a $72 million-a-year contract, hired a convicted felon to help select the vendor, and had secretly paid another vendor more than $3.2 million.

As a part of that investigation, GoLocal sued PPSD and Governor Dan McKee over their refusal to turn over public documents.

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PPSD has been run by the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) since 2019. RIDE is led by Rhode Island Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green.

 

In 2024, PPSD Refuses to Respond to Records Request

On October 15, 2024, GoLocal submitted the request to the PPSD public records division and received a confirmation from the PPSD's third-party website that the news organization’s request was received.

The GoLocal request seeks copies of settlement documents between PPSD and third parties. By law, PPSD is required to make such settlement agreements public.

GoLocal contacted PPSD repeatedly and then, on Thursday, notified PPSD that they violated the law and requested comment from Superintendent Javier Montañez.

 

 

In an email to the press office of PPSD on Thursday afternoon, GoLocal’s CEO Josh Fenton wrote the following:

As you may know, by Rhode Island State Law, GoLocal was to receive a response within ten business days.

The request number provided to GoLocal via the portal was #24-1388

It is now a month later, and GoLocal has yet to receive any documents or any response.

I am looking for a press response from the Superintendent by 5 PM today.

 

Montañez refused to respond.

 

Hours later, GoLocal received a message from PPSD.

I apologize that this was not communicated externally, but this request was extended on 10/29/24 to 12/2/24. We will prioritize expediting this request in an attempt to get it to you sooner, and will have it to you as soon as possible.

Rhode Island's public records law requires that an agency has 10 business days from the date it receives the request to respond at which point it will either provide the records, request a 20-day extension, or inform the applicant that they do not have the records requested. In the process of requesting an extension, the agency may provide an itemized invoice of what the retrieval will cost.

PPSD failed to do any of the legally required actions in accordance with state law. 

GoLocal notified PPSD on Thursday that it would be filing a formal complaint for the violation and would consider legal action against the agency and potentially against individuals.

PPSD emailed GoLocal late Thursday afternoon that it would produce the responsive documents on Friday by a time certain.

“It is either incompetence or corruption by the Providence Public Schools as they are either incapable of responding to the most basic document requests, or it was blatantly targeted at GoLocal because we exposed their bid rigging and secret payments in our investigation in 2023,” said Fenton.