The blog is back.

Hi! The blog is back. Longtime readers are aware that I take this blog in and out of service, depending on what else is going on in my life. You shouldn't see this current reawakening of Providence Schools and Beyond as a sign that I have free time to burn. From that perspective, committing to writing regularly here is a bad idea. Life is as full and engaging as usual. Nevertheless, the blog is back to think through the impact that a new governor and mayor may have on our state and city's educational system and to write about a few other issues that have come up that are demanding to see the light of day.

So who am I? 

Personally...

I've lived in Providence for nearly 10 years; my family and I moved here from San Francisco at the end of 2004. I have three sons in the Providence Public Schools: a ninth grader at Classical High School, a sixth grader at Nathan Bishop Middle School, and a third grader at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School. I try to get involved with the schools' Parent-Teacher Organizations and in other ways as much as reasonably possible.

Professionally...

I'm the director of publications and communications at Engaging Schools, an education nonprofit based in Cambridge, MA. Engaging Schools (which until recently was known as Educators for Social Responsibility) offers professional development, mostly to middle and high schools, in order to support schools and districts to be come safer, more engaging places for teaching and learning. We work nationwide (and sometimes beyond) and publish resources to support educators' work. I edit and publish those books, and also manage our external communications, writing our blog and newsletter, doing our social media, etc. 

In Providence-related professional work, I also write a monthly education column for East Side Monthly (recent stuff is here) and occasionally contribute on the topic of education to other local publications. 

So this blog is where I share what I think about as a result of the interplay between the personal and the professional. I make no promises to keep it up forever, or perhaps even for long. But for now, I'm back and though I don't mind talking (writing) to myself, I'm grateful for any comments, interaction, or contributions. 

Providence public school principals - four conversations for snow day reading

Hello, snow day! Before the dual demands of the day--productively occupying my kids while staying productive at work--commence, it's time for a much-overdue blog update.

During the fall and winter of 2013-4, I wrote about the East Side's public schools for East Side Monthly, focusing on the principals of each school. Here's the full line-up:

Kim Luca, Nathan Bishop Middle School (October, 2013)

Tamara Sterling, Hope High School (November 2013)

Kristen Mercurio Lussier, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School (January 2013)

Susan Stambler, Vartan Gregorian Elementary School (February 2013)

Here on the blog, I've already featured the interview with Ms. Sterling, and will do so with the other three in the coming days.

My intention for the ESM  pieces is to keep the opportunities and concerns of public education at the forefront of conversation in Providence, and the specific intention of these features was to remind ESM's readers that we have four vibrant public school options close at hand. On a practical basis, with the limited time I have to write these pieces, an interview with the principal allows a schoolwide perspective and insight into the schools' direction. 

These four principals have more than geography in common. All are women, which is consistent with a trend of increasing numbers of female school principals nationwide (though, according to this research from RAND, the rates of promotion to principal are still higher for men (and yes, these data are dated, but I couldn't find a more recent study, at least not at this moment while the snow day clock is ticking)). All are also fairly new on the job, with two or fewer years in their current position--though their experience levels vary widely, ranging from a first-time principal to a principal with many years of administrative experience. This was consistent with principal tenure at schools serving disadvantaged populations, which tend to have high principal turnover; on average, principals serve fewer than three years (Center for Public Education). I hope that all four principals break that trend and choose to/are able to stay on the job so that their school communities can feel the impact of their thoughtful, collaborative leadership.

It was a real pleasure to meet all of these school leaders, and I was grateful for their time. 

Spaziano in-district charter application moves forward; King's moves...sideways?

News about the district charter school initiative, from the 11/21 edition of the ProJo (story here):

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The teachers at Frank D. Spaziano Elementary School have overwhelming approved going forward with an application to become a district charter school.
The faculty voted 35 to 1 Thursday to pursue its application with the Rhode Island Department of Education. The teachers at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School voted against applying for charter status last week. 

This is a new effort by Supt. Susan Lusi. A district charter would have more freedom over schedules and the length of the school day, but its teachers would remain in the union and the district would control its curriculum. 

Nine schools originally expressed interest in becoming charters but the tight deadlines made it difficult for schools to complete the application process. They may apply next year.

Though teachers at King (where my kids attend, but from which I have little news to report directly) did not vote in sufficient numbers to carry its in-district charter application forward, last night's school board agenda (accessible here: http://www.providenceschools.org/pesb/) reveals that there was an action related to a charter application that King's current principal, Derrick Ciesla, is proposing. I was not at the school board so can't report on what it is and what transpired. If any readers have more info, I'd be glad to share it, and when I learn more, I'll do the same.

Full Version of November 2012 East Side Monthly piece on MLK Elementary's Possible Move to Become an In-District Charter School

November's East Side Monthly is out, with an abruptly abridged version of a piece I wrote on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School's process of applying for status as an in-district charter school. Please read the full version below, which provides a fuller picture of this development. There's more to say, and more that's happened since I wrote this, which we can get into in subsequent posts.

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Illustration by Jessica Pollak

A Reinvention? MLK Elementary Considers Charter Status

Broadly described, charter schools are publicly funded elementary, middle, and high schools that have freedom from some of the rules, regulations, and policies that apply to other public school. With this autonomy—which allows greater control over budget, instruction, assessment, governance, leadership, student population, teacher hiring and firing, professional development, and other factors—charter schools are accountable for producing certain student achievement results. In Rhode Island, schools' charters are granted by the state. Charter schools are not part of school districts; they regulated by their own governing boards and each functions as an independent districts.

