The move, which requires
state approval, marks a
philosophical shift by city’s
school district
By LINDA BORG
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
October 8, 2012
PROVIDENCE –– Two elementary
schools have applied to become
district-run charter schools, which
could set the stage for a radical new
approach toward educating city
students.
The schools are Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. Elementary School on the East
Side and Frank D. Spaziano
ElementarySchool on Laurel Hill
Avenue.
If approved by the state Board of
Regents, King would form a
partnership with the Learning
Community, a charter school in Central
Falls. Spaziano would collaborate with
Highlander Charter School in
Providence and the International
Charter School in neighboring
Pawtucket.
For a district that has traditionally
looked at charter schools with disfavor,
this move by Supt. Susan Lusi
represents a philosophical shift.
By asking charter schools to share their
expertise in improving student
achievement, the district is
acknowledging that the large urban
district cannot accomplish reform on
its own.
Lusi also recognizes that schools
need to be nimble in order to make
changes. A large school district is like
an ocean liner; it takes time to turn the
ship’s course. Charter schools are
small enough to respond quickly to the
changing needs of students.
“One of the greatest opportunities in
being a charter is the ability to respond
to your kids’
needs,” said Meg
O’Leary, codirector of the
Learning
Community. “If
your kids need
something in the
morning, you can
change it in the
afternoon.”
The move to
district-run
charters is, in one
sense, a return to
school-based management, which
gives building principals greater
autonomy over their schools, a concept
popularized by former Supt. Diana
Lam.
Lusi said nine schools originally
applied to become charters but the
state-mandated deadline was so short –
– Oct. 1 –– that several decided to wait
until the next round of applications.
King and Spaziano hope to open as
charters next fall.
“We had narrowed it to five
schools,” Lusi said. “We looked at the
strength of faculty support, the
school’s ability to convene a planning
team and whether each school had a
strong partner.”
Because this is uncharted territory for
the district, many questions remain
unanswered.
This much is known: existing
teachers will not be displaced, Lusi
said. In fact, two-thirds of the faculty
must approve for the application to
move forward. A majority of parents
have to do the same.
Since they remain in the union,
teachers would receive the prevailing
wages and benefits offered in the
district. Faculty would also remain in
the state’s retirement system and their
years with the charter school would
count toward their retirement.
What about principals?
The state Department
of Education and the
district are working on a
proposal in which the
principal would take a
leave of absence and
then sign a new contract
with the charter school’s
board of directors. Lusi
said she doesn’t want to
discourage good leaders
from applying for their
schools to become
charters because of
uncertainty about their
jobs.
Nonetheless, there are some gray
areas, Lusi said. Although the Rhode
Island Board of Regents for
Elementary and Secondary Education
grants the charters, Lusi doesn’t want
to abdicate her responsibility.
“I want to be working with these
schools and their boards, but I also
don’t want the schools answering to
two masters,” Lusi said. “We want to
be able to intervene if the school” isn’t
performing.
In his preliminary application,
principal Derrick Ciesla said that King
Elementary chose the Learning
Community because the school has “a
track record of student achievement,
fiscal management and family and
community engagement.”
“Our higher-income students and our
white students have typically far
outperformed our students of color
from low-income backgrounds,” he
wrote. “We cannot tolerate this
discrepancy any longer, and we are
committed to closing this achievement
gap … .”
Students at the Learning Community
met or exceeded the state average
across all subjects in the last academic
year, he said. “It was seeing their
passion for children and the progress
they have made.”
But King doesn’t intend to become
another Learning Community, Ciesla
said. Rather, he hopes to tap the
charter’s expertise in reading
instruction and family outreach to
boost student achievement.
Spaziano Elementary principal
Eusebio Lopes reached out to the
International Charter School because
both schools have large numbers of
students who are learning English. The
International school offers dual
language instruction in English and
Spanish and English and Portuguese.
Highlander was selected because the
school has a research institute that
analyzes which practices work best for
literacy and math instruction.
Lopes said he already has the support
of 90 percent of his faculty.
The charters will also help the two
public schools figure out how to
manage finances, facilities and
governance issues –– tasks that are
typically the responsibility of the
central office.
Rose Mary Grant, Highlander’s head
of school, thinks this is a brave step for
Providence:
“This is absolutely a new way of
approaching education in a large urban
district.”
[email protected] (401) 277-7823
21 Lincoln Avenue
Central Falls, RI 02863
401-722-9998
www.thelearningcommunity.com