Fung supports mayoral academy opening
by Jen Cowart
Oct 15, 2009
STUDENT LE ADERS: Kindergarten teacher and Cranston resident Joy Souza stands with her three Ambassador Scholars, Sreyas Katralapalli, Alejandra Flores and Fiona Magee.
The RIMA (Rhode Island Mayoral Academies) held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Oct. 6 to mark the opening of
Democracy Prep Blackstone Valley, a public charter school in Cumberland.
Cranston Mayor Allan Fung was among the dignitaries present at the ceremony, and Joy Souza, a Cranston
resident, is one of the founding faculty members at the school, which opened on Aug. 31.
Other state dignitaries present included mayors from several cities, Rhode Island’s Governor Carcieri, House
Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox, Senate Majority Leader Daniel P. Connors and Rhode Island’s new Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education, Deborah Gist. Democracy Prep founder Seth Andrew and Nelson Smith, president and CEO for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools were there as well.
The RIMA is a nonprofit organization overseeing the new Mayoral Academies education model in Rhode Island. The Mayoral Academies are a new form of charter school, which combine successful school operators with the accountability of a mayor-led, local governance structure.
“As a result of legislation approved in 2008, RIMA is afforded great flexibility to design their own teacher salary and health and retirement benefit structure. Supporters say this flexibility enables the recruitment of innovative teachers and allows for incentive-based or outcome-based pay,” according to a press release.
The motto of the school is “Work Hard. Go to College. Change the World,” and the students, or scholars as they are called, have an extended school day and an extended school year. There are currently 76 kindergarteners enrolled at the school, known as the college class of 2026.
Two-thirds of the scholars come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, one-third come from Spanish-speaking homes. The school is “unapologetically a college-prep school” and will eventually serve students up to grade 12. The students hail from a combination of both urban and suburban communities: Central Falls, Cumberland, Lincoln and Pawtucket. They were given slots at the school based on lottery and according to Governor Carcieri, but there were double the amount of student applications as there were available slots.
The students all wear uniforms, an aspect of the school that House Majority Leader Gordon Fox especially approves of.
“I am an advocate for uniforms at all public schools,” Fox said in his remarks to the group.
Governor Carcieri emphasized that charter schools are public schools, funded and supported by the public.
“I’m a supporter of public schools. I am a product of East Greenwich Schools, my dad taught at East Greenwich High School for 38 years. My kids all went through public schools. Parents are looking for choices. Our charter schools generally perform very well and outperform district schools,” said Carcieri. “Our young people who attend charter schools benefit from having access to new avenues of learning and the kind of parental involvement these schools encourage. I want to see this succeed and multiply. The bottom line is this is an investment well worth making.”
Mayor Fung is also looking for choices. Fung said that he is hopeful of getting a similar Mayoral Academy in the city of Cranston.
“Right now we are trying to determine the right fit for the city of Cranston, the right type of school. I would love to see this type of innovation in Cranston. It’s all about choices and opportunities. There’s no reason to continue the same methods year after year, having the same fights. This is a new method and it’s proven to work,” Fung said.
The first Democracy Prep charter school was started in Harlem, N.Y. in 2006 to service grades 6 to 12. It has seen great success, recently outperforming Westchester County on the 2007 New York State Math exam. It has the highest parent waitlist of any middle school in New York City.
The goals of Democracy Prep Blackstone Valley are in line with Gist’s goals for Rhode Island.
“This is the reason I came to Rhode Island. This is an example of leadership standing firm on what we know children deserve and what we know they are capable of doing. My goal is that the state of Rhode Island will have the best educational system in the country, and will be the envy of the world. These children [at Democracy Prep Blackstone Valley] will show us what is possible across the state,” Gist said.
Each kindergarten class at the school had three Ambassador Scholar representatives present to take part in the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Kindergarten teacher and Cranston resident Joy Souza stood proudly with her three and watched them as they used their scissors to make their cuts. She was enthusiastic about her job at the school and the level of professionalism shown by people that she works with.
“There is nothing better than coming to work each day and knowing that I am surrounded by co-workers who have the same level of dedication and enthusiasm about teaching our scholars, as I do. Our school will be proof that if you teach young children about the value of hard work, higher education and civic responsibility, they can achieve their dreams, and then some. I continue to be amazed each and every day by the academic and social learning that takes place at Democracy Prep, and I am so proud to be a part of it,” Souza said.
Democracy Prep’s founder, Seth Andrew, had an energy and enthusiasm that was reflected by the challenge he offered out to the group.
“This is not just a school. This is a place where scholars work hard so they can go to college. They will change the world. Today I want to ask you to hold us accountable for results. If we can do it here, we can do it anywhere in the state of Rhode Island. We need to make this a state of high performing, unbelievably successful schools. The road ahead is really hard. This is one step, and it’s not easy. This is the future of the great state of Rhode Island.”
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