Some outspoken advocates say that charter schools will save our public schools. Others assert that charter schools will destroy our public schools. The discussion of these possibilities is endlessly fascinating, but not germane to the immediate proceedings, so let’s move on.

As this school year began, the Providence Public Schools invited all of its schools to apply to the state to become “in-district” charter schools, a process that would ordinarily have begun a year ago. Two factors created the conditions for this development. The first was the Providence Public Schools’ urgent need for more flexibility in order to create better conditions for student achievement. The second was the availability of federal charter school funding administered by the Rhode Island Department of Education. The district envisioned that such schools would work with local education and social service partners to create and implement an educational program that would serve students within Providence. This process unfolded with extraordinary haste, which was somewhat understandable in order to capture an opportunity, but also unfortunate, because schools have been asked to take a tremendous leap of faith while basic questions remain unanswered.

Nevertheless, several schools asked for support from the district to submit charter applications in December 2012, which would allow them to be considered for charter status for 2013-2014 academic year. One is the East Side’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School, which serves approximately 600 students in kindergarten through fifth grade (and where two of my three kids are enrolled; our third is a King alum). King’s leadership team formed a partnership with The Learning Community charter school, a Central Falls school that serves students in kindergarten through eighth grade. On October 1, King submitted a prospectus that described its vision for its reinvention as a charter school, which was approved on October 10. King will submit a full charter application to the state on December 1; by that date, the school’s faculty members—who would remain members of the Providence Teachers Union—and parents—whose children would remain students at King if they wish—will vote about whether to proceed with the charter application, which will go forward with majority approval by both groups.

Derrick Ciesla, King’s principal since 2009, believes that the potential upside for the school validates the risks of moving quickly. If King were an in-district charter school, the school community would have the opportunity to make decisions that would improve students’ academic achievement while bolstering family involvement. Cielsa says that increased independence from the district, combined with additional funding, would make possible “opportunities that we will otherwise never benefit from or have access to, namely, funding for special programs, more teachers, support staff, new books, computers, and equipment.”

Ciesla also views the charter possibility as a way to have more control over student population. Like most public elementary schools in Providence, King is designated as a neighborhood school, which means that it may enroll up to 80 percent of its students from a neighborhood zone defined by the district as a mile around the school. However, due to school closures at the end of the 2010-2011 school year, district enrollment decisions, and other factors, well more than half of King’s students are from more than a mile away. King plans to ask for a variance to state charter law in order to remain a neighborhood school and to use the charter process to accelerate school improvement so that King indeed remains (as it has been for many years) a school of choice for the diverse families that it has served for, in some cases, generations who come in part though not entirely from the East Side. “My goal is to close the achievement gap,” says Ciesla. “I want to do that with the students we are serving now as well as whatever students of whatever ethnicity we may serve in the future.”

King will convene several community conversations at which staff members, current families, and interested neighbors can gather to give input, ask questions, and understand the potential benefits and risks, including the benefits and risks of remaining a school that serves its neighborhood, however that may be defined. The school will also include parents on the team that will write the charter application.

“Everyone at MLK agrees that the most important thing here is to educate all of our children to the best of our abilities,” Ciesla notes. “It doesn't matter what background our students come from. I want to give each of them a solid learning foundation that will provide them with the chance to succeed in their education and in the rest of their lives.”

Getting to School: The Challenging Connections between Absenteeism and Transportation - October 2012 East Side Monthly column

This is a slightly expanded version of the column that I wrote for October 2012's East Side Monthly, which will be out later this month. Because I cannot ramble on forever on my ESM page about absenteeism, achievement, transportation, and related issues, the thoughts below don't nearly tell a whole story--lots more to say, and I hope we (you as commenters and me as blogger) can do that in the coming weeks and months.

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Ever since the fall of 2005, our family has had a child in kindergarten, first grade, or second grade at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School. By the time we’re done with our three kids’ passages through the early elementary school years, we will have experienced nine consecutive years of little kids going to King, from which we live 0.9 miles. According to the Providence Public Schools’ transportation policy, my kids are not eligible for transportation by school bus. We’d need to live a mile or more from school in order to qualify for bus transportation to and from school, and that tenth of a mile has made a gigantic difference in our lives.

Because (nearly) a mile is a fair stretch for little kids to walk, and especially because Hope Street runs between our house and King, my kids don’t walk to school on their own. It is just too dangerous, especially in the winter. So, with help from babysitters, flexible work schedules, friends, and support from PPSD for our request for bus passes to the JCC, where our kids participate in afterschool programming (see this post from earlier this week for more on that), we make it work.

In so doing, we have much in common with thousands families citywide who live inside their kids’ schools’ neighborhood zones. For the full picture, it’s useful to know that middle school neighborhood zones are a mile and a half radius from school. High school zones are three miles. If kids live within those zones, no matter the barriers—and some neighborhoods feature obstacles considerably more intimidating than Hope Street—they don’t get a bus ride to school.

Many families lack the resources needed to get their kids to school. Such resources may include a car, money for a RIPTA pass, or time. Work demands or the poor health of a parent or other family member may pose problems. As a result, Providence’s schools show evidence of damaging chronic absenteeism. “The Importance of Being in School: A Report on Absenteeism in the Nation’s Public Schools,” a Johns Hopkins University report released in May 2012, describes “chronic absenteeism” as what happens when a student misses at least 10 percent of school days for any reason; it reports Providence’s chronic absenteeism rate as 34 percent of all K-12 students in 2010-2011. Data released by the Providence Public Schools, as reported in July 2012 in GoLocalProv.com, demonstrate a slight improvement in 2011-2012, with 20.7 percent of students chronically absent, and 11.7 percent of students categorized as “excessively absent,” with over 36 days missed per student (that’s 20 percent of school days missed). Because chronically and excessively absent students aren’t attending school regularly, their academic performance suffers significantly at all grade levels. Student academic success depends on many factors, but perhaps none so critical as their actual presence on a regular basis.

