"Going Public" feature of PPSD graduates in June's East Side Monthly

Readers on the East Side of Providence may already have seen a paper copy of June's East Side Monthly featuring profiles that I wrote of six East Side public high school students soon to graduate The cover features Hope High School seniors Ashley Davega, Alex Ahlquist, and Mike Chibante, with Classical High School seniors Alex Schmeling, Sharon Weissburg, and Dana Heng in a full-page interior photo. You can see and read the whole feature online; flip to page 22. All photos are by Amy Amerantes.

I had a tremendously fun time meeting these students and writing their profiles. Many thanks to Hope High School principal Scott Sutherland and Classical High School principal Scott Barr, who responded to my query to meet students who had made the most of their opportunities inside and outside of school gracefully and efficiently.

The common threads among all six students' experiences through their educational experiences seem to be:

• consistent support from family, teachers, and members of their communities
• an understanding that learning happens inside and outside of the classroom, and that it's all connected
• passions and interests that help organize their learning

All six students clearly benefited from educational experiences at school and in their communities that created ample opportunity for exploration, personalization, and high levels of achievement with the right kind of support for each kid. Of course, the profiles of these students are anecdotes, not necessarily indicators of the experiences of all young people in our public schools. I cannot say whether they represent what is typical. But I can say that they represent what is possible with the right kind of caring adults, high standards, the students' own commitment to hard work, and a strong sense of identity, of who they are as intellectuals and members of their communities.

Classical's Alex Schmeling, Sharon Weissburg, and Dana Heng will graduate on Friday, June 10; Hope's Mike Chibante, Alex Ahlquist, and Ashley Davega will graduate on Monday, June 13*. I wish all of them a wonderful end to the school year and all the best for a great summer and a strong start at each of their colleges** in the fall. Thank you for showing us examples of what's possible for yourselves and all of our young people.

--

* A link to a PDF of all Providence Public School high school graduation dates is here.

** Of course, college acceptance is not the only indicator of these students' successes. Still, not for nothing, it's an impressive list:

• Alex Ahlquist (Hope) - U. Mass Amherst
• Alex Schmeling (Classical) - Yale
• Ashley Davega (Hope) - URI
• Dana Heng (Classical) - University of Vermont
• Mike Chibante (Hope) - New England Institute of Art
• Sharon Weissburg (Classical) - Boston University or Brown

Free Minds Free People conference - July 7-10, right here in Providence!

Providence Schools and Beyond readers should check out the upcoming Free Minds Free People conference, which is happening in Providence, July 7-10. The conference is designed as a highly interactive way to bring together young people, educators, family and community members, and others to share ideas about how to create meaning and value in education.

As a parent, I am really looking forward to learning ways to be involved with my kids' schools and school system in ways that help them and all kids in Providence develop habits of mind and heart, and solid academic skills, that will carry them through all of the learning they'll do in their lives. And I'm bringing them, because the conference offers sessions for kids and childcare (yay!).

I'll also be there representing the Coalition of Essential Schools, making connections between what we're doing, especially our Fall Forum in November (also in Providence!) and the energy of the networks that Free Minds Free People is bringing together. I'm excited.

Early Bird discounts for Free Minds Free People end on June 1 so register today!

Achievement First Mayoral Academies updates

I am doing little more here than saying "what he said" and pointing you to Tom Hoffman's Tuttle SVC blog for information about public meetings scheduled this week and next on the Achievement First Mayoral Academies charter proposal. The meetings are scheduled for on May 26 and May 31, 6pm each time at Cranston City Hall. For more info, read Tom's post here. Also worth reading are Tom's questions to RIDE about the application.

For those who may not be following the issue, this affects Providence public schools because the new charter schools that would open as a result would accept students from Providence. These students--and their per-pupil funding--would leave the district. This may be great news if you believe that the Achievement First will provide a better education than PPSD could offer. I am not opposed to charter schools as a way to offer high-quality options, but I don't know enough yet about the ways these schools would serve our city's kids (and Cranston's kids) to determine their value.

Given the possible impact (the schools will serve 2,000 kids!), we should be able to learn much more about these schools than the charter application indicates, and should be able to benefit from a process that allows the publicto comment on a full application rather than the current incomplete version.

PPSD teacher match event delayed

A follow up and update to last week's post that mentioned the teacher-school job match event scheduled for this week. It's been postponed, possibly to June 6-8. I wish I could point you to info on PPSD's web site or anywhere else to confirm this, but info about this this change hasn't yet been posted or published. I believe that the new dates have gone out to teachers and principals who will participate in the event, which is how I found out.

Update! The ProJo ran a news item about the match event delay on its news blog today here. From the article:

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Providence School Department and the Providence Teachers Union have agreed to postpone a job fair for displaced teachers until the week of June 6.

Here are the new dates:

Monday, June 6, for high schools.
Tuesday, June 7, for elementary schools.
Wednesday, June 8, for middle schools.

The so-called "match events" will be held from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. each day at a location to be announced.

The district said it is delaying the job events in order to make more openings available for teachers who have lost their jobs due to school closings. Four schools -- three elementary schools and a middle school -- will close this summer because the city is facing a $110-million budget deficit.

College Unbound Open House, Monday May 23

College Unbound @ Roger Williams University is holding an information session (with pizza!) for prospective students, particularly adult learners, on Monday, May 23 at the Met School, 325 Public Street in Providence. Though it’s outside the scope of the usual for this blog, I’m posting this here to help spread the word about this unique opportunity to be a part of the College Unbound program.

