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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 2

Setting High Standards and Expectations 3
o Supporting the effective implementation of the Common Core State Standards 3
o Not losing sight of the importance of a well-rounded 4
curriculum that also includes science, history, and the arts
Spending School Funding Wisely: A School District Performance Review 5
Supporting Our Teachers 5
o Making Providence a district in which top teachers want to work 6
o Recruiting the best teachers possible for our students 7
o Expanding opportunities for collaboration and professional learning 8
Starting Early: Ensuring that Students Arrive at School Ready to Learn 8
Measuring Student Achievement Sensibly & in a Manner that Supports Student Learning 9
o Identifying struggling students earlier and developing better student supports 9
o Calling for sensible, less frequent testing 9
o Moving away from time-in-seat to mastery-based promotion 10
o Exploring opportunities to boost student achievement by considering sensible start times 10
Improving Student Support Services to Bolster Student Achievement 10

o Getting students to and from school 11
o Ensuring that Providence public schools have appropriate 12
numbers of counselors, nurses, and other paraprofessionals
o Developing community partnerships that support student learning 12
o Creatively seek solutions to discipline and school violence 13
Incorporating Technology into the Classroom 13
o Ensuring that the district as a whole, and each school and 13
every classroom, has the right infrastructure in place
o Providing every teacher with access to professional development so they know 14
how to use every tool at their disposal to improve their instruction
o Use technology to improve communications 14
Fixing School Facilities to Enhance Learning 14

o Working with other mayors to push for a public school construction bond 14
o Seeking out other creative school facility funding opportunities 14
o Maximizing opportunities to establish school buildings as the hubs of 15
neighborhood and community development
Enhancing Partnerships between Charter and Traditional District Schools 15

Improving District and School Leadership 15

Conclusion 16


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INTRODUCTION
In his economic development plan, Brett noted that Providences best way forward is
through economic growth. By attracting and sustaining businesses, developing and supporting an
educated and skilled workforce, bolstering key industries and economic strengths, and operating
a city government that assists rather than hinders growth, we can improve our local economy and
reestablish Providence as a hub of innovation, industry, and intellectual capital. Most of all, we
can create jobs with career paths and incomes upon which people can raise a family.

But an important key to Providences economic resurgence is desperately needed
improvement in Providences public schools. The reputation of Providences schools and the
achievement of its students will help attract or deter businesses from locating and growing in
Providence. The quality of Providences schools will help attract or deter families from choosing
to live in Providence and enabling our neighborhoods to flourish. And the ability of Providences
schools to educate students to world-class standards will determine the long-term health and
well-being of our local economy and neighborhoods by preparing employees that employers
value and well-rounded citizens who will sustain Providence in the years to come.

In short, our schools are vital to any efforts to transform Providence. When we invest in
our schools, our students, and our teachers, we make down payments in the future of Providence.
But to improve our schools takes much more than an investment in our school buildings,
although we do indeed need to fix our buildings. Improving education in Providence requires
leadership that recognizes what is at stake and can get needed things done. Our students cannot
learn if they lack adequate transportation to get to school. Our students cannot learn if they come
to school hungry. Our students cannot learn if high rates of lead poisoning, asthma, diabetes, and
other chronic, preventable and treatable illnesses keep them out of the classroom. Our students
cannot learn if they lack access to books and technology that can lift their minds and expand
their horizons.

If we truly wish to drive student achievement, we need a mayor with the skill-set to see
beyond the four walls of the classroom and clear away the barriers that are preventing too many
of our students from succeeding. Effective education does not exist in a vacuum. It needs to work
in tandem with everything the city can do to improve transportation, healthier outcomes, poverty,
housing, libraries, access to the Internet, and public safety. As Mayor, Brett Smiley will begin
that process and see it through.

We have some pockets of excellence in education in Providence. For example, Classical
High School has a national reputation, receiving accolades that include being designated a Silver
Medal School in the most recent U.S. News and World Report national ranking of American
high schools and earning 235
th
on the Washington Posts national ranking of most challenging
high schools in the United States. The Academy for Career Exploration and the Times 2
Academy also earned Bronze Medals in the U.S. News and World Report national rankings.

