Parent meeting with Superintendent Lusi, 8/7/13

I remain reluctant to serve as unpaid communications employee for the Providence Public Schools, I do want to share info about a meeting with Superintendent Lusi that's happening on Wednesday, August 7, 6-7:30pm at Central High School.

In case you cannot read that, it invites parents to meet with Dr. Luis to discuss the district's direction for the coming school year, in particular questions about schools' start and stop times. I imagine that people will be bringing concerns about the districtwide early release on Fridays as well.

So, there you go. I may be there - depends on how the work week shakes out. Am planning on it at this point.

Learning from charter schools - what could that mean?

Related to the previous post on RIDE's big list and what it means for Providence, this July 14 ProJo article contains comments on the implications of this new RIDE classification schema from Superintendent Sue Lusi and School Board President Keith Oliveira, including this insight: 

Providence School Board President Keith Oliveira says it’s time for Providence to look to local charter schools that are moving the academic bar.

“It’s unacceptable that we have so many schools on the list,” he said. “We need to look at those urban schools with high degrees of achievement and parent satisfaction — the charter schools. They are doing something that’s working. It’s about time we consider learning from them.”

Mr. Oliveira, which charter schools are you referring to? A huge amount depends on that answer. If hope that you're thinking about some of our local, independently run charter schools such as ICS, the Learning Community, and, Times2, and Paul Cuffee. I think we have lots to learn from what they're doing - and of course, plenty to learn from other schools in the district including, of course, school on "the list." 

I will keep saying and writing, until I am blue in the face and the fingers, that PPSD already has much of the wisdom and skills needed to change outcomes for young people in our schools. What we lack is the political will that would provide resources and opportunities for effective professional development, site-based management, appropriate support for school leaders, sustained district leadership, lack of disruption from top-down district reorganization. Yes, I am still bitter about last year's school closings and their impact on young people and their schools. To think that there's no connection between that and lack of progress within a number of PPSD school that resulted in these new classifications is ridiculous. 

In addition to all that, collaboration among and between district schools and local charter schools would be great, especially given the high quality of local independent charter schools that surround us. Yes, let's learn from and with them. 

However, I hope that "learn from" doesn't mean "we invite charter chains managed by for-profit operators to take over our school district." That kind of "learning" we can do without. 

Dr. Susan Lusi chosen as Providence Public Schools superintendent

Last night, as the ProJo and other sources reported, the Providence School Board unanimously* voted to appoint Dr. Susan Lusi as the permanent superintendent of the Providence Public Schools. Yay! And onward. Lots and lots of work to do, and I am glad that many of us will be doing that work with Sue's leadership.

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*Worth an asterisk because at last night's school board meeting, five of nine school board members were in attendance: Keith Oliveira, Nicolas Hemond, Nina Pande, Robert Wise, and Barbara Wong. Natalia Rosa-Sosa, Megaly Sanchez, Maila Touray, and Julian Dash were absent from the meeting and therefore did not vote.

My email to the Providence School Board in support of Dr. Susan Lusi

Dear Members of the Providence School Board,

I am contacting you to ask that you appoint Dr. Susan Lusi as the permanent Superintendent of the Providence Public Schools. I strongly believe that her credentials and experience for this position are exemplary. 

During the past year, Dr. Lusi has led our district away from chaos and toward sorely needed order. PPSD cannot afford the interruption and disruption that will result if the you do not appoint Dr. Lusi; we need the continuity of her leadership not only for its own sake but because her work has been exemplary. Dr. Lusi is building systems that will see the district through the long haul. Her attention to dealing with back-office issues around data management and systems integration represent work that has been overlooked or poorly attended to for years. She takes teaching and learning seriously. The partnership with the Providence Teachers Union that she has forged to support a cohort of schools receiving federal School Improvement Grants represents an important collaborative step. She has the knowledge and experience to work well with the Rhode Island Department of Education.

As a parent of three children in the Providence Public Schools and member of the District's Parent Advisory Council leadership group, I can attest that Dr. Lusi communicates with parents and families confidently, compassionately, thoughtfully, and competently. Providence's public schools have benefited from the commitment, fierce focus and work ethic, deep expertise and experience, and local roots and knowledge that she has provided and will continue to bring to the job. 

Thank you for your consideration of my request to appoint Dr. Susan Lusi as the permanent Superintendent of the Providence Public Schools and for your public service.

Sincerely,

Jill Davidson 

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Please see this post for more on why it's important to support Dr. Susan Lusi and some information about the possibile alternative.

Providence School Board: Please appoint Dr. Susan Lusi as PPSD Superintendent

Earlier this week, I wrote about my support for current Interim Superintendent Dr. Susan Lusi and urged the school board to confirm her as PPSD Superintendent on a permanent basis. At that time, I noted that we knew nothing about who the other candidate(s) were or are.

