Providence teachers protest conditions at schools

PROVIDENCE — More than 100 teachers turned out in front of the Rhode Island Department of Education on Tuesday to air a litany of grievances about the reopening of schools.

Maribeth Calabro, president of the Providence Teachers Union, called out Gov. Gina Raimondo.

“I don’t trust you,” she said. “You lie.”

To a wildly applauding crowd, Calabro said, “Thank God she’s not running for reelection.”

Teachers at the gathering said the state-led inspections of school buildings were a farce, that the Department of Education and Raimondo refused to collaborate with them on the reopening of schools and that classrooms were unsuited for instruction during a pandemic.

They described desks with crumbs from March, when schools in Rhode Island closed; fans that do little but blow in dirt from the outside; mouse droppings on the floor that were waxed over; and a breakdown in communication with parents.

Calabro said students who were supposed to be in school Monday never showed up, while those who were supposed to be learning from home did walk in the door.

“The walkthroughs were a joke,” said high school teacher Maya Chavez. “Outright lies are being told.”

Then, she said: “I have 100% no confidence in [Providence] Superintendent [Harrison] Peters. I am done!”

Relations between the district and the teachers union have been strained for some time. The two sides are now engaged in contract negotiations that one union leader described as an effort to dismantle the agreement.

There is also a lot of dissatisfaction with Peters, who was brought to Providence from Florida to help state Education Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green remake the schools, which were taken over by the state last year after a scathing critique by a team from Johns Hopkins University.

While the mayors of Boston and New York City collaborated with their respective teachers unions on school reopening plans, Calabro said the union was shut out of similar efforts in Providence.

Michelle Manning, a teacher at Times2 charter school, which is part of the district, said the walkthroughs papered over many of the air-quality hazards. In her school, she said, there are windows that don’t open, fans that block doors and outdated ventilation systems.

Classrooms were allowed to reopen without satisfying the checklist established by the Department of Health and other state agencies. Many of the criteria, they said, were listed as “in progress” and still are.

Lindsay Paiva, a teacher at Webster Elementary School, said the buildings were not safe before the virus. She said not one classroom in her school has soap dispensers, fire exits are blocked by fans and there are droppings from bats and mice.

“I’m tired of the narrative that there isn’t enough time or money,” she said. “This is not good enough. We have had enough.”

District spokeswoman Laura Hart said Infante-Green and Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, director of the state Department of Health, recently submitted letters saying the district has met their expectations.

She said fans and HEPA filtration items have been installed in classrooms that are open for instruction. In order to circulate fresh air, the district is supplementing existing ventilation systems with open windows and fans.

The letter from the Department of Education and Department of Health states that isolation rooms have been identified, desks have been arranged to maximize social distancing and every school has enough face shields to give students added protection.

Providence is reopening in stages, with the youngest students and those most at risk coming back, along with grades 6 and 9.

lborg@providencejournal.com

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