PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - The state takeover of the struggling Providence schools will begin Nov. 1.
Rhode Island Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green issued a long-awaited order Tuesday where she announced the state will assume control of the city’s school system for at least five years starting next month.
Infante-Green will have unprecedented control under the state’s “turnaround plan” where she will control the school budget, program and personnel of the district’s 41 schools.
The commissioner also announced this week that a superintendent has been selected but would not release a name until their negotiations are completed. The state will take over control held by the School Board, and in school-related issues, the mayor and the City Council.
One part of Infante-Green’s plan has detailed the “tough” choice of closing several schools that are in poor condition, although she has declined to identify which schools.
The state takeover over of Providence Public Schools was announced shortly after a scathing report from researchers at Johns Hopkins University was released in June that found the district beleaguered with low test scores, crumbling infrastructure and widespread dysfunction.
Infante-Green said at the time that she wasn’t comfortable sending her children to any school in the city.
Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza said she publicly supports the state’s takeover but has asked for a clearer timeline of when the city would be able to take back control of the district.
Infante-Green’s announcement Tuesday included little detail on how the state will exactly go about improving outcomes for the system’s 24,000 students, many of them minorities from low-income households.
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