I believe we know more now. GoLocalProv reported that the field is down to two: Dr. Lusi and a mystery candidate from Pennsylvania. That mystery candidate may be Thomas Darden, deputy for process improvement and compliance of The School District of Philadelphia. If so, Tom Hoffman's report on Darden's background is very troubling. From Tom's blog:

...the private investment firm of which Darden was a co-founder and managing director, sunk Rhode Island based BlueSky Brands, of which Darden was a director, committing violations of labor law in the Virginias and mis-managing (if not looting) the pensions of workers in Rhode Island. Darden then headed off to the Broad Academy and Philadelphia Public Schools, where he was a key part of the corrupt and discredited Ackerman administration's strategy of parceling off the district's schools to private operators. And now he's the frontrunner for PPSD superintendent? In the middle of a rolling pension crisis?

This doesn't take into consideration that Darden's background in education seems shockingly minimal, especially in comparison to Dr. Lusi's deep experience and expertise. I remain committed to supporting Dr. Lusi and urge the School Board to appoint her as permanent Superintendent of the Providence Public Schools.

Of course, I am not the only one who believes that Dr. Lusi is the best candidate for the position. Linda Borg has reported in the ProJo that Providence City Council members, Council President Michael A. Solomon, Council President Pro Tempore Terrence A. Hassett, and Sam Zurier, have send letters of support to Mayor Taveras expressing support for Dr. Susan Lusi as permanently appointed Superintendent of the Providence Public Schools. You can see Zurier's letter here.

Please speak up if you have not already. If you have already, speak up again. Here's why: Dr. Lusi is building systems that will see the district through the long haul. Dr. Lusi has experience as a superintendent, not only via this past year in Providence but during a long stretch as Portsmouth's superintendent. She's stabilized the district's relationship with the union. She takes teaching and learning seriously. She communicates with parents and families confidently, compassionately, thoughtfully, and competently. Providence's schools desperately need the continuity, commitment, fierce focus and work ethic, deep expertise and experience, local roots and knowledge, that she has provided and will continue to bring to the job. She has the knowledge and experience to work well with the Rhode Island Department of Education. If all that were not sufficient, we cannot afford the interruption and disruption that will result if the school board does not appoint Dr. Lusi.

And here's how:

1. Email your City Council representative and ask that s/he write a letter of support for Dr. Lusi to Mayor Taveras, and do so yourself. Email or send letters of support for Dr. Lusi to PPSD school board members. Here are their email addresses:

• Keith Oliveira, Board President, keith.oliveira@ppsd.org
• Magaly Sanchez, Board Vice President, magaly.sanchez@ppsd.org
• Natalia Rosa-Sosa, Board Secretary, natalia.rosa-sosa@ppsd.org
• Julian Dash, julian.dash@ppsd.org
• Nicholas Hemond, nicholas.hemond@ppsd.org
• Nina Pande, nina.pande@ppsd.org
• Maila Touray, maila.touray@ppsd.org
• Robert Wise, robert.wise@ppsd.org
• Barbara Wong, barbara.wong@ppsd.org

UPDATE: A heads up: when I sent my email to the above list, Natalia Rosa-Sosa's email bounced. Click here for a copy of the email that I sent.

2. If you have not yet done so, sign and share the Change.org petition that is another way for you to demonstrate your support for Dr. Lusi. It's at http://www.change.org/petitions/providence-mayor-angel-taveras-hire-dr-susan-lusi-as-the-superintendent-of-providence-public-schools

3. Spread the word. Please urge your friends and neighbors to speak up for what's best for our city's schools and young people. Thank you.

Providence superintendent search: no news is not good news

Though you would not know it from the news, Providence is engaged in searching for a new district superintendent. The most recent news reports, from late March, indicated that four candidates were in play, one of whom is Interim Superintendent Susan Lusi. Other than Dr. Lusi, the candidates names were confidential, "a common professional courtesy," meant to prevent them from tipping their hands at their current workplaces, as WRNI reported.

While I am no expert on the protocol of superintendent searches, I have informally witnessed enough to know that if such secrecy is a common professional courtesy, it's largely honored in the breach. Generally--though certainly not lately in Providence--final candidates make public presentations and have an opportunity to interact with stakeholders. Generally, the media reports on the final stages of the process, and the hiring process that school boards follow is publicly reported.