But we need to see substantial improvement across all Providence public schools.
According to the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE), more than half of Providences
public schools are low-performing, as measured by federal requirements. Far too many of our


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students including more than one-third of all Providence high school students are chronically
absent. Overall, across all students in the district, 49% meet proficiency in reading, 32% meet
proficiency in mathematics, and 42% are proficient in writing, as measured by the New England
Common Assessment Program (NECAP) tests (which is far from a perfect test itself, as will be
touched upon later). While these figures showed some improvement between 2009 and 2013, we
cannot be satisfied when half of our students are not yet reading at appropriate levels, two-thirds
of our students are struggling in math, and our students are writing at a level that is 20
percentage points lower than the rest of Rhode Island. Less than half (48.2%) of our elementary
school students are proficient in reading, and only 39% are proficient in math. While reading
scores improve through middle school (49.9%) and high school (60.5%), math proficiency scores
decline (34.1% proficiency among middle school students and 23.6% proficiency among high
school students). And achievement gaps persist among low-income students and students of
color.

As Mayor, Brett Smiley will put Providences school children first. His long-term goal is
to ensure that every Providence student believes that he or she is a lifelong learner and leaves
high school fully prepared to succeed in college, the workforce, and the community. In order to
do this, Mayor Smiley will set high standards and expectations, invest in early childhood
education initiatives that help enable students to enter school ready to learn, and identify and
support struggling students early so they do not advance from grade to grade while falling further
and further behind academically. Mayor Smiley will push to attract better teachers and leaders
into our schools and fix crumbling school buildings. And he will oversee a biannual performance
review to improve school services, cut wasteful spending, and free up funding to pay for services
that directly enhance student achievement.

To usher in a new era of educational excellence in Providence, one based on a solemn
belief in equal opportunity to a quality education for all, Brett Smiley will work with students,
teachers, school administrators, parents, community organizations, and businesses.


SETTING HIGH STANDARDS AND EXPECTATIONS

A vigorous debate is underway, both in Rhode Island and across the United States, about
the implementation of the Common Core State Standards and the impact and value of
assessments associated with those standards. While reasonable minds may differ about the role
that high-stakes testing ought to play in the education of our children, no one should disagree
about the importance of setting high standards and doing everything in our power to ensure that
all students have every opportunity to meet them.

Brett Smiley believes that every student can learn. He believes that all Providence
students deserve and should expect a rigorous educational experience that prepares them for
success in college, the workforce, and the community. To these ends, as Mayor, Brett Smiley
will:

Support the effective implementation of the Common Core State Standards. There
has been a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding about the Common Core


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State Standards. Quite simply, the Common Core State Standards are consistent
guidelines that describe what all students should know and be able to do in
English and mathematics from kindergarten through the 12
th
Grade. They set forth
content and academic skills that ought to be mastered.
But the Common Core State Standards are standards, not the curricula that
need to be developed and taught in the classroom to help students reach those
standards. They are not assessments that need to be developed to measure how
well students are attaining those standards. They are not professional development
that needs to occur in order to help teachers develop rigorous lessons that enable
more students to reach those high standards.
There is plenty of room for discussion regarding the best ways to reach
these high standards. But Providence public schools should not shy away from the
difficult, time-consuming, but necessary job of effectively implementing the
standards. As Mayor, Brett will work tirelessly to champion and support high
standards in Providence schools.

Not lose sight of the importance of a well-rounded curriculum that also includes
science, history, and the arts. If we truly want our schools to produce well-
rounded students who become educated citizens, we have to fund and support a
well-rounded curriculum. Brett Smiley believes we will have failed to educate our
students if we can get students to proficiency in math, science and English but
have not exposed them to the arts, to foreign cultures, and to American and world
history.
As Mayor, Brett cannot dictate what constitutes a core curriculum. The
state sets forth the requirements that students need to meet, including the number
of credits and classes in each subject area that students need in order to graduate.
But Mayor Smiley can and will champion programs and initiatives that enhance
understanding of history, sciences, and the arts in Providence schools. Our
students live in a city with a rich history and where history continues to be made
as the state capital. Our students are surrounded by universities and companies
that are producing breakthroughs in a variety of scientific endeavors. Our students
live on the shores of Narragansett Bay, where leading organizations like Save the
Bay are linking environmental education and hands-on opportunities for scientific
exploration and learning. Our students live in a city with a robust arts community.
Brett will foster the kinds of partnerships early on in the school year that link
Providences historic, scientific, environmental, and arts resources with our
schools in the hopes that exposing our students to these community jewels will
inspire our students in ways we can scarcely imagine.
In particular, Brett will support the expressive arts in our schools. Visual
arts, music, creative writing, drama, dance, and other modes of personal
expression can increase self-awareness and personal growth and help students
make sense of the world around them. The expressive arts can create space for
emotion, encourage reflection, and build bridges to learning and critical thinking.
A vibrant arts program in all of our schools offers an important means to engage
students and channel their energies in positive, non-violent forms of personal


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expression. As Mayor, Brett will provide resources and linkages to boost arts in
our schools.


