Providence city councilwoman, Kat Kerwin, came out this morning and publicly said that she supports the recent vandalism of the Christopher Columbus statue in the city that she represents. She sees the destruction of public property as a form of civil disobedience—but only when it aligns with her world view or her opinion of what… Continue reading Providence City Councilor is Wrong to Defend Vandalism
By Shannon McCloud I’ve written for Motif for a few years now, but this right here is by far the hardest piece I’ve ever tried to compose. You see when I’m not writing articles or reviewing theater, I’m teaching. I’m an English Language Arts teacher in a high school. A high school in Providence. And wow, do I… Continue reading Guest Post: A Providence Teacher Weighs in on State Takeover
Jorge Elorza is probably the only Mayor in the country who has direct access to one of the best and one of the worst performing school systems in the state in their own city — and yet he has made the calculated decision not to lead on connecting and collaborating to maximize the impact of… Continue reading With a Waitlist of over 3,000, Elorza Can Finally Lead By Opening Up Additional Seats at Achievement First
By Vesia Hawkins Vesia Hawkins is a mom and a grandma and a fierce education advocate in Nashville, TN. She is especially focused on the issue of literacy as well as helping parents to understand how their children are *really* doing in school. This piece could absolutely have been written about Providence—some of the acronyms… Continue reading This Story from Nashville Could Have Been Written About Providence Too—Except Our Reading Scores are Even Worse
It is impossible to even ponder a successful turn-around of the Providence Schools System without major changes to the current teachers’ contract. The now notorious report out of Johns Hopkins was clear in its contention that the collective bargaining agreement plays a central role in the district’s dysfunction. The Providence Teachers’ Union (PTU)— a local… Continue reading Some Questions for the Providence Teachers’ Union
Since the release of the blistering Johns Hopkins report on the Providence Public Schools, the new state education commissioner, Angélica Infante Green, and the city’s Mayor, Jorge Elorza, have hosted 9 open community forums in different schools around the city. Today marked the last two forums—one in English, one in Spanish—and one of the speakers… Continue reading 11-Year-Old Providence Student: We Don’t Let Animals Live in the Conditions Present In Our Schools
In an unexpected bit of news yesterday, Providence schools Superintendent Chris Maher announced that he would be stepping down at the end of the year despite the recent extension to his contract. The chair of the school committee, Nick Hemond, immediately announced that they’d be forming a search committee “in the coming weeks” and that… Continue reading Pump the Brakes and Fix the System Before You Talk About Hiring a New Superintendent
It is always a pleasure to visit the set of Dan Yorke State of Mind and have a conversation about education issues. I wasn’t planning to talk about a devastating school shooting when I was booked to do the show but obviously that was the first thing to come up. After talking about the complexity… Continue reading TV Appearance with Dan Yorke—Tragedy in Florida, Strengthening RI’s Consent Law, and Proficiency Goals that Are Too Low
Sometimes it’s just good to find reasons to smile and schools are great places for that. So, we are staying away from the noise today and just taking a moment to enjoy the good stuff. I mean, we are about to celebrate Thanksgiving. And I’m thankful for all of this. Ms. Lundgren is back! It’s… Continue reading The Good Stuff: Some Reasons to Smile
After news broke the other day that Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza was ready to tackle the insidious issue of crumbling school buildings, everyone on radio an in print was talking about it. And it’s a conversation that’s long overdue and certainly not unique to Providence. Neighboring East Providence as well as Detroit parents could certainly… Continue reading Crumbling Buildings With No Escape Hatch for Parents
