An interview with Providence School Board member Ty'Relle Stephens

"Today I opened up a campaign account ahead of filing my candidacy to run for the school board," said Stephens.

Ty’Relle Stephens has been a member of the Providence School Board for four years. Yesterday he opened a campaign account ahead of an announcement that he will run for a seat on the School Board when it switches to a hybrid model after the next election. Currently, all the seats on the Board are appointed by the Mayor of Providence, but starting in January the ten-person Board will be half appointed and half elected. The Providence City Council is expected to vote on the final School Board Ward Boundaries soon. For information on that process, see here.

I spoke to Ty’Relle outside Providence School offices on Westminster Street and transcribed the following interview.

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Ty'Relle Stephens: Today I opened up a campaign account ahead of filing my candidacy to run for the school board. I'll officially announce once the boundaries map has been completed. Right now I am testing the waters, but the plan is to run for the Ward 5 seat. I'll be looking for donations soon too.

Steve Ahlquist: You're on a school board now, but the reorganization of the school board into a hybrid model means that there are five elected seats and five seats appointed by the mayor.

Ty'Relle Stephens: Yes. This is my fourth year on the school board.

Steve Ahlquist: Does the current redistricting map work for your plans?

Ty'Relle Stephens: I think the map that the City Council Ward Boundaries Board approved is probably the best I'm seeing. It makes sense.

Steve Ahlquist: Control of Providence schools will be coming back to Providence soon, and you're likely going to be involved in that if you win your election. For the four years you've been on the School Board you haven't had a lot of power, but suddenly you'll have a say. What does that look like?

Ty'Relle Stephens: One of the main things that is necessary is that the schools be returned to local control. There's been a transparency issue and a lack of community involvement, not because of the community but because of the access that the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) has allowed the district to have. That has been a concern. What hurts me is the fact that I'm not able to do much because of the lack of authority we have now.

With the current map and upcoming elections, bringing the schools back to local control would be better for the community because not only would they be able to elect five people into those 10 spots, but the board would have the authority to make sure that there is transparency and that we can hold individuals accountable.

Steve Ahlquist: I'm seeing decisions imposed as edicts - there's no transparency - there's no way to even question the logic behind them because the thought process behind them is opaque. As a school board member, you have not been able to get more access than the public has.

Ty'Relle Stephens: When I first got on the school board, Nick Hemond was the president. There wasn't enough transparency, but RIDE considered the school board's input. Then President Thomas came in. A lot of transparency slipped through the cracks, but for the most part, we held that down. Then, a lot of the transparency stopped once we had a new president, President Rogel.

I'm not blaming President Rogel for the lack of transparency. I feel RIDE is at a point where they're going to do what they want to do and they don't care. Decisions must be made, but they need to be made properly. We need proper oversight. Currently, that's not the case. There's no oversight over Providence Schools, which is leading to decisions that are negatively affecting the community.

Some legislators seem to think that the education system is improving without paying attention to data and what people are saying. They're just trying to convince themselves.

I was a student here, I went to school here in Providence for 12 years and I've been a school board member for four years. I've been on the finance committee since I got on the school board and I've been the vice chair for two years. So I've seen a lot and I've seen it from a different lens. The lack of transparency has evolved and it's going to continue to evolve until after this election takes place.

Steve Ahlquist: You've been vocal about RIDE decisions you disagree with. Can you run through a few of those?

Ty'Relle Stephens: Absolutely. School closures are one. I'm not saying RIDE can't close schools, but if you're going to close a school, let's have a proper process. Let's make sure we involve the community, parents, and students in that process. When people wake up one morning and see that their school is being shut down, it's a problem.

Another issue is graduation inflation. We cannot push students out into the real world without proper oversight. They did away with the overage unaccredited program after board member Night Jean Muhingabo, former board member Jesus Nuñez and I spoke about it. I'm concerned that there are students out there who have not been set up to succeed. When we push them out into the real world without having that kind of support and without them needing to be in school so they can show improvement, that can harm students.

Lastly is overall community involvement and transparency. Transparency and communication have been at an all-time low ever since Superintendent Peters, who was the former superintendent, left the district. That put a lens on RIDE. The Commissioner has sweeping authority under the Crowley Act, but she's not being transparent.

Steve Ahlquist: I've noticed that the rules around public meetings seem to be routinely violated by RIDE.

I hear rumors that some want to move Providence away from public schools and towards an all-charter system. What are your thoughts on that? What does that mean for Rhode Island?

Ty'Relle Stephens: Some people want to go more of the charter route but when I pull up the data on charters, I don't see much of a difference from public schools. They have been underperforming since Covid as well. I'm not bashing charters, but they haven't been an improvement.

We have schools in Providence that are falling apart and need support. When we open up charter schools, we take from public funding. We must keep public schools. At a lot of charter schools, you have to go through a lottery. All students don't get chosen all the time. Some students I've spoken to get upset and sad. So I want to make sure, here in Providence, having gone through the system myself, that students feel comfortable and excited about going to public school and getting a public education.

I'm not with the whole charter model because like I said, funding is taken away. It's not equitable. They pick the students that they want. I want to make sure students come to school and receive the best education. I don't want students going home feeling sad about not getting chosen by a charter school. I want students to feel comfortable in the schools that they're in. I want to make sure that they feel supported as much as possible.

Steve Ahlquist: My children went to public schools here in Providence. They got excellent educations.

Ty'Relle Stephens: I did as well. I went to Providence Public Schools for 12 years and they set me up to succeed. Getting on the school board at the age of 19 is a big accomplishment. And it's not just a milestone for me, it's a milestone for the school department. We have a lot of talented students in our schools.

The state takeover set us back. I'm not going to lie and make it seem like we've made progress. The only progress we've made is in the area of infrastructure improvements. But I don't see improvement when it comes to data, attendance, and transparency. There's no difference between local control and state control. Just give the schools back to Providence. That's something I'll be speaking about in the next couple of months. Schools must be returned to local control, there's been no progress with the state.

Steve Ahlquist: We know from history that there's never been a successful state takeover of local school districts, even in Massachusetts. There were books written about this before the takeover. The failure here was inevitable.

Ty'Relle Stephens: The John Hopkins report came when I graduated high school. That's when they began to start talking about the state takeover. Not being on the school board at the time, I went on the record saying I was not a fan of the state takeover because it has historically not been a success across the United States of America and I didn't think that it would be a success here in Providence. It failed in Central Falls and it is a failure here in Providence.

When you give one individual so much authority and power to do what they want, it's a total disgrace. There's no way that you can give one person sweeping authority without checks and balances. They say the K through 12 Council is the checks and balances, but I've heard time and time again, that the K through 12 Council doesn't want anything to do with Providence.

Steve Ahlquist: Mayor Elorza gave it all away when he said that the state takeover was all about breaking the union. He was angry when the Governor made a deal with the teacher's Union. He said then that the whole point of this takeover was to break the back of the union.

Ty'Relle Stephens: I have something to say about that. I've been on the school board for four years and the last problem I see is the union. I have not seen our problems being the union's fault. It's the top-down approach. If the right people were in place, the union would support them. But when the right people aren't in place, it's never going to happen. I have never, in my time on the school board, seen it be the union's fault for the school district not improving. It's not the tenured contract, it's because we don't have stable management because there's always some political game being played behind the scenes by politicians.

That's the reason I'm happy with this elected school board - I feel as if it's going to give the board the authority that they need to push the school forward. And I think that it's going to be a success when the schools return to local control under this new model. Whether I'm on the board or I'm not I'm excited about it being elected and I'm excited because the community will have a voice that is amplified and it won't be all appointed by the mayor.