Transportation challenges are at the top of the list of reasons why students don’t attend school regularly. Fixing this one problem would have a powerful positive impact on student performance. It’s the classic example of low-hanging fruit. The Providence Public Schools have identified it as such and are putting into place a range of supports that will help more kids to get to school.

The signal example of this effort is a pilot program that provides free RIPTA bus passes to ninth grade students who live more than two miles from their school. Providence’s Youth 4 Change Alliance (Y4C), a group of young people that has gathered data and stories about the financial and physical challenges students face on their way to school, provided the motivation for the ninth grade RIPTA pilot. Y4C’s evidence galvanized the Providence School Board to change the walk zone for ninth graders from three miles to two, and brought stakeholders from the school district and RIPTA together to hammer out the details of the program, which will distribute bus passes to a projected 847 students, a huge increase from the projected 253 ninth graders who would have otherwise been the only recipients of free passes by dint of living more than three miles from their schools.

The program is currently in place only for this year and is being closely monitored to determine if it has a positive impact on attendance. I surely hope that it does--it’s hard to imagine that it would not--and that funding is identified to expand the program to all students citywide as soon as reasonably possible. It’s a limited but definite step in the right direction. What we need next is increased commitment from the state level to fund RIPTA passes for all high school student on an ongoing basis.

At the elementary level, the Family Service of Rhode Island’s Providence Children’s Initiative worked with Fogarty Elementary School families last year to determine the causes of chronic absenteeism. They discovered that many of the students who were missing school most frequently lived within a mile of the South Providence school. In response and in collaboration with the school district, the Providence Children’s Initiative has debuted the “walking school bus,” which uses trained volunteers to meet kids at a designated place and time to escort them safely to school. While the walking school bus idea is less expensive than busing, it does have associated costs for logistical coordination, communication, training volunteers, and more. In order to spread the walking school bus concept to more neighborhoods, we need to identify consistent sources of funding and infrastructure.

Still, it's is a splendid idea, a powerful example of how we can pull together to ensure kids are in school, reduce isolation, provide meaningful support to families, get some exercise and fresh air, reduce dependence on energy resources, increase pedestrian safety, and demonstrate that we are willing to be creative and committed as we improve our city’s schools.

For more, here are data stories on the effects of absenteeism in Providence from the Mayor's Children and Youth Cabinet:

Elementary school: http://www.ridatahub.org/datastories/children-and-youth-cabinet-es/1/

Middle school: http://www.ridatahub.org/datastories/children-and-youth-cabinet-ms/1/

High school and beyond: http://www.ridatahub.org/datastories/high-school-absenteeism-college-persistence/1/

Good news re PPSD Transportation - by Kim Rohm

I am endlessly lucky to have Kim Rohm as a friend and fellow Providence Public Schools parent. Kim is an opportunity finder and problem solver. To know her, and especially to have your kids go to school with her kids, is to have a better, happier life. She sees the good in people and situations and thoughtfully, efficiently, and diplomatically solves problems and busts through barriers. I LOVE HER.

You may recall that in my scattered impressions of last week, I groused a bit about bus passes. I am happy to say: problem solved! In fact, my kids are taking the bus to the JCC today, and that is completely thanks to the teamwork of Kim and the truly responsive PPSD central office staff. 

I asked Kim to tell the story, as it's really her story to tell. Here it is, in her words:

There are reasons to be encouraged that the Providence Public School District is working to fix the bus transportation challenges that many families face throughout the City of Providence. Eligibility for a bus pass is a student transportation issue that has caused a great deal of stress for both parents and students. In the 2011-2012 school year, to be eligible for student transportation, a student in elementary school must live 1 mile or more from school, in middle school, 1 ½ miles or more and in high school, 3 miles or more.

As you (Jill) wrote in this blog on December 31, 2010, Youth4Change Alliance chose as its most important issue accessibility to transportation. This year, in a pilot program, PPSD provided 600 RIPTA bus passes free of charge for freshman students who live two miles or more from the school. This is a reduction in the mileage of the previous policy and the result of negotiations between PPSD and RIPTA. According to a letter from Superintendent Lusi to Freshman Parents posted on the PPSD website, “The program is offered on a trial basis to see if there is an improvement in school attendance among ninth graders and is not guaranteed in future school years.” I hope that attendance does in fact improve markedly enough to ensure that passes are given to ninth grade students again next year, and that the program can be expanded to include upper grades.

For the past seven years, at the beginning of each school year, I personally become anxious about getting a bus pass for my children who are enrolled at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary to attend the after school program at the Jewish Community Center. In the past, while the bus would drive right by the JCC, numerous phone calls to the transportation office, Superintendent’s office, my Councilman’s office, even the Mayor’s office were necessary to secure a pass for my transportation eligible children to receive a pass to get off the bus at the JCC instead of their assigned bus stop. This year, after making only one request, my son came home with a bus pass the first week of school.

I am very grateful to the PPSD Administration and the Transportation Office for working hard to accommodate my request and that of others at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School. I am encouraged by the pilot program for the City’s ninth grade students and encourage others to continue to advocate for the transportation that they need for their students.