SPENDING SCHOOL FUNDING WISELY:
A SCHOOL DISTRICT PERFORMANCE REVIEW

Total school expenditures comprise just over half of the City of Providences total
budget. This year, we are spending $337.4 million out of a total city budget of $662 million. The
vast majority of school funding is invested in people $264.3 million, or 78.3% of the school
budget, is spent on staff. Operations accounts for another $63.2 million, or 18.7% of the school
budget, while student services cost $2.9 million (0.8%) and other miscellaneous categories
comprise the remaining $7 million (2.1%).

Because the school budget is the largest portion of the Citys budget, it deserves
purposefully thoughtful scrutiny. As Mayor, Brett Smiley will oversee a biannual school district
performance review. A performance review is different than an audit. It is a systematic review of
an agencys budget and operations in order to improve government services and identify
opportunities for savings. Performance reviews have been used at the federal and state levels to
help reinvent government, eliminate duplicative or outdated programs and practices, maximize
revenue from other federal, state, and private sources, and save taxpayer dollars. For example,
during the first nine years of the ongoing Texas School Performance Review, Texas saved $390
million in school spending through initiatives that controlled costs, reduced overhead,
streamlined operations, and improved services.

The goal of Mayor Smileys school district performance review is not to cut spending
simply for the sake of making cuts. The goal is to find ways to reduce or eliminate ineffective
spending that could be reprogrammed to better serve the needs of our students and teachers and
support higher levels of academic achievement.


SUPPORTING OUR TEACHERS

The best way to ensure that our students succeed is to have a well-educated, well-trained
teacher in every classroom in every school building. In study after study after study of what
works in education, its clear that teachers make all the difference.

The implications for Providence are straightforward. First and foremost, the Providence
Public School District has to focus carefully on recruiting the very best teachers possible into our
schools. Providence pays more than some districts in Rhode Island, but less than others. Since
salary and benefits are only one of many reasons upon which excellent teachers would base a
decision to seek to teach in Providence, the district has to position itself to be the kind of place
where teachers want to teach.



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Making Providence a district in which top teachers want to work. Teachers
deserve to be treated like professionals. Like other professionals, they need time
to teach, time to plan, exposure to professional development opportunities that
enhance their instructional skills, and career pathways that reward excellence. As
Mayor, Brett will work closely with the Providence Public School District to:
o Actively listen to teachers and their concerns. The school district ought to
listen closely to teacher feedback about teaching conditions, classroom
successes and challenges, and ways to improve instruction and student
achievement. As Mayor, Brett will seek funding for an annual survey of
teachers to solicit direct feedback on a range of issues. A similar teacher
survey conducted by the State of Kentucky received feedback from more than
43,000 educators last year 87 percent of the teachers in that state. Survey
results help inform statewide and district initiatives to improve working
conditions, inform professional development needs, and enhance instructional
practices and support.
o Improve the work environment. As Mayor, Brett will strongly encourage the
school district to negotiate with teachers to protect teachers time to plan,
collaborate, and provide effective instruction. In addition, Mayor Smiley will
seek funding for facilities and resources that support effective instruction.
Brett also will encourage open communication between district leadership,
school administrators, and teachers in order to advance teaching and learning.
Finally, Mayor Smiley will ensure that district leadership involves teachers in
decision-making processes that directly impact work conditions, safety, and
classroom instruction.
o Create better career ladders that allow master teachers to continue to teach.
All too often, exceptional teachers wind up leaving the classroom because it is
easier to earn higher salaries and professional prestige as school or district
administrators. Brett will challenge the Providence School Board to use the
collective bargaining process to establish teaching career pathways, within
schools that can accommodate them, which lead to certification as master
teachers. Similar to what is done in some leading educational systems around
the world, master teachers in Providence would have their workload split
between training and mentoring other teachers while still maintaining a part-
time teaching course load. This goes hand-in-hand with hiring school
administrators who have management backgrounds and proving them with
additional support and professional training.
o Encourage teachers to become education entrepreneurs. Teachers accumulate
a wealth of lessons learned throughout their career. These lessons involve
better ways of teaching content as well as pedagogy, but also encompass
issues around school organization and leadership, parental engagement,
student support, curriculum development, professional development and more.
As Mayor, Brett will seek out ways to encourage and incentivize Providence
teachers to share those lessons learned and impact the leadership and direction
of their schools and the school district.
o Sell Providence as a place to work and live. The City of Providence should
play a role in the recruitment and retention of effective teachers. As Mayor,


