Dear Neighbors:
As the President treats today’s Flag Day observance as his personal birthday party, it is worth remembering the day’s actual history, In this week’s letter, I will describe how the recent closure of the UCAP Middle School reflects some of the governance challenges that lie ahead for the Providence Public Schools.
A. History Of UCAP
UCAP began in 1989 as an “urban collaborative,” bringing together the Central Falls, Pawtucket and Providence school districts to form an alternative middle school for students at risk of dropping out. For many years, the school created a distinctive culture that helped its students succeed. After its founder retired in 2019, however, the school began to drift. Two of three communities (Central Falls and Pawtucket) exited UCAP, leaving Providence alone. Each year, a class of Providence students enter UCAP’s seventh grade for two years of instruction, after which most continue their education in a Providence high school.
B. UCAP’s Decline And The School Department’s Response
Last fall, the School Department concluded UCAP was not achieving its mission. UCAP students trailed their Providence peers in academic performance and attendance, both on an absolute basis and when looking at comparative trends during 2017-25. The school was not properly maintaining and implementing individualized education plans for its special education students. UCAP was expensive, costing over $1 million more per year for its students at a time when district programs were being cut due to a lack of available funds.
In compliance with longstanding UCAP bylaws, the Providence Superintendent effectuated Providence’s exit from UCAP effective June, 2026 by writing a letter to the UCAP Board this past December. The School Department developed a transition plan for the 7th grade UCAP students, including the retention of academic interventionists to facilitate their successful return to the Providence Public Schools.
C. The School Board’s Reaction
The School Board disagreed with the Superintendent’s decision. According to the UCAP bylaws, the School Board did not have any official role in making or reviewing that decision; however, the School Board decided to create a new role for themselves. They asked the General Assembly to file a bill that, if passed, would retroactively overturn the Superintendent’s decision.
D. The Senate Bill
The Senate Education Committee heard the bill on April 8. The hearing reminded me of one I had as a member of the Providence School Board to close Alternative Learning Project (ALP), an alternative high school. (Unlike UCAP,the decision to close ALP was the responsibility of the School Board, not the Superintendent.) Like UCAP, ALP began with great promise, but by 2002 the students were not learning enough to succeed. The ALP hearing convinced me that, although the teachers and students enjoyed their time together, the school was not fulfilling its paramount mission of education.
Returning to the closure of UCAP, I believe as an institutional matter that the district’s lead educators had the legal responsibility to use their expertise to make an informed assessment about this educational program. I also considered it inappropriate to enact legislation that would reach back and invalidate a School Department decision that was lawful and proper at the time it was made. My colleagues did not agree. On a 6-1 vote (over my opposition), the Senate Education Committee voted to recommend passage. On May 7, the full Senate passed the bill by a vote of 32-2 over the dissenting votes I cast with Senator Pearson, who previously served on the Cumberland School Committee.
E. Review By The House Of Representatives
At the end of last week, I spoke with the Chair of the House Education Committee about the bill. He had previously served as the Director of Pawtucket’s Alternative Learning Program. He informed me he agreed with the comments I made on the Senate bill in committee and on the Senate floor, and that the House companion bill would not receive a vote out of committee. This means the school closure will now go forward which, in my opinion, will benefit both the UCAP students and release more than $1 million in funding for other important uses.
F. Lessons To Learn
I believe there are many lessons we can learn from this experience, both in terms of our schools’ mission and the need for our government authorities to avoid overreach.
1. The Paramount Importance Of Student Learning
Our experience with COVID taught us of need to support students’ social and emotional well-being to ensure they are ready to learn. With that said, however, social and emotional well-being is not an end in itself – if the students are not learning, the school is failing to achieve its mission.
2. The Need For Institutional Respect and Restraint, Or “Staying In Your Lane”
Our schools are subject to multiple layers of oversight, with different government actors playing different roles. I believe it is important for each authority to “stay in its lane” by exercising its own responsibility diligently while avoiding the temptation to interfere with actions outside its zone of authority. In this instance, the School Board overreached by interfering with a decision properly made by the School Department within the Department’s proper and lawful zone of authority. The School Board’s plan of interference entailed a second overreach, asking the General Assembly to pass legislation to retroactively override a decision that was properly and lawfully made five months before. The Senate also overreached in passing that bill. Thankfully, the House Education Committee chose not to participate in these multiple levels of interference and overreach.
3. What It Means For The Providence School Board To Be “Ready” To Assume Its Full Responsibilities
Over the past year, the Providence School argued vigorously that it is ready to assume responsibility for the Providence Public Schools. If the School Board wants to be truly ready, it will have have to learn how to “stay in its lane” and refrain from interfering with decisions that are outside its purview. Now that it achieved its goal of control, I hope the Providence School Board will avoid future decisions that are as irresponsible as this one was. I also will work harder with my fellow Senators to advocate for greater legislative restraint going forward.