Providence schools turnaround plan expected next month

Providence (AP) — The troubled Providence Public School system’s turnaround plan is expected to be released next month, state Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green said Saturday at a community event to gather public input.

The plan will include many of the recommendations made by the community design teams, which presented their ideas to the public at what was called the “Providence Schools Turnaround Community Day.”

The state took control of the city’s school system on Nov. 1 in response to a report by the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy last June that called the system among the nation’s worst. It found severe dysfunction, including rampant bullying and fighting among students, poor student achievement rates, crumbling facilities and a tangled bureaucracy with no clear lines of authority.

It’s expected to take at least five years to turn around the district.

Infante-Green told WPRITV the state might close some school buildings.

The state has also selected a new K-8 curriculum for the entire school district, which Infante-Green said will include support for multilingual learners.

The community design teams were formed in December and are made up of parents, students, teachers and other community stakeholders.

Some of the teams’ recommendations presented at Saturday’s community day include creating neighborhood schools and mandating at least two parent-teacher conferences per year.

Superintendent Harrison Peters, who was hired last month, said he particularly supports the recommendations that would “put the best teachers in front of children,” and recruit a diverse workforce.

Providence has about 24,000 students in 41 schools.