)
Brett Smiley will pursue innovative initiatives to use grants and other
incentives to recruit and retain teachers. For example, the city could seek
funding to support signing and recruitment bonuses for highly qualified
teacher candidates, student loan forgiveness programs, and housing stipends,
among other incentives.

Recruiting the best teachers possible for our students. In order to have a well-
educated, well-trained teacher in every classroom in every school building, Mayor
Smiley will:
o Work with Rhode Island teacher education programs to better prepare
teachers for careers in the Providence Public School District. In particular,
Brett will challenge teacher education programs to align their course of study
with the content knowledge and skills teachers will need to be successful in
Providence. Brett also will encourage the teacher education programs to
explore the inclusion of cultural competencies within courses of study to help
prospective teachers understand the diversity of Providence student bodies.
And finally, Brett will work with the Providence Public School District to
develop internship opportunities that strengthen the ties between prospective
teachers and Providence schools.
o Recruit more teachers and administrators of color. About 91 percent of
Providence public school students are students of color. But the majority of
Providence public school teachers and administrators are white. Our teaching
and school leadership workforce ought to reflect the wonderful diversity of
our community and student body. As Mayor, Brett Smiley will strongly
encourage the Providence Public School District to do more extensive
outreach to bolster the number of highly trained teachers and administrators of
color. In particular, Brett will push to recruit far more bilingual teachers,
administrators, and staff in schools and at the district level to support the
learning of all Providence students and improve communications with their
parents.
o Encourage more Providence teachers to pursue and achieve National Board
certification. The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is
regarded as the gold standard of accomplished teaching. As Mayor, Brett will
work with the district to recruit National Board-certified teachers as well as
encouraging and incentivizing more Providence teachers to pursue National
Board certification.
o Recruit mid-career transfers and expand alternative pathways to teaching in
Providence. When traditional methods of recruiting teachers fail to provide
adequate teachers, especially in hard-to-fill disciplines like math and science,
Brett will challenge the Providence Public School District to expand its
recruitment efforts to include alternative pathways into teaching.
Organizations such as the New Teacher Project and Urban Teacher Residency
United help train and support new teachers in urban settings like Providence.
As Mayor, Brett will seek out potential partners that can help bring well-
trained, well-educated and motivated new teachers into our classrooms. But
for any of these alternative pathways into teaching to work well, school


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leaders, as the instructional leaders of their schools, have to make sure new
teachers who have subject matter expertise are paired up with experienced
teachers who can support them with on-going mentoring around pedagogy,
classroom management skills and instruction.

Expanding opportunities for collaboration and professional learning. The
profession of teaching is constantly evolving. Teachers need time to remain
abreast of the latest research in what works in education, learning strategies,
technology and good instruction, as well as developments in their academic fields.
In addition, they need common planning times and time for professional
development not just within departments but also across schools and with other
professionals, such as teachers at charter schools. As Mayor, Brett will actively
encourage the leadership of the Providence Public School District to respect the
teachers as professionals and support their personal and professional
development.


STARTING EARLY: ENSURING THAT STUDENTS
ARRIVE AT SCHOOL READY TO LEARN

According to Mayor Taveras, two-thirds of Providence school children arrive at
kindergarten already behind on national literacy benchmarks. Providence has a number of
important initiatives already underway to get every child reading on grade level by the end of
third grade. For example, the Providence Talks program seeks to close the 30 million word gap
that research shows exists between children growing up in low- and high-income households.
Participating families receive a small word pedometer that generates charts and graphs
showing the number of words and conversations that their child engages in over the course of a
day. This information is shared with families by an educator, along with talking tips, free books
and other resources designed to help prepare our youngest learners for success in kindergarten
and beyond.

The state pre-kindergarten program is highly regarded, meeting all of the National
Institute for Early Education Researchs benchmarks for program quality. But only one percent
of Rhode Islands 4-year-olds are enrolled in the state pre-kindergarten program, well short of
every other state pre-K program (for example, 74 percent in Oklahoma and 65 percent in
Vermont).

