New Providence Teachers Contract Means Functional End of City's School Committee
GoLocalProv News Team
New Providence Teachers Contract Means Functional End of City's School Committee
The capital city’s school committee has been chaired over the years by top community leaders including the late Governor Bruce Sundlun, Providence lawyer Kathy Sullivan-Crane, and head of RI’s association of charter schools Keith Oliveira.
The new Providence Teacher’s Union contract negotiated by Governor Dan McKee on behalf of the state eliminates the Providence School Committee’s authority over the contract.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTProvidence Mayor Jorge Elorza has been highly critical of the lack of openness and public participation in the contract process.
The McKee administration confirms that the Providence School Committee will not have any role or authority in the review of the new contract and can neither reject nor approve the contract.
According to RI Department of Education officials tell GoLocal that the Providence School Committee will have no role in hiring moving forward.
Providence Teachers Union President Maribeth Calabro announced that the new contract was approved by Providence teacher's union members by a margin of 1,015-25 on Friday night.
“We’ve had a year of difficult challenges, including pandemic-related obstacles and contentious negotiations,” Calabro said. “The new contract is a continued step forward not just for educators, but for students, families and the community. This agreement gives us stability and allows us to focus solely on our students and schools for the new school year.”
Calabro said, “By approving the contract, we can now open the new school year with a fresh start. As we are all aware, negotiations are a give and take, and while neither side got everything they wanted, we did come to a reasonable and professional agreement that can be a strong foundation for change and our collective success.”
The Providence schools have been in decline for decades and efforts to reform the schools have been on and off going since the 1990s.
“This contract is just the beginning of our work to produce better outcomes for Providence students,” said McKee. “We need everyone on board to make it work. That means families, students, teachers, administrators, elected leaders and community members coming together to achieve a common goal – giving our students the very best opportunity to succeed. I appreciate the work and collaboration of all parties involved in getting an agreement across the finish line that prioritizes students and recognizes the hard work of our teachers, a task that some had written off as unachievable.”
The contract—which is retroactive to 2020 and expires on Aug. 31, 2023—provides for a 6% wage increase over the course of the contract.
Calabro said that the union, throughout the months of negotiations, offered numerous student-centered proposals, including providing more instructional support for struggling students. “Even though we didn’t get these things in writing, we will do as much as we can on our own and push state leaders to provide these resources, because it is in the best interest of our students, families and schools.”
Calabro is her press release took a shot at RI Commissioner of Education Angélica Infante-Green who Calabro has publicly sparred with. The teacher's press statement stated, "She [Calabro] praised the more experienced, professional and collaborative effort at the negotiations table once Gov. Daniel McKee became involved."
Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, met with McKee in late spring to try to get contract talks moving.
“It’s been a long three years for the Providence education community, from the Johns Hopkins report to state control to COVID-19 to yet another change in superintendent. Throughout it all, the Providence educators provided much-needed stability. In the last few weeks, progress was made and an agreement was reached as a first step toward helping create a safe and welcoming environment where our students thrive and educators are respected. When people work together and show respect for each other’s ideas, collaboration trumps conflict,” Weingarten said. “We look forward to working with the Providence community to help all public schools be places where parents want to send their kids, educators want to work and all of our kids have the opportunities they need to recover and thrive emotionally, socially and academically.”
But, no one from Providence was involved with the negotiations.