Category Archives: Cranston News

Some Historical Context on the Prayer Banner Controversy

Posted on by Kiersten Marek

My overall analysis is that the real problem we have right now in Rhode Island is not that the Cranston Schools had a banner hanging in an auditorium that had a prayer on it. The real problem is that our economy is sagging big time, and we need to figure out how to turn that around. But the prayer banner controversy does define an important distinction about what government can and cannot do. The thoughts of Oswald Krell also serve to give more historical context to the discussion:

[...]To begin: any sentence that contains “the founding fathers believed/thought/said/wanted/intended/were, etc is necessarily wrong.

Yes. wrong.

The founding fathers were not a monolithic bunch. Exactly the opposite. They were a group of men, many of whom had long years of experience in politics in some form. As such, as a group and for the most part, they understood the necessity of compromise. Not all of them; there were some doctrinaire ideologues, especially in the earlier days, but they were weeded out as time passed.

A great example of this is Sam Adams–whose father was a brewer, by the way. He played a major role in the early days of the protests that led up to the outbreak of fighting, but he did not have the political chops to play any role in congress during the war.

Reading My Tea Leaves About Achievement First

Posted on by Kiersten Marek

If I had to call it, my call at this point would be that the Board of Regents will vote to approve one, and only one, Achievement First School to start up in Providence.  I have followed this issue closely for the past year, though I am by no means an insider to the process.  I am merely a concerned parent and a somewhat obsessive follower of the corporate-influenced education reform movement and its critics, of which I am one.

But it appears, with the Providence Mayor, the (Providence-Mayor-appointed) School Board, and many Providence legislators on board, this Achievement First thing is headed for a ram-through.  It’s not going to be a big ram-through, and for this I am grateful.  It’s just going to be the first foot onto the slippery slope of the corporate-influenced divvying up of the education money pie.  There will still be one foot on firm ground, so if we want to pull back and cancel this whole thing in a few years with only one Achievement First school opened and closed, that will still be possible.

In the meantime, if you still want to try to influence the vote on this matter by beseeching our Governor to intercede (not sure he could actually do that, other than by trying to influence individual Board of Regents members), you can sign the petition at Change.org.  

Steve Stycos Year End Report: Ending Wasteful Spending, Opening Community Gardens, and Opposing Charter Schools

Posted on by Kiersten Marek

Ward 1 Council Member Steve Stycos reports on his excellent contributions to the city:

YEAR END REPORT
December 21, 2011

As 2011 comes to a close, I want to update you on my first year on the Cranston City Council and my goals for 2012.

For the most part, the council works well. Debates are generally polite. Council members listen to each other and many change their views when presented with a solid argument. The inflexibility and nastiness which characterize politics in Washington, D.C. are rarely seen at City Hall. In addition, Mayor Allan Fung’s administration is honest and competent. Unfortunately, city finances remain tight due to years of inadequate funding of city-run police and fire pension funds, cuts in state aid and health insurance costs.

During my first year on the Council, I fought wasteful spending, advocated for our children and schools and worked to improve our neighborhoods.

Fight Wasteful Spending
Amendments I offered to the mayor’s budget cut spending by $289,000.
Included in the cuts was the repaving of two school yards. I argued that asphalt is an unsafe playing surface and repaving is not critical.
Another cut came when I discovered the budget included funds to rebuild two playgrounds at Hope Highlands Elementary School. I noted that every other elementary school survives with one playground and some have no playground. The Council made the cut, saving $70,000.
After I discovered that Board of Elections members were paid $12,000 in the last off election year for meeting a total of 73 minutes, I convinced the Council to eliminate their pay.
Shortly after I took office I discovered that the Board of Tax Assessment Review was meeting without taking minutes. In addition, the board, whose members were paid $50/meeting, was meeting more than 100 times a year, sometimes for just twenty minutes. I objected to this secrecy and the three member board was forced to keep minutes. The council also agreed to my proposal to eliminate their pay, saving $22,000 a year.

Advocate for our children and schools
EDUCATION: I was one of two Council members to testify before the Rhode Island Board of Regents in opposition to the creation of a charter school in Cranston. Charter schools spend public money without controls from elected officials and drain badly needed money from our school system.

LIBRARY: After I succeeded in cutting the mayor’s budget by more than a quarter million dollars, I proposed adding $50,000 to the Cranston library budget. In recent years, the library has reduced its reserve fund to provide excellent services in tough financial times. The Council passed the addition, but the mayor vetoed it. The council failed to override the veto by one vote.