As Mayor, Brett Smiley will encourage Providence parents to take advantage of existing
early childhood education programs, publicize their availability, and seek funding where
necessary for additional support of early childhood education initiatives with the long-term goal
of establishing universal pre-kindergarten in the Providence Public School District. In addition,
Brett will vigorously support the implementation of leading programs like Incredible Years,
Minds in the Making, and Ready to Learn Providence, all of which play important roles in our
community by building understanding of effective learning strategies among those who provide
early childhood education and home-based daycare.



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MEASURING STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT SENSIBLY AND IN A
MANNER THAT SUPPORTS STUDENT LEARNING

Just like adults, children learn in different ways. Some students can hear a lesson and can
retain the information. Other students learn by reading. Still others learn when they are required
to process what they are learning through writing assignments. Other students learn when they
have to get up and talk about something. Still others learn through hands-on or group activities.
And the list goes on and on. But if we only measure what students have learned or mastered by
testing them one way by reading dense passages and asking them to respond to multiple choice
questions we are less likely to get a comprehensive measure of what most students have or
have not learned.

These may seem like common-sense observations, but the last couple decades of
education in the United States suggest that we have done a great disservice to many of our
students by the way we teach and test them. The days of stand-and-deliver classroom instruction
are changing, and the ways in which we measure student achievement need to change as well.

As Mayor, Brett Smiley will encourage the appointment of district leaders who
understand that instruction and assessments have to change in order for adults to do right by our
students. Brett also will work tirelessly to find funding that supports the kind of hands-on,
project-based instruction that allows students to learn the way they learn best. In addition, in
order to better measure what students know in ways that actually support student learning, Brett
will push the Providence Public School District to:

Identify struggling students earlier and develop better student supports. The
sooner schools know when students are having trouble with reading, writing, and
numeracy skills, the sooner they can intervene and provide those students with
additional support. Schools already collect a wealth of information and need to
use that data to develop a personalized plan of instruction.

Call for sensible, less frequent testing. In life, adults often have to demonstrate
what we know in order to get a drivers license or a job, or just to get ahead in
careers. If you want to become a doctor, you have to take your medical boards. If
you want to become a lawyer, you have to take the bar exam. Tests are a part of
life, and students ought to be prepared to demonstrate what they know.
But testing only works if good tests are used tests that are aligned with
high standards and with the curriculum being taught, tests that actually measure
the kinds of skills that students will need in the 21
st
Century economy, and tests
that are transparent enough to ensure that teachers can align their instruction to
what is being measured on those tests.
The highest achieving education systems around the world the countries
whose students are far surpassing ours all have rigorous testing systems. But
they tend to use these exams less frequently, often at the end of elementary
school, at the end of middle school, and after what Americans would consider the
sophomore year of high school. They also test a wider range of subjects, which
require schools to focus on a truly well-rounded curriculum as opposed to one that


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almost exclusively tests math and English. By testing less frequently, these
leading countries can afford to administer better tests when they do stop to
measure student achievement.
As Mayor, Brett Smiley cannot control what the federal government
requires Providences schools to test, nor can he control what the state requires
our schools to test. But Brett will be a loud and persistent advocate for smarter
testing. Brett will work with his fellow mayors not just in Rhode Island but
around the country to push the federal government and state governments to
require meaningful assessments: tests that are aligned with high standards and
rigorous curricula and tests that measure a broader range of subjects and the kinds
of skills that 21
st
Century employers desire. And Brett will push for fewer but
better tests, similar to testing schedules used in leading education systems around
the world. Our current testing system falls short.

Move away from time-in-seat to mastery-based promotion. One of the problems
with our current education system is that students get promoted from one grade to
the next whether they have mastered the content of their courses or developed
appropriate academic skills. But over time, far too many students arrive in high
school multiple grade levels behind in reading, writing, and numeracy skills. In all
too many instances, there is not enough time for students to close those gaps, and
they struggle to meet the basic levels of proficiency in order to graduate. Giving a
high school diploma for the sake of having a diploma does nothing to prepare
students for success in college or the workforce. As Mayor, Brett will pursue an
honest dialogue about moving away from our current time-in-seat education
system to one that challenges students to demonstrate their mastery of content and
skills.