College Unbound offers students an opportunity to earn a bachelor’s degree through a personalized interest-based learning in intensive internships and classroom settings. College Unbound @ Roger Williams is open to students with full- or part-time jobs, and students who want to change careers or are looking for a job. Until now, College Unbound has served traditionally aged college students and is expanding to serve adult learners.

Please email or call Tara at tcorso@metmail.org or 401-752-2640 with any questions and to RSVP.

I hope that any readers who know people who might benefit from the opportunity to earn a degree that ties together study with real-world learning will share this information. For that matter, if you know any recent or soon-to-be high school graduates for whom College Unbound would be a good option, please spread the word.

I’m an active supporter of College Unbound because I believe in the power of personalized, experiential education for all learners. I’m currently working as a mentor for a current College Unbound student, Ms. Andrea Ridges. Andrea is collaborating with me in various ways in my professional work (the work that I’m paid for, rather than this and other labors of love) as Managing Director of the Coalition of Essential Schools and consultant to RhodeIsland After School Plus Alliance. Andrea is working with me to coordinate youth involvement at Fall Forum, the Coalition of Essential Schools’ annual conference that is happening this year in Providence on November 10-12! Mark your calendars, and I’ll be posting more about Fall Forum in the coming weeks and months.

Andrea’s experience as a youth organizer, and of course as a very recent high school student, from her hometown of Detroit adds tremendous and valuable energy and experience to my work. She’s learning about her area of interest and passion, education policy, through her work with me, and getting very relevant work experience. Her learning is grounded in the experience of local communities and a national network of progressive schools, and she’s making a real contribution to the work that we’re doing.

If you're interested in being a professional mentor too, feel free to contact me and I'll connect you to the people who can make that happen. If you're interested in being a professional mentor too, feel free to contact me and I'll connect you to the people who can make that happen. This seems to have turned into a pitch for College Unbound. Feel free to take it that way, and thanks for helping to spread the word, both about Monday's open house and the program itself.

Nathan Bishop Arts Night, May 19

I'm happy to share this announcement about Nathan Bishop Middle School Arts Night, which is happening tomorrow, Thursday, May 19, 5-9pm. It sounds fantastic. I wish I could go; unfortunately, the monthly PPSD Parent Advisory Committee meeting is happening at the same time.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Nathan Bishop Middle School’s Arts Night will showcase artwork created this school year by over 300 sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students. Featured are selections from Breathing as Drawing, Transforming Portraits, Typeface Design Posters, Word Portraits, Our Own Dinner Party, Design Challenges, Where I'm Going sculptures, Character Cards, Exercises in Perspective, Mythological Creature sculptures, Narrative Ceramic Tiles, ceramic Drinking Vessels, and wire exercises in Structure and Form, and Festival Ballet-inspired cut-out silhouettes.

There will be intermittent performances throughout the night by students, including classical, hip-hop and break dance; violin, cello, drums, piano, vocals, and other instrumentals.  A special performance by Nathan Bishop's Build Up the Beat group is scheduled as well.


Between 5-7pm, the NB Story Project student crew will be conducting interviews in the principal's conference room.  Project students interview our alumni and learn about the diverse neighborhoods and individual life stories that are vibrantly woven together through our school community. 

Bishop's Arts Night is part of Providence’s Gallery Night, so you can take the free Art Bus from downtown! For information on parking and more, go to: http://www.gallerynight.info/galleries.html. If you are not going to other galleries that night, you can park at school (101 Sessions Street).

Extreme myopia (beyond Providence) + process questions (in Providence)

Written by a teacher-librarian and posted in part on Washington Post Answer Sheet blog, this first hand description of hearings for teachers that the Los Angeles Unified School District is attempting to lay off reveals a shortsighted and and heartbreaking process. It's worth a read, as is the original longer post. For more background, here and here are two opinion pieces (against) on issue of RIF-ing all LAUSD teacher-librarians (am assuming that second one, published today, is written by the same Ms. Murphy as the author of the blog piece referred to a couple of lines back. Whether there are one or two Ms. Murphys documenting the process of what's happening in LAUSD and speaking out, kudos to you.

Teachers here in Providence will soon be facing the same process. Well, not exactly the same. The LAUSD hearings, however absurdly the district may be handling them, are being conducted on a teacher-by-teacher basis. Teachers in Providence who wish to seek due process to address their firings will be doing so in group hearings, the ProJo reports. I will leave it to you to opine on the legality or feasibility of conducting group hearings for such a purpose.

Which teachers will choose to do so will become evident soon, I assume. According to this May 3 Emergency Motion to Expedite published on the PPSD website, "The individualized statements of cause contemplated by the PSB Plan have to be provided to the teachers no later than May 17, 2011 under the Tenure Act." That was yesterday.

I surmise that these notices went out to "Category 3" teachers who are being dismissed for cause (see this useful post from The Quick and the Ed blog for a succinct explanation of three hiring/firing categories into which PPSD has sorted teachers). Or did it go to all teachers whose dismissal notices haven't yet been rescinded? This would including those going to next week's "match event" designed to put still-fired teachers eligible for hire into open PPSD teaching jobs.

Seriously, if anyone has insight into the process, please to share. I've figured out about as much as I can with Google as my guide and need to get back to the paycheck-generating work.