PUBLIC HEALTH: I convinced the Council to increase the city license fee to sell tobacco from $25 a year to $100 a year, raising about $7000 and taking a small step to discourage tobacco sales.

WOMEN ON HEARING BOARD: When a citizen alerted me that the Cranston Juvenile Hearing Board’s members were all men, I moved to add two women. The police department refers teenage petty offenders involved in fights and graffiti to the board instead of the court system. We especially need women members because half the cases involve girls. My proposal passed and two capable women were appointed.

Improve our neighborhoods
COMMUNITY GARDEN: With a lot of volunteer help, I started Cranston’s first community garden at Edgewood Highland Elementary School. The school department contributed part of the school parking lot, the Council appropriated funds for soil and construction materials and volunteers built the garden. Sixteen plots were built in 2011 and another sixteen are planned for 2012.

TREE PLANTING: At no cost to the city, I coordinated planting 28 trees at Edgewood Highland Elementary School, Cranston High School West, Ruggerio Park and Meshanticut State Park.

BUSINESS HOURS: When constituents complained that the council allowed Akid Dairy Mart to expand its hours without notifying neighbors, I proposed that businesses seeking longer hours must notify neighbors within 200 feet. The proposal passed and was used for the first time when Wal-Mart in western Cranston sought to open for 24 hours. The Council denied that request.

TREE TRIMMING: A Narragansett Boulevard resident complained that his street trees were badly pruned by Cox Cable and the city. We devised a proposal to require notice be posted whenever a street tree or a tree on city property is to be removed or trimmed. Citizens then may appeal to the city tree warden. The Council approved the proposal.

FOURTH STREET REPAVING: After a constituent brought to my attention that Fourth Street had only one layer of pavement and was falling apart, I raised the issue. The mayor was unaware of the problem, but after investigating, agreed to repave the street.

Looking toward 2012
In 2012, we need to do more. Our parks should be expanded to provide additional green space for biking, walking and other family activities. More trees should be planted to replace those destroyed by Hurricane Irene and, in a small way, temper the effects of global warming. Zoning reform is needed so that big corporations like Stop & Shop and CVS are not granted unnecessary variances which undermine the quality of life in our neighborhoods. Finally, our schools and libraries must be adequately funded.

I look forward to representing you in 2012.

Happy New Year,

Steve Stycos
Ward One City Councilman

Interviews with Parents from Achievement First New York

Posted on by Kiersten Marek

There are two of these.  This first one is very good.  There is some unfortunate noise in the background for the first 10 minutes or so, but you can still hear the parent, and what she has to say confirms a lot of my suspicions about the way corporate-run charter schools with extreme disciplinary policies run.  As she put it at one point, children are taught that, “All of your independent thinking is not necessary.  All of your creative thinking is not necessary.”

Cranston Community Protects Education from Corporate Take-Over

Posted on by Kiersten Marek

And it wasn’t even close.  The Board of Regents voted 7-1 to reject the proposed Achievement First Mayoral Academies proposal.  Projo blog has the details here.

The politicians lined up one after another to consent to this proposal:  Allan Fung, House Speaker Gordon Fox, various members of the Providence City Council and members of the General Assembly, and then Mayor Taveras and his appointed school committee. From the standpoint of a Cranston resident and parent, it felt like the cards were being stacked against us, one after another.  As it turns out, we were on the right track, and the Board of Regents almost unanimously supported our assessment of this proposal.

Congrats to all who helped make this happen!

This I Believe — Public Education Needs to be Public

Posted on by Kiersten Marek

We are facing a bit of a “do or die” situation here in Cranston. On September 1, The Board of Regents will vote on a plan submitted by our Mayor to start a new district of schools that will be run by an out-of-state corporation called Achievement First.

Why am I concerned? Why have I partnered with other parents in Cranston to start a rally on Wednesday to oppose this plan? Well, lots of reasons. But the most important is because I believe that public education needs to be public, and this process of siphoning off funds to start large numbers of charter schools is going to hurt our public schools.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not wholesale opposed to charter schools. I considered sending our older daughter to one when we began the process of her public schooling, but chose to put my faith in the Cranston public school system instead. I am grateful for my soundness of mind when I made that decision with my husband seven years ago. Our older daughter has prospered and grown exceptionally well. The Cranston public schools had a lot to do with that.

