Multilingual Learning Advocates Hope State Investment Will Yield Local Returns for Public Schools

by Camilla Rodriguez

On June 5, the full Rhode Island House of Representatives approved a $750,000 amendment to the House budget supporting multilingual education in the Ocean State. The amended budget includes the Support and Access to Bilingual Education (SABE) Act, which was sponsored by Rep. David Morales.  [...]

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 [...]

“The Base Is Built”: Providence Teachers Union Elects New Leadership That Promises Reform

by Eric Halvarson

On May 13, Providence teachers lined up to elect new union leadership. Wait times ran as long as 90 minutes. Some educators left to run their errands, take care of their kids or let out their pets, before returning to cast a ballot. In the [...]

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 [...]

Brown University Doubles Campus Police Presence After Mass Shooting. Have Mental Health Services Kept Up?

by Eric Halvarson

This semester, Brown University doubled the number of school police officers assigned to each shift. The school also hired private guards from Allied Universal to bolster campus security. Even police vehicles from numerous cities patrol the streets around campus. A Brown spokesperson said this “enhanced [...]

Lima, Lauro and Feinstein: Remembering the Namesakes of These Schools and Their Immigrant Ancestors

by Jane Lancaster

In 2026, there are about 50 public K-12 schools in Providence, including public charter schools.  More than half of them are named for notable people, predominantly men. If we remove the two national figures (RFK and MLK), and the five public or charter schools I’ve [...]

George Bradley and His Legacy: “First Preference to Poor, Needy Children from Rhode Island”

by Jane Lancaster

In his will, made shortly before he died in 1906, wealthy Providence resident George Lothrop Bradley set up a trust to create a hospital. His motivation was personal: Emma Pendleton Bradley, his only child, was seven when she contracted encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain. [...]

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 [...]

Inaugural Winter All-Ages Swim Classes Make a Splash at Batastini Rec Center

by Andrea Gutierrez

Tuesday night, Batastini Recreation Center is bustling with energy in the early evening hours. The building hosts after school activities with amenities that include basketball courts, a playground, and a swimming pool. The swimming pool is the busiest of the amenities on Tuesday and Thursday [...]

Pre-Kindergarten Lottery Fails to Meet Need in Providence

by Andrea Gutierrez

It’s two months into the school year and Dina Quezada’s 4-year–old daughter is finally getting used to waking up an hour earlier. She knows many of the children in her class and is familiar with the routines from last year, when she was a 3-year–old [...]