Explore opportunities to boost student achievement by considering sensible start
times. A growing body of evidence suggests that when teenage students start
school later in the morning, student achievement improves, in part because
students may get better sleep and therefore be better able to concentrate,
remember more, and process information at higher levels. There are other
ancillary health benefits to a later school start time as well. Switching school start
times that align with our growing understanding of youth health and brain science
also has the potential benefit of aligning with needed changes in city
transportation patterns. As Mayor, Brett will push the school district to study and
consider changing school start times if the benefits can be supported.


IMPROVING STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES TO BOLSTER
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

Our schools can do a number of things to help students in and out of the classroom to
support effective learning. As Mayor, Brett Smiley will work with the Providence Public School
District and other partners to:



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Get students to and from school. We cannot expect students to learn if students
cannot get to school. Our schools, and particularly our high schools, have a
chronic absenteeism problem, fueled in part by unreasonable, outdated, and
underfunded transportation policies. According to a WPRI.com report, every
Providence high school except Classical had a chronic absenteeism rate of at least
35 percent last school year. To be chronically absent, students must miss at least
10 percent, or 18 days, of the school year. It is hardly a surprise that our students
are underachieving when one out of every three high school students is missing
significant amounts of instruction. And in some instances, the meals that students
receive at school are their primary source of nourishment. When they cannot get
to school, these students sometimes go hungry.
Providence public school students have to rely on RIPTA for public
transportation to school. But (starting next year) only students who live more than
two and a half miles from their school receive bus passes. Its great to see this
radius decreased from three miles and a long-term commitment to bringing it
down to two miles, but our current radius remains longer than any other school
district in Rhode Island and longer than other major New England cities like
Boston, Hartford, Springfield, or Worcester, all of which offer passes to students
who live more than two miles away.
In April, as a short-term solution, Brett called upon the Providence Public
School Department to declare Bad Weather Days, a designation that would
provide the funds for RIPTA to cover the costs of bus rides for all students who
live within two to three miles of their schools on days of excessive heat, cold,
rain, sleet, snow, etc.
But a comprehensive, long-term solution requires Providence to find the
funds to get students to and from school every day, not just when the weather is
challenging. Brett applauds the recent efforts by RIPTA, the City, and the
Providence Public School District to improve the citys school transportation
policies. As Mayor, Brett Smiley will work with the City Council, the Providence
Public School District, RIPTA, and RIDE to find the money to ensure that
students who live more than two miles away from their school can get a bus pass.
In addition, Brett will work with RIPTA and entrepreneurial transportation
companies to develop more effective transportation services to ensure that all
students can get to and from school as quickly and safely as possible, each and
every school day. Brett will direct city agencies to work with key stakeholders to
develop a comprehensive and operational analysis of all transportation options
public and private to determine the best ways to transport students to and from
school.
Sixty years ago, the Brown vs. Board of Education decision helped to
desegregate American public schools. The lead plaintiff in Brown sued on behalf
of his third-grade daughter Linda, who had to walk seven blocks just to reach the
bus stop so that she could be driven another mile to a segregated school even
though an elementary school that taught white children was only seven blocks
from her home. Surely, 60 years later, a great city like Providence can come
together to find ways to ease the journey of all of its school children so they can
focus on learning and not travelling.



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Ensure that Providence public schools have appropriate numbers of counselors,
nurses, and other paraprofessionals. Sometimes getting all the personnel our
students need requires smarter budgeting. This may mean prioritizing existing
funds to cover these needs. In others instances, we may have to find more money,
either through the traditional budget process or by identifying federal, state, and
external grant funding opportunities. As Mayor, Brett Smiley is committed to
pursuing all necessary funding when the need can be demonstrated.
For example, we know that Providences chronic absenteeism is a
reflection of public health challenges in our community. As noted earlier, our
students cannot learn if high rates of lead poisoning, asthma, diabetes, and other
chronic, preventable and treatable illnesses keep them out of the classroom. And
yet, staffing cuts have led to nurse to student ratios that approach one nurse for
nearly 800 students in some schools. But if we invested in school nurses and
empowered them to conduct outreach on preventive health issues and not just
triage student illnesses, we could reduce student absenteeism and improve student
achievement.