But the situation with Achievement First is different. This is a proposal to start a whole new district of charter schools, and to eventually draw about 1800 children off of the Cranston and Providence schools. Here is what I see in the future for our local elementary school, which is a Title One school. These are the schools that the charters are likely to draw more children off of — the schools with high percentages of students living in low income households. So the first year, maybe 6 or 7 children go to the charter school from my local school. That means my principal is down about $100,000 when she goes to do her budget. The next year the total number drawn off our of elementary school is about 15. Now she is down over $200,000. As the grades increase in the charter school, more children go there. In year four, she is down about half a million. The school has had to lay off desperately needed staff and reduce programs even further. This is after we have already lost our gifted program, our music programs, and some of our athletic programs in the higher grades.

Some may call my predictions simplistic, but I call them realistic. This is what will most likely happen. Eventually, I fear that a school like the ours will be closed for lack of funding. Now we have a need for another new school because we have lost another neighborhood school. Now the charter district has a reason to expand.

This I believe is wrong. If people have issues with our schools’ unions and how much money our teachers make, let’s work on those issues. I would say we already are, as the teachers have signed a new contract in which they will get no raises. We can work on it more. If there are things that Achievement First and other charters are good at, we can integrate these things into our own schools. We do not need to waste money and time and energy setting up entirely new schools.

So if you have the time and the energy, I ask that you join me and lots of other concerned parents this coming Wednesday, August 24th, at Cranston East High School at 6 pm. We started a Facebook page to gather people together around this issue and to develop our own positive identity as a school district, and the group grew to about 175 members in 48 hours, and is continuing to grow. Please visit our Facebook page here. You can also RSVP to the event on Wednesday by visiting the event page here.

Siphoning off Education Funding for Cranston One Student at a Time

Posted on by Kiersten Marek

I have been concerned and will continue to be concerned about the proposal submitted by Cranston’s Mayor Allan Fung to start a group of charter “Mayoral Academies” in Cranston. For some background on charter schools in the US, I recommend this article by Joanne Barkin in Dissent magazine which deftly summarizes some of the salient facts.

Despite all the hoopla, the truth about charter schools is that they are a wave in education reform that has already been debunked. Major funders of education reform such as Bill Gates acknowledge that charter schools show little evidence of being effective. As Barkin’s article explains, the largest study done of charter school effectiveness concluded that 83% of charter schools perform no better or worse than public schools. In the process of setting up and then folding these charter schools all over the country, millions of dollars have been spent, millions of educations have been disrupted and many worsened for students, and school districts have been forced to shuffle and reshuffle their own systems to accommodate the outflow of funds that go with the students who “win the lottery” to get into the charter schools.

Though the national wave to open charter schools should be ebbing, based on the fact that major corporate funders are acknowledging that this may not be the best way to reform education, here in Rhode Island we seem to be just now ready to fully get on board the charter school movement, with the possibility of opening more charter schools approved by our legislature. It appears that the Mayor who is willing to take the reins of this new charge to open charter schools is our Mayor here in Cranston, Allan Fung.

This article in the Cranston Herald describes some of the negative public reception that Mayor Fung’s plan to open the Mayoral Academies has garnered. Important points that parents, teachers and school administrators have made to the Mayor include:

–16 out of the 17 elementary schools in Cranston are high performing schools, despite 10 of them being Title One schools which serve populations of children where more than 50% are receiving free lunch (the elementary school that my older daughter is about to graduate from and that my second daughter is about to enter is one of them). Why do we want to move children out of schools that are performing well, even as they serve underprivileged children?

–Cranston schools have suffered drastic cuts including cutting music programs, sports programs, and gifted programs, all of which negatively impacts the overall quality of our schools, while at the same time the Mayor is proposing the opening of charter schools.

–Management of the charter schools would be given to the Mayor and to an out-of-state nonprofit corporation called Achievement First, a move which would likely change public participation in schools in ways which we do not yet fully understand.

–Charter schools such as the Mayoral Academies are not held to professional standards in terms of placement of qualified teachers in the classroom.

–The Mayoral Academies would serve both Cranston and Providence schools, potentially siphoning millions of dollars off the Providence school system which is already suffering from extreme financial crisis.

