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Parents and teachers press Providence School Board over nonrenewals and 'return to local control' report
Summary
More than a dozen public commenters told the board the mayor's April report centralizes power and fails to guarantee shared authority; teachers and students described sudden nonrenewals, alleged lack of due process and workplace safety concerns, and urged the board to act.
Dozens of parents, teachers and students used the board's public-comment period to challenge the mayor's proposed transition plan and to demand accountability over recent nonrenewal decisions.
"It is not a plan for local control," Aubrey Johnson, co-chair of the Parent Advisory Council, told the board. "Families and students are being asked to accept the shift from one top-down structure to another with more power consolidated in the hands of the mayor, less accountability to the public, to families, and to the school board that's supposed to represent us."
Several teachers described abrupt nonrenewal letters with little or no explanation. Anna Cooperman said employees were told only that they were fired and that two months later many still did not know the reasons. "Where is the due process?" she asked.
Sam Wallace and other educators recounted personal and workplace impacts; Jake, who identified himself as a former PPSD teacher and member of UFCW Local 328, warned the board that "It is illegal to fire people for organizing at work," and urged the board to rehire nominees and apologize for what he called an unfair process.
Brenda Tucker, a fifth-grade teacher at Webster Avenue Elementary, described how sick-leave rules affect non-tenured staff: she said non-tenured teachers receive eight sick days per year, compared with 15 for tenured staff, and that as a non-renewed teacher she faces a loss of accrued pay. "There's a very lack of compassion in this district for humans," Tucker said.
Students also spoke: seventh-grader Amora Rodriguez urged the board not to cut three support-staff positions at her school, saying those staff members keep students safe and help school activities run.
Board leadership recorded the public-comment submissions for the record and said the board would discuss the nonrenewal process in a later, non-individualized review. The board then announced it would table certain executive-session personnel items and later convene into a closed executive session for listed personnel and litigation matters.
The board did not vote on any personnel actions during the public meeting; it moved to executive session under Rhode Island General Laws for personnel and litigation at the end of the public session.