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Note from Jill: 

As Kim says, you need to advocate for the transportation that your kids need. Please speak up! If you're not sure who to talk with, post a comment below or email me at jill.davidson@gmail.com. I'll do everything I can to connect you to help. And even if the challenges aren't simple, we still need to speak up for and with Providence's young people so that they can get to and from school safely. Let's work together to get this done.

RIDE's new school classifications and what they may mean for Providence

On Friday, July 13, RIDE released a list of the state's school ranked according to its brand-new classification system that was the result of Rhode Island's ESEA waiver (clicking on that link leads to a PDF from RIDE that provides an overview of the system). The results weren't great for many schools in Providence--as if any real good could come of simplistic rankings of schools. 21 of PPSD's 37 schools are now on "the list," a number that includes the several schools already designated as in need of improvement and receiving SIG funds. 

I use the term "the list' to mean that group of schools that are classified with "warning," "focus" or "priority" statuses. The reasons for those statuses are varied, related to achievement gap concerns, lack of progress overall in scores and other factors that right now seem far too nebulous. Some schools, such as MLK Elementary, have been designated with the "warning label" though there are elementary schools with worse outcomes for kids. Some schools, such as Nathan Bishop Middle School, met all NECAP targets last year yet have been designated as "focus" schools. Priority for great resources that help all kids in the building - that's what that means, right? 

Here are my other questions thus far:

1. What's the timeline and process by which school communities, including families, will use to select intervention strategies? In particular, I am interested in knowing whether and how parents and family members will be included in this decision making.

2. Are there quotas or limits on the intervention methods from which schools can choose?

3. What's the funding to support improvement within these schools (as well as schools districtwide no matter their RIDE status)?

4. How will the various intervention and support options will affect ongoing programs, and to what degree does the school leadership, faculty, and community have control over this?

5. What are the specifics of RIDE's classification? As I understand it, this resulted from RIDE changing the way it classifies schools in terms of their achievement levels. What were the specific triggers that caused so many schools to be classified as needing intervention? What does that tell us about the challenges the schools may be facing? How do those specifics affect the intervention strategies and options that may be available?

6. What are the intervention strategies and options that may be available?

At this point, I have no answers that are likely to enlighten anyone. I'm using what time I have available this week to seek answers that will help me understand more about the new system and what it might mean for all schools that have made it onto "the list." I will share here anything that feels like it might be useful. In the meantime, you might want to check out Tom Hoffman's blog, Tuttle SVC - Tom's been able to get his head around this much more adroitly than I have.

At MLK for the best half hour of my day

Why do I ever think that it's possible to make a super quick visit to my kids' elementary school, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary? The idea that I can just run in and drop something off--today, a couple of Stop and Shop gift cards for families in need and a plate of cookies for the office staff--is ridiculous in the best possible way.

I am so grateful for the connections and relationships in that school, for the ongoing conversations, for the friendships. But today, though I really love them, I swear I really was going to run in, make my delivery, and get out of there, ten minutes tops, for real this time. So of course before I knew it, I was wrapping a dozen or so presents from the MLK school community to a handful of children who would otherwise experience a bleak holiday next week. I had no choice, really, and though I had thought I had places to go and people to see in the most urgent way, there was nowhere else I'd rather have been. If I didn't have to come back to work, I'd still be there, wrapping and shooting the breeze. Even if just for a half an hour or so, I was so happy to be reminded that our family is a part of a school community that makes a real effort to think about all kids and all families.

King's staff members discreetly identified a group of kids whose families are struggling significantly and King's principal, Derrick Ciesla, shared his intention on Facebook to match donations from the King community. A few people shared his post, and word started getting out. King's staff members, families, and people who are outside the school community who heard about the Santa Ciesla project and wanted to help came through--are still coming through--with incredible generosity.

If you want to see the MLK elves in action, WPRI sent a reporter out yesterday - you can check out their report, which was on the  6:00 evening news, here. The photo to the right is a still from the video they shot - I love this image as it featured another MLK parent, Lorraine Lalli, who I suspect was similarly sucked it. I am telling you, do not step foot in that building unless you want to feel really great as a small part of a big effort to take care of those who need it most this holiday season.

I suspect other schools are doing the same. For sure, King in past years has quietly reached out to families in need. Perhaps the social media angle made this big and noticeable this year. Either way, I am happy to celebrate principal Ciesla and everyone at King for their generosity and grateful for the best 30 minutes of my day today.

MLK Elementary tours!

As I mentioned in the previous post, along with other family members, students, and staff members, I'll be giving tours of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School at 35 Camp Street in Providence during the coming weeks. Please come and see the school in preparation for kindergarten enrollment, which is happening between 1/3/12 and 2/10/12. Visit http://www.providenceschools.org/inside-ppsd/registration for more information about registering your child for kindergarten (and other grades).

We welcome you on a tour if you're curious about the school for a child in any grade or in preparation for school for your little kids in years to come. Click on the image for a larger version of the flier, and please share this info.

The tours of King are happening as follows:

(tomorrow!) Wednesday 12/7, 5:00pm

Friday 12/9, 11:00am

Friday, 12/16, 11:00am

Friday, 1/6, 11:00am

Friday, 1/20, 11:00am

Friday, 1/27, 11:00am

Friday, 2/3, 11:00am

With the exception of tomorrow evening's tour, all tours are led by fifth grade students with support form parents and include a meeting with school principal Derrick Ciesla. Please contact MLK Elementary at 456-9398 to sign up for a tour.

If any readers know of PPSD elementary school tours happening at other schools, I'd love to share that info here - let me know! Thanks.

