Providence schools are back under local control, and there is already a movement underway to shake up the city’s School Board.
The majority of the 10-member board is seeking to oust Ty’Relle Stephens as president — potentially as soon as next week — citing concerns about his leadership and the board’s ability to effectively manage the transition from the state takeover.
At least six members, including Vice President Anjel Newmann, have asked for a motion to remove Stephens to be included on the agenda for a Sept. 23 board meeting, according to emails reviewed by the Globe.
Stephens did not respond to a request for comment.
The specifics are unclear, but growing friction between Stephens and some of his fellow board members became public earlier this month when Newmann and board secretary Miche’le Fontes took to social media to raise concerns about his leadership.
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“You can only treat people terribly for so long,” Newmann wrote in a since-deleted Facebook post where she also published an email from Stephens asking her to step down as vice president. Fontes separately posted that she has “become increasingly concerned about the direction and leadership of the board.”
The bigger picture: Stephens was just 23 when he became the first president of the revamped, half-elected, half-appointed School Board last year, and he has had disagreements with fellow board members and officials at both the Rhode Island Department of Education and the Providence School Department.
During the state takeover, the board was largely advisory, so internal squabbles carried relatively little consequence. That changed this summer when Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green ended the takeover, giving the board real power over a $470 million school district.
No matter what happens with Stephens, the political landscape around Providence schools is about to change dramatically.
Helena Foulkes, the Democratic nominee for governor, has pledged to remove Infante-Green as commissioner, while David Morales — endorsed by the Providence Teachers Union — unseated Mayor Brett Smiley in last week’s Democratic primary. By 2027, nearly everyone who played a central role in the takeover will either be gone or have a very different role.
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Original Source: The Boston Globe
