Providence Has Its Schools Back. Now Who’s In Charge?

by Jonathan Howard

Providence parent Aubrey Johnson was anxious about the prospect of a sudden return of Providence Public School Department (PPSD) to local control. “All these years and no one has come up with a plan for return,” said Johnson, who follows school issues closely as an [...]

Will New De la Comunidad Bilingual Charter School Really Expand Dual Language Access for Providence Students?

by Jonathan Howard

In January of 2026, a new charter school proposal that plans to provide dual language instruction to over 600 students from Providence, Cranston and Pawtucket earned preliminary approval from the the RI Board of Education’s K-12 Council. De la Comunidad Bilingual School would be the [...]

Tallying Up Local Colleges and Universities’ Contributions to Providence

by Jonathan Howard, Bob McMahon

Providence is home to numerous colleges, universities, and hospitals that provide significant value to the city. However, unlike residents and businesses, these institutions pay no property taxes due to their nonprofit status. In lieu of these institutions not paying property tax, how is the value [...]

Can Providence Afford $1 Billion for New Schools?

by Jonathan Howard, Research by Mary Minow

The Providence Public School Dept. (PPSD) and the city of Providence will spend about $1 billion, give or take a few tens of millions of dollars, to build at least 16 new or like new school buildings and extensively overhaul most other buildings in its [...]

Massive Schools Plan Proves Hard to Pin Down

by Jonathan Howard

Providence is halfway through a decade-long capital improvement plan to replace or renovate its aging and long-neglected stock of public school buildings to “new or like-new” conditions. Generations of current and past Providence Public School Department (PPSD) students and families know that a major district-wide [...]

Community Members Tour the Apparently Doomed Gilbert Stuart Middle School Building

by Jonathan Howard

Although some neighbors continue to insist that the massive 95-year-old middle school on Princeton Avenue still could and should be renovated, Tuesday’s early morning small group tour of the long-empty Gilbert Stuart Middle School on Tuesday morning felt like a final farewell. Most windows were [...]

Gilbert Stuart Update: School demo gets pushback at City Council

by Jonathan Howard

On September 4, Councilman Juan Pichardo introduced a resolution that would, if passed, call for a temporary pause in the demolition of the historic Gilbert Stuart Middle School on Princeton Street. His action follows an August 12 meeting Pichardo convened on the demolition plan, as [...]

Gilbert Stuart Update

by Jonathan Howard

“The short answer is ‘no.’” Public told they can’t change Gilbert Stuart demolition plan As reported earlier in The Providence Eye, a community meeting on July 21 unearthed a host of unanswered resident questions about the fate of the abandoned Gilbert Stuart Middle School — [...]

Historic Nathan Bishop School Was Saved From Demolition.  Can Gilbert Stuart Middle School Also Be Renovated?

by Jonathan Howard

The monumental, 150,000 square-foot, Gilbert Stuart School Middle School that has been at the heart of Elmwood and the West End neighborhoods for 95 years, may be demolished in a matter of weeks. But the building’s closest neighbors know almost nothing about it. The planned [...]

There’s A Teachers Union Election Today — Could the PTU See Change?                  

by Catlin Preston, Jonathan Howard

Today (5/14), a Providence Teachers Union (PTU) special election will test whether teacher discontent is powerful enough to challenge the current union president’s lock on senior union spots. PVD CORE (Caucus of Rank and File Educators), a small but vocal and growing group within the [...]