Develop community partnerships that support student learning. Many students
face assorted challenges that impact learning, including getting to and from
school, hunger and malnutrition, public health, access to books and technology,
and finding adequate before-school and after-school care. As Mayor, Brett will
develop partnerships with community organizations, businesses and parents to put
comprehensive wrap-around services in place to meet the needs of Providence
public school children. Many hardworking and committed organizations and
volunteers are providing a range of services to Providence students, including but
certainly not limited to:
o The Providence Children and Youth Cabinet, which coordinates agencies and
organizations that work with Providences children and youth, is working to
strengthen the network of educational, social, and physical and behavioral
health services that support good academic and social outcomes.
o Family Service of Rhode Islands Walking School Bus initiative pairs adult
volunteers with students who walk to and from school, ensuring their safe
transit while combating childhood obesity and chronic absenteeism.
o The Providence Afterschool Alliance expands quality afterschool, summer,
and other opportunities for engaging, hands-on student learning.
o New Urban Arts is a community arts studio that empowers young people as
artists and leaders to develop creative practices through sustained mentorships
between high school students and trained artists.
o The College Crusade of Rhode Island is working to build a college-going
culture among Providence students through academic enrichment, career
awareness and exploration, and preparation for post-secondary education.
o The Providence Community Library operates a statewide reference resource
center that, among other things, offers students help with their homework and
other informational needs.
o The St. Joseph Hospital Lead Center offers free lead screening tests for
children aged zero to six and case management services for lead-poisoned


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children, and the Childhood Lead Action Project has done extraordinary work
for the last 22 years to eliminate childhood lead poisoning through education,
parent support, and advocacy.
As Mayor, Brett will seek to better leverage and coordinate these and many other
services and organizations to build a comprehensive network of wrap-around
services that support the health, well-being, and education of Providences
schoolchildren and families. Brett also will push to increase the oversight of these
and other service providers to ensure that they are providing research-based
solutions that yield measurable, positive outcomes.

Creatively seek solutions to discipline and school violence. As Mayor, Brett Smiley is
committed to reducing disorder and violence in our schools, from online bullying to
physical violence against students or teachers. Brett will seek funding to add school
resource officers in more Providence schools. In addition, he will work to incorporate
non-violence and anti-bullying training and programs in Providence schools for
teachers, students, and parents and will seek out partnerships that enhance positive
behaviors and relationships among students. He has already pledged to personally go
through nonviolence training along with key City Hall staff. Ending bullying in our
schools is possible if we take the appropriate steps:
o We need to enforce recently passed anti-bullying legislation.
o We need to take advantage of existing programs like the Human Rights
Campaigns Welcoming Schools initiative that teaches students to embrace
and celebrate diversity.
o We need to provide our teachers with nonviolence training and anger
management techniques.
o We need to recognize the impact of the language we use and create a new
culture of nonviolent communication in our schools.
o We need to teach coping mechanisms for stress and conflict as well as social-
building skills to our students.
One thing is certain: we cannot suspend or transfer our way out of school discipline
problems. Ultimately, this approach only serves to exclude students who may need
the most support and school engagement.


INCORPORATING TECHNOLOGY INTO THE CLASSROOM

The Providence School District has an extensive technology plan. This plan will take
time to implement and funding to realize. It is not the role of the Mayor to second-guess the
many parents, teachers, administrators, and stakeholders who contributed to the development of
that technology plan. But as Mayor, Brett Smiley will ensure that the district has the funding it
needs to acquire and use technology to prepare students for 21
st
Century jobs. Mayor Smiley will
work with the district to:

Ensure that the district as a whole, and each school and every classroom, has the
right infrastructure in place from servers to routers to smart boards to ELMOs
and more to support effective classroom instruction.


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Provide every teacher with access to the professional development needed so that
they know how to use every tool at their disposal to improve their instruction.
Technology is a tool to improve instruction. But if a teacher does not know how
to fully use that tool, it is of little value to students. Right now, only 40 percent of
Providence teachers say that they are incorporating technology into their
instruction where appropriate.

Use technology to improve communications and communicating electronically
whenever possible between schools and parents, teachers and parents, teachers
and students, and among students.

One other way that Brett will help provide adequate access to technology is to ensure that
the district is spending its dollars wisely and effectively. It is hard to understand when money
gets spent on things like electronic billboards and signs outside of school buildings when
classrooms and libraries inside our schools lack smart boards, computers, software and the like.
As Mayor, Brett will push the district hard to spend its resources effectively so that Providences
schools have more money for things we know we need, like more technology.


FIXING SCHOOL FACILITIES TO ENHANCE LEARNING

We need school facilities that are worthy of our students and teachers. Students will not
reach their fullest potential if they are trying to learn in rooms that lack adequate lighting,
classrooms that are too hot or too cold, or in buildings that are falling apart. Nor is it fair for
taxpayers to demand better performance from students and teachers while depriving them of the
facilities and supports they need in order to be successful. The investments we make in our
school buildings are a direct reflection of the value we place on our students and teachers.