Getting Ready for Kindergarten

Last night, we participated in Henry's Kindergarten orientation at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School in preparation for the start of the school year on August 30. We feel oriented, ready for Kindergarten action and very excited!

Conversation on the playground while we were there reminded me of a Kidoinfo.com article that I wrote a couple of years ago. The original is here, and I've adapted it to reflect a few minor developments. Enjoy and please share with other incoming Kindergarten families!

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This fall, for the third--and final!--time, I am sending a child off to kindergarten. We are very excited and a little nervous. Whether you are preparing your first child (and yourself) for kindergarten or you’re readying the next one on deck, here are some strategies to help ensure that your family is ready for this transition.

Read about it. We have a much-loved copy of Rosemary Wells’ My Kindergarten that is the star of the bedtime book routine right now. We love how My Kindergarten takes a careful look at what happens in the lives of a kindergarten student, her teacher, and her classmates throughout the year. It’s useful at all year long, and has given us a lot to talk about to help our kids visualize what life in the classroom might be like.

Visit. If you can, visit your child’s school. Each school will have its own policy, and some may welcome visits more readily than others. This time of the year is a key time for teachers to do preparation for the start of the school year, and they may not have much time to chat. But if you have not already, see if it’s possible to visit the classroom that your child will be in. Look at where the coat hooks, cubbies and bathrooms are. See where the outdoor play space is, if the school has one, and what the door that your child will enter looks like. Take a picture, if you can, to make the school feel familiar when the year begins. Many schools also offer kindergarten orientations, kindergarten playdates, and other ways for kids and parents to meet each other and their teachers before the official first day. Go if you can, and if you see your kid making friends with others, take a moment to swap phone numbers with parents so it’s easy to set up play dates once the school year is under way.

Ask questions. The school may have sent you a lot of information about transportation, food, classroom routines, but if it has not, or if you have additional questions, give the school a call. Find out when lunch is and how to pay for it, how to talk with the school nurse if your child has health concerns, what the bus schedule is like, and anything else that you may need. You may not get all of the answers you seek, but the school office is a great place to start, and a great place to make friends with the staff members who are there to make sure your kids are safe and that school is running smoothly.

Make a study space. Homework? In kindergarten? Well, maybe a little. Different schools will have different policies, but nearly all kids will benefit from having a quiet, organized space to work, think, read, draw, store valued work from school and, yes, do a little bit of homework from time to time. An orderly, well-supplied study space will become more important later on, but establishing it in kindergarten makes your little kid feel big and like she belongs in the world of big-kid school.


Don’t forget to take a picture! I often get so caught up in the first day of school frenzy that I forget to take a picture of the big event! This photo shows my son Elias saying goodbye on his second day of school, because I was so excited about getting him there on the first day that I completely forgot to take a picture. So take a moment to get your big kid’s first day on film (and hey, if it’s the second, close enough!).

Talk about it…but not too much. For us, the parents, our kids’ kindergarten debuts are thrilling milestone. And for many kids, it’s a pretty great day. But remember, many kids locally have at least a week left of summer vacation. As much as it’s important to take time to get ready, it’s also important to enjoy this time, to let your children sleep a little late if they are so inclined, to spend a lot of time outdoors, to do all the fun end-of-summer kid stuff that they can. For some kids, transitioning to a mostly-inside, fairly structured routine can be a bit of a challenge. So for now, talk about what’s coming, get ready, but also enjoy the last few weeks in ways that allow all of you to face the first day well-rested, happy, and confident that your child’s entry to kindergarten is the start of a great adventure of learning, making friends, getting to know a new place, and having fun.

MLK Elementary participates in Lego Robotics Park Event

I'm delighted to feature a sunny side report from Kim Rohm, a parent of two students at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School (which is where my children also attend school). With her fifth grade daughter and other King students, Kim attended the Lego Robotics Park event that took place on Saturday, April 2 to support King's Lego Robotics Club, an afterschool program led by fifth grade teacher David Baxter. Here's her report:

It was a fantastic event organized by the Rhode Island School of the Future (celebrating its 20th anniversary). In the program for the day, RISF states that they are a “RI non-profit dedicated to helping schools improve their 'Lifelong' learning skills in their students and support teachers in this endeavor.  The RISF provides opportunities for students to act like real writers, real scientists, real mathematicians, real designers and to develop technological fluency through involvement in robotic design activities.” The event was titled Beautifully Organized Designed Systems.

We believe that MLK (which on one document was referred to as MLK Academy which we all thought was hilarious) was the only PPSD school. We held our own among the following local schools/teams: Barrington Middle School, Riverside Middle School, Sowams Elementary and Hampden Meadows, Hyper Green Oreos (the name of a team, not a school!), Eldredge Elementary, Martin Middle School, Barrington Christian Academy, YMCA at JDMS, Newport Community, Our Lady of Mercy, Mount Hope High, St. Mary’s Bayview, All Saints, Guest Family Homeschool, E.T. Wyman, Anna M. McCabe School, and the French American School.

Events included Chain Reaction Machine, Feeding Frenzy Pit, Animal Demonstrations, Interactive Robot Demonstrations and a Robotics Parade. The MLK Lego Team entered the parade and their “Bodies in Motion” float featured a robot that MLK Lego Team member/5th grader Roumel programmed to follow a black line on the floor of the gym. Roumel's robot pulled a float that had its own motor that made a platform of Lego people spin. The “people” were all doing a physical activity – soccer, running, walking, etc. It was pretty cool. Some of the floats, animals and other Lego displays clearly took months to put together. Super great day!