One of the most striking quotes in the Cranston Herald article cited above was a promise from the Mayor that he would abandon his pursuit of the Mayoral Academies under certain conditions:

“I promise you, if you can bring the same support, structure and innovations into the traditional public schools I will drop my push for the Mayoral Academy. These flexibilities fund many of the innovations we have in the Mayoral Academies,” he said, referring to issues such as union and contract restraints, a longer school day and year, lack of administrator’s control over hiring and firing, and seniority hiring.

What this says to me is that rather than do his job as Mayor and work with the unions to improve our existing schools, the Mayor is going to open the Mayoral Academies, and he is going to start siphoning off funding one student at a time, and perhaps this will result in the unions becoming more flexible or accommodating to what the Mayor thinks is a better plan for education. It appears that the corporate billionaires have found another champion of their agenda. And once again, the children are pawns in an extremely costly political game that has the potential to significantly damage Cranston’s quality public schools.

Update on Edgewood Community Garden from Steve Sycos

Posted on by Kiersten Marek

There is progress being made in finding a plot for the community garden, as it detailed below by Steve Stycos:

Friends,

Community garden plans are progressing. We are focusing on the southeastern corner of the Edgewood Highland parking lot.

Annemarie Bruun discussed the project with Rich Pederson, who runs Southside Community Land Trust’s City Farm. He recommends removing asphalt whenever possible. Southside’s community garden coordinator is moving to Boston, so she is not available to meet with us. Her replacement says she is too busy to meet, so Annemarie may just go to her office to briefly get some details on how they run their gardens.

This morning, I met with Joel Zisserson, the school department’s head of grounds, the city DPW director Dave Ventetuolo and highway supervisor John Corso. Joel is supportive of the project and the city may be able to remove the asphalt, if we want them to.

Water, however, is in limbo. To make a connection to a water line now requires “a hot box,” or a heated box with a back flow valve to prevent contamination of the water supply. Just recessing a faucet in a box in the ground is no longer permitted. Dave estimated a hot box could cost $10,000 to $15,000. They suggested, and I agreed, that the best option, at least until we establish the garden, is to talk with nearby homeowners about running a hose from their homes and paying them for water. I will go door to door this weekend to talk with them. If that fails, I will go back to the school department.

We also discussed starting small and then expanding. Joel suggested phase one go from the last telephone pole to the far eastern end of the lot, but nothing is set in stone. Joel is also going to talk with the superintendent about a multi-year lease and liability. He also agreed to let us drill through the asphalt to do soil tests, if we want.

Joel, John and Dave also questioned whether leaving the asphalt in place and putting raised beds on top (as some community gardens have done) would work. They thought it would be hot and worry about how the site slopes, encouraging erosion. The slope is more pronounced when you look at it from the downhill side.

So we have a few more details to work out before we meet as a group to make plans.

News from Steve Stycos, Cranston City Council Ward One

Posted on by Kiersten Marek

Some important updates from Steve Stycos:

OPENNESS IN GOVERNMENT

In my first months on the City Council, I have pushed for more openness in handling of claims against the city and hearing of tax assessment appeals.

Upon the recommendation of Assistant City Solicitor Evan Kirshembaum, the Claims Committee approved a proposal by Ward Four Councilman Robert Pelletier to limit the public discussion of claims against the city by a 4-1 vote. I chair the committee and was the one vote against the proposal.

Later, the Providence Journal reported that City Solicitor Anthony Cipriano reversed Kirshembaum’s recommendation and declared the information should be public. Most claims are minor, like mailboxes hit by plows or tires flattened by pot holes. I agree that discussions of legal strategy, like how much to offer claimants, should be in private session. But when the council votes to spend money, the public should know what is happening. This has yet to be resolved.

Meanwhile, I learned that the Board of Tax Assessment Review had been holding deliberations in private. Under state law, taxpayers have a right to challenge their tax assessment before a three member board appointed by the City Council. The board taped its meetings, but only the portion when taxpayers made their pleas for lower assessments. Board discussion of whether to grant appeals were in not recorded. After I raised the issue, the board began keeping minutes of the entire meeting.

I also learned that board members were being paid in violation of city ordinances. Board members are paid $50 for each meeting they attend, but the city code limits them to five meetings a month unless the city council president or chair of the Finance Committee give written permission. In 2010, however, the board met 124 times without receiving permission for extra meetings. When I raised the issue, the board chairman, Rory Budlong, said the board was unaware of the notice requirement.

