PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island’s education commissioner is asking for the authority to take control of the Providence Public School District.
Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green said Friday she’s asking the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education to grant her authority to fundamentally transform the broken district.
She says abysmal assessment results, an independent report by the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy and the testimony of hundreds of people at nine public forums make it crystal clear it’s time for drastic action.
The council will consider the request Tuesday.
The Johns Hopkins report, released in June, found severe dysfunction in the district, including rampant bullying and fighting among students, crumbling facilities and a tangled bureaucracy with no clear lines of authority.
State law allows the education department to take control over failing schools and districts.
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