Writers-in-the-Schools presents Young Poets Read at AS220, April 9

On Saturday, April 9 from 3:00-5:00pm, come out to support young poets from Providence and Central Falls as they read their work at AS220, 115 Empire Street in Providence.

Writers-in-the-Schools matches poets with classrooms in Rhode Island's urban schools, providing writing instruction and poetry education/enlightenment/encouragement. On Saturday, poets from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School and Central Falls High School will share their work. Come out to support them and to show your commitment for poetry as an essential part of learning and expression.

I'll be there for sure; it happens that Elias, my fifth grader at King, is one of the performers. However, I'd be sharing this event with you even if he or his school weren't a part of it. We need to do all we can to support Writers-in-the-Schools work, and our schools' capacity to collaborate with artists, writers, poets, and others from our community who have so much to offer our students.

Focus on Mt. Hope Learning Center: East Side Monthly's March 2011 Column

I don't want to let this very education-eventful March come to a close without sharing the month's "What Happened at School Today" column, which I write for East Side Monthly. This monthly, "What Happened at School Today" focused on Mt. Hope Learning Center. It's online here (flip digitally to page 41), still likely available in various neighborhood coffeeshops and other establishments, and I've reproduced it below.

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A Visit to Mount Hope Learning Center (note: not the catchiest title. The piece in ESM was called "Keep Hope Alive," which could be the title of the Hope High School piece I'm finishing today that's slated to appear in May's issue. I have full faith in the editorial staff of ESM to come up with another equally catchy title.)

The East Side’s rich educational resources include the Mount Hope Learning Center (MHLC). As a parent at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School, where MHLC runs an afterschool program (one of two in the school—the YMCA Out of School Time Program runs the other), I know the general outlines of the Center’s work. To find out more, I met with MHLC Executive Director Elizabeth Winangun in her sunny office at MHLC, a former residence at 140 Cypress Street that was converted to its current use in 2002.

Founded in 1998, the nonprofit MHLC focuses the Mount Hope neighborhood, which is demarcated by Hope Street, Rochambeau Avenue, the Amtrack/MBTA railroad tracks, and Olney Street. Mount Hope’s demographic statistics align with those that describe Providence’s poorer communities rather than the quality of life indicators of much of the generally affluent East Side. The 2000 Census reports that a third of Mount Hope’s children below the poverty level. While the 2010 Census data may report that this and other details have changed, Winangun reports that poverty and lack of opportunity still challenge many Mount Hope families, especially during our current economic circumstances.

The centerpiece of MHLC’s work is the afterschool program at King. Serving 100 students, the program is funded by a federal 21^st Century Community Learning Grant administered through the Rhode Island Department of Education. Fifteen AmeriCorps team members representing a remarkable range of experience and other measures of diversity staff the afterschool program. The AmeriCorps team, funded through Serve Rhode Island, which administers federal funds from the Corporation of National and Community Service, is “the heart of the center,” Winangun says. Hailing from the Mount Hope neighborhood and far and wide beyond, the AmeriCorps team members dedicate 11 months to the program, earning a minimal weekly stipend and eventual education grants. MHLC staff members provide AmeriCorp members with extensive training and clear guidelines to develop capacity and skills that will stay in Mount Hope for the long haul.

Accordingly, the afterschool program at King does more than provide basic childcare. AmeriCorp team members support students’ academic achievement, develop their social skills, and provide activities that help them identify their interests through structured activities such as the fourth grade heath and nutrition group led by AmeriCorps educator Jawuan Meeks. Previously a high school social studies teacher in Boston, Meeks is working at MHLC while preparing to pursue a doctorate in education. “We’re working on finding ways to be physically active in the community and students are learning about food and nutrition,” Meeks describes. “Today, the kids got excited about radicchio, avocados, and grapefruit. They’re finding their passion for healthy food and nutrition at a young age, and they get their parents engaged and involved.”

While the program is dedicated to extending education past the formal end of the school day and has demonstrated a positive impact on students’ academic achievement, “It’s most important to work on the social stuff,” Winangun reflects. “At the end of the school day, some kids are joyful and some are miserable. Our aim is to get them all to a better place so that whoever picks them up between 5:00 and 6:00 sees a happier kid.  We teach kids how to shift gears.”

Though MHLC AmeriCorps team members devote most of their time to the afterschool program, they also work on other initiatives. Meeks is collaborating with two colleagues to create a pre-GED life skills program for young men who are out of school and work. “We don’t just want to ‘help’ the community,” says Meeks. “We assist the community to develop leadership and talent within the community itself and to take the reins when we’re gone.” Galvanized by the lack of meaningful neighborhood opportunities for 14 to 15 year old young women, another AmeriCorps member successfully wrote a grant to a Brown University philanthropy class for $15,000 to initiate a program that will train young women to identify community needs and plan projects in response for themselves and their peers.

Response to neighborhood needs has promoted the evolution of other MHLC programs, including school vacation and summer camp programs, a cooking class that’s a popular pick among middle schoolers who participate in the Providence After School Alliance AfterZone program, and a G-Tech sponsored computer lab run by part-time staffer Tom Lew. Having this ongoing support nearby is vital, Winangun believes, because for some residents, “There’s an invisible wall around Mount Hope. It doesn’t affect everyone but for some in our community, getting on a bus to take advantage of opportunities elsewhere is a huge challenge due to limited finances, fear or conflict, or anxiety about the unknown. We work with a lot of people who haven’t ventured far outside, and we need to be here for them.”