Shortly afterwards, the board held its first meeting with written minutes. It lasted 28 minutes, but the city code says meetings must last at least an hour for board members to be paid. At the last council meeting I stated that the board should not be paid for the meeting, but Mayor Fung’s top administrators and Robert Pelletier disagreed.

Meanwhile, Councilman Pelletier, as chair of the Finance Committee, has given the board permission to meet more than five times a month.

Based on this record, I have no confidence in this board and will be pushing to correct the situation. The amount of overpaid meeting fees is not huge, but I believe these three people owe the city money.

JUVENILE HEARING BOARD

Cranston’s Juvenile Hearing board hears minor offense cases, like fights and vandalism, referred by the police department. In an effort to keep teenagers out of the court system, the board usually resolves cases by requiring community service or an essay.

For years, Judy Pelkey served on the board, but when she was not reappointed, the seven member board became all male. Judy argues that it is important, especially for women and girls, for the board to contain women. I agree and have sponsored an ordinance to require at least two members of each sex serve on the board. The proposal ran into some opposition at its first hearing and I agreed to continue the issue so we could gather some additional information.

I need some women to support it. Please let me know if you are able to testify in favor of the proposal. The Ordinance Committee will hold a hearing on it and other items Thursday March 17 at 7 PM at City Hall.

The actual proposed ordinance is at http://web.cranstonri.org/clerkdocs/2011Ordinances/Proposed/Juvenile%20Hearing%20Bd%20Composition%20Diversity.pdf

ZONING REFORM ORDINANCE

In response to the Cranston Zoning Board of Review approval of variances for CVS and Stop and Shop, Ward Two Councilman Emilio Navarro and I have sponsored a zoning reform ordinance to improve the zoning review process. The ordinance seeks to make the board pay more attention to the zoning code and improve the public’s opportunity to participate in decisions that change their neighborhoods. A Providence Journal editorial printed on 3/10/11 discusses the problem. A hearing on the proposed ordinance will be held in April.

The ordinance incorporates suggestions from leaders of the West Bay Land Trust and Respect4Edgewood. Currently the zoning board pays little attention to our zoning code, choosing instead to work out deals with developers late at night after most of the public has gone home. In both the CVS and Stop and Shop cases, stores were granted sign variances by insisting they needed much more than allowed by law, and then at the last minute “compromising” to a lower amounts that was considerably more than permitted by law.

In the Stop and Shop case, 300 square feet of signs were permitted, but the store wanted 450 square feet. The zoning board granted 375 feet with almost no discussion of whether the agreement complied with legal guidelines for granting variances. Instead they made a quick deal, with none of the city’s planning department staff present. At that point only Stop and Shop lawyer Robert Murray, one member of the public and I were present.

In an attempt to get zoning board members to pay more attention to the zoning code, the reform proposal requires them to take an oath before the City Council to uphold the law.

The reform proposal also requires the board to make decisions when the public is still present. Currently the board holds public hearings on all cases on the agenda and then, often late in the evening, makes decisions on each case. The reform proposal requires them to hear the first case, then make a decision before hearing the second case. This would allow members of the public to watch the deliberations and learn the outcome without sitting through every little case about a mother-in-law apartment. The change is also business friendly because it allows lawyers to go home after their client’s case finishes, reducing hourly billing for time spent waiting for a decision..

Another reform provision requires developers to submit two sets of plans: one in compliance with the code, and one with the variance they are seeking. This would allow the zoning board to review alternatives. The reform proposal also requires plans be submitted a week before the hearing, to give time for public review. CVS changed its plans hours before one meeting, making it difficult for Respect4Edgewood to intelligently analyze them. Other provisions would require plans be submitted in “pdf” files and for site plan review meetings to be held after work hours.

Finally, the reform ordinance bars the zoning board from soliciting or accepting testimony after the public hearing is closed. During the Stop and Shop hearing, attorney Murray was allowed to make comments during the board’s deliberations.

I also would like to limit the board’s ability to make last minute “compromises” with developers, but have yet to settle on a specific plan. Important zoning decisions need to be made carefully, not late at night by scrawling notes on a set of plans.

The hearing on the reform ordinance will be held Thursday April 14 at 7 PM in City Hall before the Ordinance Committee. We will need public support to win passage.

Clearly, Steve Stycos continues to fight for better government, and hopefully will be setting a new precedent for conducting meetings more ethically. I also appreciate his calling attention to the issue of increasing female representation on the juvenile hearing board.