Roughly 30 members of various neighborhood and education groups gathered at the State House Monday morning to protest the proposed Providence mayoral academy. The charter school would be operated by Achievement First, a nonprofit organization that runs 20 academies in New York and Connecticut.
After a brief press conference in the lobby of the capitol building, the protesters proceeded to the office of Gov. Lincoln Chafee '75 P'14. The protesters — who said they were there to contest the notion that broad community support exists for the school — called for the rejection of Achievement First's application and renewed support for Providence's existing public schools. The group presented the governor's secretary with a letter signed by seven City Council members and 21 Providence-based coalitions.
"Achievement First is the worst kind of corporately funded top-down school reform," said Sam Adler-Bell '12.5. "This type of reform is very sexy right now, but it isn't necessarily supporting public school students."
One of the protesters' main concerns is that charter schools like the mayoral academy serve an elite few and leave behind the majority of public school students.
"You make a choice of either supporting public education for all our children or corporate education for a few of our children," said Kevin Jackson, Providence city councilman for Ward 3.
"The answer is not to take resources from the many to provide the alleged benefit to the few," said Kathy Crain, former president of the Providence School Board.
Admission to the mayoral academy would be determined by a lottery if applications submitted by interested parents outnumbered spots at the school.
Ellie Wyatt, a retired public school teacher and member of the Coalition to Defend Public Education, said the application process favors students with greater parental support. That form of admission "tends to cream off students who have parents who are more involved," she said.
"I'm sure they've got a ready-made pool of applicants," said Daniel Wall, a public school teacher at the Juanita Sanchez Educational Complex. "They're pulling out kids who would succeed in any school department," he said.
Protesters also fear that the mayoral academy would divert funding from Providence public schools,Wall said. According to the most recent data, the Providence public school system spends roughly $15,000 annually on each of its more than 23,000 pupils.
"For corporate companies like Achievement First, the bottom line is the dollars and coins they will bring back to corporate headquarters," said Councilman Jackson.
The letter presented Monday also raised concerns about Achievement First's "harshly disciplinarian, ‘no excuses' model of education," and outlined opposition to its schools' "utilization of shunning and public stigmatization" as disciplinary tools. These methods discourage critical thinking and stymie emotional development, the letter stated.
"Achievement First's militaristic view of education will be a failure," said Jackson.
Achievement First initially submitted an application to establish a school in Cranston, but the application was rejected by the Rhode Island Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education in September. Another application to open a school in Providence has been submitted and currently awaits consideration by the Board of Regents.
The Rhode Island Department of Education has scheduled public hearings on the application for Dec. 7 and 8.
"If this proposal was deemed ‘not good enough' for Cranston about two months ago, then why should we believe it's good enough for Providence today?" Wall asked.
The application has garnered the support of the Providence School Board, but Wall said he does not believe "the approval of the school board, appointed by the mayor, constitutes support of the policy."
The protesters suggested the government focus its energy on fixing existing public schools.
"It's a badly injured system," said Victoria Ruiz, a member of the Olneyville Neighborhood Association.
Protester Jean Link, whose daughter attends Charles N. Fortes Elementary School, carried a poster covered with photos that depicted the school's dilapidated state and extended the governor a "personal invitation" to visit her daughter's school.
"We don't take care of our schools," she said. "As a taxpayer, I want my money to go to my public school."