As has happened to many nonprofits in Providence and elsewhere, 2010 presented MHLC with near-knockout financial blows. As a result of management challenges, the Center went into receivership in April 2010, simultaneously weathering a change in leadership, extensive board member retirement, and a staff reduction from eight to two-and-a-half full time employees. MHLC’s excellent track record and neighborhood support have been keys to its survival. Mainstay board members Stacy Couto, Jorge Cardenas, Sylvia Soares, and MHLC co-founder Lenny Long either remained or returned to board service, thereby ensuring continuity and focus on continued service. Winangun, a longtime staff member who became executive director during this time of transition, noted that City Council representative Kevin Jackson and state representative Gordon Fox remained stalwart supporters throughout. All funders, including the United Way Rhode Island, kept funding in place throughout the receivership oversight period, and the Center did not interrupt service or programs.

Consider a donation of time or expertise to keep MHLC going strong. Though the afterschool program at King costs families just ten dollars per week per child, scholarships are in demand. And a $300 donation supports a student through a year of school vacation and summer camp experiences. It’s a great investment in the children of our community. Learn more about Mount Hope Learning Center and find out ways to support its work at http://www.mthopelearningcenter.org.

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End note: Since I wrote that, the AmeriCorps program, which is the heart and soul of MHLC, is at risk of losing funding along with and many other AmeriCorps=staffed programs that serve communities nationwide. Click here to learn what you can still do to ensure that they don't. Thanks.

PPSD school profiles: I have my doubts

As part of the information that the district is providing to support public input toward and understanding of the process of closing and reorganizing several schools, it has provided updated school profiles based on assessments made by consulting firm Fanning Howey that demonstrate the space determinations it's working with as it assesses opportunities to reassign students and best utilize existing space.

Making sure that students are in the best school of their choice and making sure the district is using existing space efficiently are goals that at least most of us can support. I am not sure, however, that the recommendations provided in the school profiles provide optimal information for making decisions that ensure continuity and the best conditions for teaching and learning.

To be totally transparent, I don't know much about what the possibilities and limits are in each building. I know only one building well, and that's Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School, where my kids have been students since 2005. Its profile is on the left. Click here to access all of the school facility profiles.

What I noticed immediately was the building capacity estimate of 700. We currently have 530 or so, and that feels like a whole lot of kids. It's hard to imagine 700 with our current staffing situation, which includes just one administrator and half-time art and music teachers.

The chart that describes the grade structure that would make 700 kids at King possible reveals a range of intriguing and/or disturbing assumptions. The "space type" list states that we have room for four pre-K classes, yet there are only two rooms allocated for pre-K, each of which currently houses a full-day pre-K class. I appreciate the commitment to continuing King's excellent pre-K program, but am not sure how two more pre-K rooms would be possible.

The chart also states that King has room for four kindergarten classes. Currently, we have three kindergarten classes, all housed together in an area of the school that works well for kindergartners. In the past, we have had four kindergarten classes and it doesn't work well. The fourth K class is at a relative disadvantage, without dedicated bathrooms or easy access to a K-only recess area.

I know, cry me a river. Plenty of K classes across the city don't have those amenities. But having four K classes bodes poorly for our kids. As you follow the space chart up through the grades, it indicates that we have room for four first and second grade classrooms, but then the number of classrooms drops to three in third through fifth grades.

So where are those extra 26 kids supposed to go in third grade? This is not a rhetorical question. In recent years, King has tried to support four classrooms of each grade in the early years, only to have to drop to three as the kids go on--the very scenario that's being suggested. It's terrible for the kids who want to stay and are forced out. What's the mechanism supposed to be for deciding who stays and who goes? How is this good for kids or in any way equitable? It's not.

Yes, student attrition due to mobility may take care of some slots, but as the demand for seats grows districtwide and at King in particular (it's a popular choice both in its neighborhood and citywide), it seems inevitable that some kids will be forced to attend other schools. In the past, when this situation has occurred, it has demanded considerable time from our very devoted principals (not that we have two, but that both of the men who have served as principal at King recently have had to deal with this) as families panic and try to figure out what to do.

Is the assumption of the facility profile that we're supposed to institutionalize this terrible process? Are 26 kids every year supposed to expect to pack up and move after second grade? I hope not, but it seems to be the case. Again, I know that compared to some of the situations that educators, families and students face in other buildings, this is a relatively high class problem. But it matters hugely to kids for whom having educational continuity is often an essential part of their success. Let's not intentionally create situations that ensure disruption and damage.

Again, for all I know, King is the only such school for which such misguided recommendations are being made. If anyone reading has thoughts about the implications about the recommendations for schools that they know well, please chime in so that those at PPSD making decisions about facilities will pay attention to the long term implications of the available space that the Fanning Howey recommendations seem to indicate.

Speak up for AmeriCorps

In the March edition of East Side Monthly, I wrote about the teaching and learning that's happening at Mt. Hope Learning Center as a result of thoughtful deployment of 15 dedicated AmeriCorps team members. The issue is out and about in the neighborhood now, and I'll republishing it here with a link to the online edition soon.

As I researched the story, I was able to learn about the powerful contributions that AmeriCorps team members make to children and their families in the Mt. Hope neighborhood, and the multiplied impact of AmeriCorps nationwide. The AmeriCorps educators work with students and their teachers at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School's Mt. Hope Learning Center-affiliated afterschool program, providing extended learning, academic support, mentoring, and fun. They work with other young people and their families in the neighborhood, developing innovative, sustainable youth development programs for adolescents and young adults. They're a powerful asset to our community.