The quality and condition of our schools determine how the City of Providence is
perceived. They contribute to the kinds of companies and residents we attract and retain. Brett
will push for additional funding that can be specifically devoted to improving school facilities
both school modernization funds for larger capital projects AND operations and deferred
maintenance budgets so that we can take better care of our school buildings instead of allowing
them to fall apart. As Mayor, Brett also will:

Work with other mayors around the state to push for a public school construction
bond or other funding sources that can help improve school facilities around the
state, including Providence. In addition, Brett will work with district staff to
ensure that they are applying for every available dollar through existing state
school construction and retrofit programs.

Seek out other creative school facility funding opportunities, such as energy
efficiency retrofits, many of which can be done without the school district having
to lay out any money up front. Money saved on school energy and water bills can
be recaptured and used to pay for other operations and maintenance needs.


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Maximize opportunities to establish school buildings as the hubs of neighborhood
and community development. School buildings can be the center of neighborhood
life. While we often think of schools as places where children learn for six or
seven hours a day, our schools can become true neighborhood resources that
benefit far more people than just our students. Gymnasiums, sports fields, and
playgrounds can double as recreation centers and community parks. School
libraries can offer afterschool and evening access to community residents. School
auditoriums can support community theater activities. School nursing offices can
expand to provide health clinic services. By envisioning and supporting
innovative joint use of public school facilities, Providence schools can become
hubs of community engagement and learning. The development of effective joint
use agreements will require considerable community-based planning. But they
might also increase community-based partnerships and revenues that help
transform school facilities into useful centers of neighborhood life.


ENHANCING PARTNERSHIPS BETWEEN CHARTER AND
TRADITIONAL DISTRICT SCHOOLS

Although charter schools have been created to serve as laboratories of educational
innovation, the debate over their existence and effectiveness has obscured that vision and
opportunity. Brett Smiley supports charter schools that are producing better educational
outcomes for Providence schoolchildren. When charter schools struggle to produce better
outcomes over time, Brett supports reforming them or, if need be, closing them.

But as Mayor, Brett Smiley also will work hard to enhance partnerships between
traditional district schools and charter schools. As laboratories of innovation, charter schools are
helping to identify an array of promising practices around the organization of the school day,
staffing, student supports, student discipline, and parental engagement, as are many district
schools. Brett is committed to strengthening opportunities between charter schools and district
schools to share innovative practices and exchange lessons learned on a continuous basis. For
example, Brett will support the efforts of the Children and Youth Cabinet to organize school
visits by teachers and administrators to observe promising practices in action. Brett also will
explore the possibility of linking charter funding to the development of partnerships with district
schools to further incentivize collaboration. In addition, Brett will encourage the district to set
aside joint professional learning community time to link charter school teachers with their
colleagues in district schools.


IMPROVING DISTRICT AND SCHOOL LEADERSHIP

Brett Smiley is committed to doing everything in his power to support high expectations
and achievement in Providence public schools. He will work closely with the leadership of the
Providence Public School District to find the resources they need to get the job done. But Brett


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also will exercise his authority to appoint the members of the Providence School Board to
identify and influence the hiring of district and school leaders who possess the qualities that the
Providence Public School District will need to move forward from creative, out-of-the-box
thinking to financial experience to an unfailing commitment to support all students throughout
their development as well-educated, lifelong learners.

Brett will also build on some of the recent lessons learned about leadership in
Providence. During the past year, student activists through the Providence Student Union have
pushed hard to have their voices heard on a variety of pressing issues, including high-stakes
testing and transportation. These students remind us that people in leadership within our city
and within our district and schools need to listen to the voices of our youth. As Mayor, Brett
intends to appoint a student representative to the Providence School Board to ensure that student
voices are at the table as decisions are being made that affect their education.

As Mayor, Brett also will never lose sight of the importance of parental involvement and
feedback in our schools. Parents matter, and school and city leaders need to ensure that their
voices also are heard and considered as school policies are being made and implemented.


CONCLUSION

Our schools will be successful only to the extent that their leadership is devoted to a
quality education for all, open communications, and a commitment to collaboration and
partnerships that support better outcomes for all Providence students. As Mayor of Providence,
Brett Smiley will be the leader who gets it done.


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