The courtesy of confidentiality extended to candidates, even if it is common practice, may have less merit than the benefits of transparency that would accrue if this process were more public. I expected that at this stage, final candidates would be public and we--the public--would have more information about the possible directions in which the district might head. I wish we understood the options. Wait, scratch that. I wish we had an opportunity have meaningful input into the outcome of this process. Given that meaningful public conversation around district leadership doesn't seem to be happening, I hope that the search committee and school board pay close attention to what stakeholders want. Pay attention to the comments that people submitted in response to the committee's request for public input (thanks to the Mayor's office for sharing these), which, along with two brief forums, represented the only opportunity for public engagement in this process.

Finally, pay careful attention to what the outcome of this process should be. If you want a strong, unified public school district (a big if, given the direction in which Philadelphia, Detroit, New Orleans and other busted up, privatized districts have headed), please hire Sue Lusi permanently for the position. Sue is building systems that will see the district through the long haul. She's stabilized the district's relationship with the union. She takes teaching and learning seriously. I can attest that she communicates with parents and families confidently, compassionately, thoughtfully, and competently. Her experience and expertise are very well suited for Providence.

If you agree, speak out. You may want to sign a petition that just got started on Change.org to indicate your interest in Dr. Lusi's continued work in Providence; if so, here it is:
http://www.change.org/petitions/providence-mayor-angel-taveras-hire-dr-susan-lusi-as-the-superintendent-of-providence-public-schools

I hope that this is a conversation, redux

Tomorrow, Saturday 1/28 from 10:00-11:30am, Mayor Taveras and Superintendent Lusi are co-hosting another community conversation about Providence's public schools at the John Hope Settlement House, 7 Thomas P. Whitten Way. Full info is here. 

Another such meeting happened last month on the first night of Hanukah, as I noted - happy to see that there's another scheduled. I am going to try to be there and will report on what transpired if so, and of course would love comments from others who were either at December's gathering or who will be there tomorrow.

Providence Superintendent Search Launched

Yesterday's ProJo reports that the Providence School Board has launched a search for a new superintendent:

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The School Board is launching a national search for a new school superintendent. 

Interim Supt. Susan Lusi has been running the 22,000-student district since July and she plans to apply for the job. Former Supt. Tom Brady announced his resignation in late March after it became clear that there were differences between his leadership approach and that of newly elected Mayor Angel Taveras. 

Neil D. Steinberg, president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation, will lead an advisory search committee that will help the school board. The committee will be composed of business, non-profit and community leaders along with parents and educators. 

The school board will not use a search firm.

I wonder whether the advisory search committee has been selected and by whom it will be selected. While it will be interesting to see who else applies for the position and what they might bring to the role, I am happy that Sue Lusi is committed for the long haul. I would very much like to see her continue in the role.

I hope that this is a conversation.

Heads up for those who want to attend meetings about Providence's schools until the bitter end of 2011: on Tuesday, December 20, Mayor Angel Taveras and Superintendent Susan Lusi will be co-hosting a Community Conversation on Education in Providence from 6:30-8:00pm at Nathanael Greene Middle School, 721 Chalkstone Avenue in Providence.

A bit more info about the event is here: http://cityof.providenceri.com/mayor/community-conversation-on-education-in-providence along with a link to what presumably is the subject of the discussion, the Educate Providence website which features the outcome of the Education Opportunities Working Group. I say that I hope it's a conversation because the report from the group is well worth discussing, exploring, and understanding in terms of their likely impact on Providence's education system.

This event is also scheduled on the first night of Hanukkah, so I can't be there. I understand it's hard to find dates that work well for most people, and one assumes that this date was chosen with the understanding that some of us would have family obligations. Nevertheless, it's really unfortunately scheduled; I hope that another such session will be held in early January for those who can't make it either because of Hanukkah or because this is generally such a wildly busy time of year for many across the religious, or not, spectrum.

Update from Angela Romans, who emailed the following: "Yes, we are planning to have 2 more such meetings in January and are working out the dates. Those will be announced and posted by next week." Excellent to hear and when those dates are posted, I'll share them here.

Interim PPSD Superintendent Announced: Dr. Susan F. Lusi

WRNI's Education Blog and GoLocalProv have the news that Dr. Susan F. Lusi, the outgoing Portsmouth, RI superintendent, has been appointed as Providence Public Schools' interim superintendent. Dr. Lusi will serve as the Providence School Board conducts a nationwide search for a permanent superintendent.

This being Rhode Island, I know Dr. Lusi slightly; she and I crossed paths at the Coalition of Essential Schools long ago. Her experience, which includes work as chief of staff to two previous PPSD superintendents from 2001-2003, is well suited to keeping the district stable and moving forward. I'm very excited to welcome Dr. Lusi back to Providence and, as a member of the Parents Advisory Committee, to collaborate with her. And it's encouraging to have this piece of the puzzle in place as we start to get our minds around PPSD's future.