Rhode Island education circles are abuzz with talk of Providence regaining control of its school system from the state. But it’s not the only district seeking local control. The state has been in control of Central Falls schools for 35 years. About two weeks ago, the Senate passed a bill returning control of the schools to Central Falls, with a plan that spells out the city’s financial responsibilities over the next decade and a half. The House has not yet passed its version. The measure, ultimately, would have to be approved by Governor McKee.
Ocean State Media morning host Luis Hernandez spoke with Central Falls mayor Maria Rivera about the city’s goal of regaining control of its schools.
Interview highlights
On the prospect of Central Falls assuming control of its schools
Maria Rivera: We want to get our schools back. This community wants to get their schools back. I’m not going to blame anyone for what’s happening in the city of Central Falls. I can tell you there are a lot of challenges in the city of Central Falls, right. We have a lot of students who are coming from other countries; they’ve never gone to school in their country. The teachers are working really hard to help our students, but it’s a lack of resources, and I don’t know if it’s from the state side or it’s from the district side, and this is what we need to get to the bottom of, right?
How do we help our teachers have the resources that they need, so that they can help our children? When you have a teacher who doesn’t speak Spanish, when a high percentage of the students in that classroom don’t speak English, how do we expect outcomes to change? And I just don’t feel like anybody from the state was really taking it upon themselves to identify these gaps, and it’s something that we have to start looking into.
On the city’s vision for the school district
Maria Rivera: We have a new governance board. We’ve gone through a whole process identifying a new governance board, people from this community who care about this community. It’s about accountability; it’s about transparency. They’re getting trained right now. If something’s not working, we have to address it. And I feel like that’s one of the gaps [where] things were not working and they were not being addressed.
Currently I just don’t think people want to speak up about things. If something’s not working, they’re really not saying anything, and it’s about transparency; transparency, and accountability. If something’s not working, we have to talk about it, and this board is being trained. This isn’t about us. I’m not going to be here forever. This board isn’t going to be here forever either, but we have to start identifying what are these gaps, right? So, I think one of the first things that they have to start doing is looking at the budget of the district and making sure it’s fitting the needs of this community.
