EDUCATION

National teachers' union president to visit schools

Will push passage of $250-million bond for public school construction

Linda Borg
lborg@providencejournal.com
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten. [The Providence Journal / Bob Breidenbach]

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, will visit two schools in Providence on Thursday, according to a press spokesman for the union.

Weingarten will visit Mount Pleasant High School and Pleasant View Elementary to push the passage of a $250-million bond to renovate and rebuild the state's public schools, many of which are in disrepair. Both of the schools she is visiting are slated for improvements if the bond passes.

Weingarten will also meet with students and educators to discuss their current academic environments and the unique programs these schools offer their students.

This isn't her first trip to Providence. Weingarten was here in 2013, to recognize United Providence, a joint effort between the Providence Teachers' Union and the school administration to turn around three low-performing schools. At the time, the partnership was believed to be the first in the nation.

She was also here in March 2011, headlining a rally that drew 1,000 teachers to Kennedy Plaza, where they protested then-Mayor Angel Tavares' decision to send termination notices to all of the city's 1,926 teachers.

Weingarten's appearance comes at a time when the Providence Teachers Union is locked in a tense battle with Mayor Jorge Elorza over stalled contract negotiations; the contract expired Aug. 31, 2017.

Providence teachers, in a recent statewide survey commissioned by the R.I. Department of Education, sound demoralized; only one out of every two teachers who responded said they are optimistic that their schools will improve in the future.

Only 36 percent of teachers reported that their colleagues' attitudes were positive, and that the working environment of their school was positive.

In other findings:

— Less than a third of teachers say they have input into important decisions made by the school.

— Only one in five said that the school has been supportive of their growth as a teacher.

— Only one in two said that teacher satisfaction is important to their school leaders.

— Less than one in two say school leaders know what's going on in their classrooms.

The Survey Works findings might reflect the impasse between the union and Elorza, with the union claiming that the mayor has refused to re-open contract negotiations. 

On Sunday, teachers protested Elorza's fundraiser at the Roger Williams Park Casino. Outside, PTU President Maribeth Calabro said union members were gathered to protest their lack of a contract. Negotiations stalled in January because the union is pressing for pay raises, which the city has said it can’t afford, Calabro said.

“Mayor Elorza has spent the past 120 days ignoring Providence teachers,” she said. “And we are done listening to his kicking the can down the road saying, ‘We’re going to negotiate, we’re going to negotiate.’” 

Last month, teachers picketed Elorza's "All In" education summit.

More than 1,000 teachers and their supporters protested Elorza's State of the City address in February, drowning out his speech. And they staged a silent protest at his budget address in April.

Elorza has said that he is looking for larger changes in the contract but he hasn't elaborated.