Mitt Romney spoke for 3 and a half minutes last night after what what he rightly described as an insurrection at the US Capitol. I should confess that I have long admired Senator Romney as a family man and public servant—not because I agreed with everything he said or did but because I have always… Continue reading Mitt Romney is Right—We Show Respect by Telling the Truth
Governor Raimondo gets a lot right on schools but this time she crossed the line COVID has devastated us. It’s not that we didn’t try. It’s not that we didn’t show up. We did. And we did our best. We couldn’t make it work. These are just two comments I heard from school administrators after… Continue reading Shame Is Not a Smart Strategy
Phones in our house started ringing early today—it was the school department calling to let us know of the Google outage that was crippling the universe, including millions who woke up planning to attend school virtually. The robocalls and emails alerted us to the outage and promised to let us know when it had been… Continue reading Google Is Not God
To quote the Boston Globe’s Dan McGowan, “today is a big day for charter schools in Rhode Island.” At the board of education meeting tonight, Education commissioner Angelica Infante Green plans to recommend approval of three new charter schools and the expansion of three others. Two of the new ones will only serve Providence students… Continue reading RI Ed Commish Is Right to Support New Charters
In 2018, in the wake of Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza’s passing comment about the need for a “transformational contract”, I wrote about what that kind of contract should look like. I described a thin contract. Fast forward almost two years and as contract negotiations fail to even get off the ground, RI education commissioner Angelica… Continue reading A Thin Contract Is Exactly What Providence Schools Need
My apologies if the title above makes you gasp but at least the news is good that Speaker Mattiello’s loss and the subsequent ascendancy of Joe Shekarchi bodes well for the chances of finally making it a crime for teachers to have sexual relationships with their students. He is firmly on the record in support… Continue reading We May Be Closer to Making Sex Between Teachers and Students a Crime
It is always a treat to be a guest on Dan Yorke State of Mind and while I wish I could visit the studio and see Dan in person, our conversations remain substantive and engaging even over Zoom. We talk about the impending restrictions coming out of the Governor’s office and the massive challenges facing… Continue reading TV Spot With Dan Yorke to Talk About Schools & COVID
I received a message last Thursday that my 6th and 8th grader would not be able to go in to school the following day—a student had tested positive for COVID-19 and out of an abundance of caution, the building would not open. Because of a delay in getting buildings open, my middle school boys had… Continue reading My Kids’ Schools Already Closed Due to COVID
I wish I could say I’m surprised that Linda Borg, education reporter at the Providence Journal, decided to write a whole piece about the proposed expansion of Achievement First without even a mention of the schools’ student outcomes and how they compare to those of students in their sending districts as well as across the state. I… Continue reading When Education Reporters Don’t Even Mention Student Outcomes
School in Rhode Island is finally about to start on Monday but at the final hour, one teachers’ union has filed a last minute lawsuit to keep schools closed. Late on Thursday, four days before the long awaited first day of school, NEA RI has confirmed that if they get their way, the schools in… Continue reading Teachers Union Sues to Keep Schools From Opening Monday