That's why I was so disturbed to learn the following, from ServiceNation.org:

Starting on Monday, February 14, the U.S. House of Representatives will begin consideration of a Continuing Resolution that will fund the last 7 months of Fiscal Year 2011. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers has announced that the bill will immediately cut $100 billion from the federal budget. Major news outlets including TIME, AP and others have reported that the bill will eliminate funding for programs of the Corporation for National and Community Service, including AmeriCorps. We know the Republican Study Committee wants to cut deeper, and has proposed to shutdown the whole agency and all service programs.

There's more here and here including talking points and the suggestion that you call your U.S. Representative's office to request that s/he vote no on any proposal to eliminate funding for AmeriCorps or the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Eliminating AmeriCorps creates damage and destruction to communities. It's a false savings that will exacerbate unemployment and distress in under-resourced communities. So, please do this. If you're my neighbor, call David Cicilline's office at 202-225-4911. If you're elsewhere, visit http://www.congress.org to look up your U.S. Representative's office number. The whole process, from looking up the number to talking with the pleasant staffer in Cicilline's office, took less than five minutes. 

Providence Public Schools Elementary Schools Open Schools Week

Time for one more quick post before my kids' school bus arrives:

Providence Public Schools Elementary Open Schools Week is next week, February 7-11. Click on the image of the flier to the left for the address, phone and website of each PPSD elementary school.

I recommend that you call the schools prior to stopping by. I can only speak for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School for sure, but I know that we'd love to be able to greet you and help you see the school in a way that will make good use of your time. We'll have parents and school staff able to greet people in the morning at 9:30, and we also encourage you to sign up for an upcoming open house/tour. MLK's upcoming tour dates are 2/15 at 6:30pm, 3/4 at 9:30am and 3/18 at 9:30am.  Interested families should call the school office at 456-9398 to register or you can email me at jill(dot)davidson(at)gmail(dot)com.

I'll be sharing more information soon about elementary school registration. For an general overview of registration dates and basic info, click here.

Hi! Come on in.

Many thanks to the Linda Borg and the ProJo for pointing out this blog today. For those of you who have arrived here as a result, welcome! This post is just that, a welcome mat and an invitation in for a cup of coffee to suggest ideas, topics, and questions appropriate to this blog, or just to say hi. The comments are open below for just that (click on the link at the end of this post that indicates the number of comments that have been made, and have at it).

A couple of notes:

1. A slight clarification: the ProJo article says, "Davidson joined the PTO, which became instrumental in bringing additional resources to the school and bringing more parents into the fold." Actually, the PTO was very much already, for many years prior to the day that I showed up and asked what I could do, very much instrumental and integral to King's successes. The school benefits from a PTO that's been established for a long time, at least 25 years. Someday, I really need to take some time to understand this particular organization's history. I've met lots of people who were active in the PTO whose kids are in high school, college, and beyond, and along with the whole MLK community, I am grateful for all they did to establish a strong school-family partnership. If you want to know more about King's PTO or contact its current leadership, please visit www.mlkpto.org.


2. Tuttle SVC, written by Tom Hoffman, also focuses on public schools in Providence and Rhode Island. Definitely check it out for another perspective. How about others? Am I missing other blogs focused the the schools and school systems that serve young people and their communities in Providence and Rhode Island? Tell me and I'll link to them over on the right.

Welcome, tell me what you think, and please stay a while.

Tours/Info Sessions at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School

Here's the schedule of tours/info sessions that we've planned at Dr. Martin Luther King Elementary School. Click on the flier below for a bigger version.

Here are the dates/times:

Friday, 12/17, 9:30am
Friday, 1/7, 9:30am
Friday, 1/21, 9:30am
Friday, 2/4, 9:30am
Tuesday, 2/15, 6:30pm
Friday, 3/4, 9:30am
Friday, 3/18, 9:30am

Please call 456-9398 or email mlkpto@gmail.com to RSVP.

The tour will be led by parents (often me!) and students, followed by an information session with MLK principal Derrick Ciesla. We hope you join us--all are welcome, even if your children are not about to enter kindergarten; we are often joined by families with younger children who wish to know more about King. Please join us and please help spread the word.

If you want to know more about the process of registering your child as a Providence Public Schools student, including the registration schedule, see today's earlier Providence Schools post on the subject and visit PPSD's registration page.

PS - Other elementary schools: send me info about your upcoming tours/open houses and I'll share it here!

MLK Elmentary Open House today - cancelled due to snow day!

This is not news--anyone planning to attend the MLK Open House today, sorry that it didn't happen due to the snow day! I hope you got the word about that if you don't have kids in the system. We will reschedule soon!

In the meantime, if you'd like to visit King and learn more, please call the school at 456-9398 to set up a tour.

I'll be posting soon about Kindergarten registration--it's coming up! For now, check out PPSD's info here.

MLK Elementary Open House Tomorrow, 1/13/09

Tomorrow night, Tuesday, 1/13/09, at 6:00pm, please join us for an Open House and school tour at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School. MLK is a public neighborhood school serving most of the East Side, grades preK-6.

If you can't make this one, additional Open Houses at King are scheduled for Wed., 1/28, 10:00am and Thurs., 2/12, 6:00pm. Also, tours are given most Friday mornings. Please call the school at 456-9398 to reserve a spot.

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Families of incoming kindergarteners and others considering the Providence Public Schools are visiting schools now ahead of school registration. More information about kindergarten registration is here on the Providence Public Schools web site. This is a great time to get to know your neighborhood schools, and any others you may be considering. Click here for a list of schools, many with websites; if you don't see information about tours and open houses, call the schools and ask when you visit. Whatever you do, make time to visit, both during the school day and during evening info sessions! Make informed decisions about what options are available to your kids.