NBC 10 I-Team: Pawtucket not in contact with state over surplus of school admin vacancies
(WJAR) — Pawtucket school officials have not been in touch with Rhode Island’s education commissioner, despite having over a dozen administrative vacancies just weeks before the start of the school year.
In an exclusive interview with the NBC 10 I-Team, Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green said she hasn’t spoken to Pawtucket Superintendent Patricia Royal in about two months.
As of August 2nd, the district had six vacancies for principals and five for assistant principals.
Several teachers told NBC 10 administrators aren’t leaving for promotions, but rather, to get out of the district.
“I have not talked to Pawtucket at this point,” Infante-Green said. “I think that they’re trying to figure out who they have in their pipeline. I’m sure we will be hearing from them, but at this moment we have not spoken.”
When asked why the Rhode Island Department of Education hasn’t reached out to the district, Infante-Green responded, “I think this has all happened in the last week and a half because districts are making moves right now, they are hiring administrators. We want them to have an opportunity to do what’s right for their district, but we pay close attention, and we have conversations.”
The commissioner said she doesn’t know what prompted the mass exodus, but plans to find out.
While RIDE is a regulatory agency, they also provide support to districts when needed.
“Sometimes we sit down with districts and have conversations about what they need to do and there are conversations about what we expect them to do,” Infante-Green said. “What we want is stability, that is very important, so we will be meeting with them.”
The commissioner added that districts typically try to resolve crises on their own before reaching out to the state for help.
“I’m sure that they have a plan or they are devising a plan,” she said. “I don’t know the particulars of what’s happened there, but like I said, we will be working closely with them. We take our regulatory responsibility very seriously.”
Despite having over a dozen administrative positions open in the span of roughly two weeks, Infante-Green said there are no plans to open an investigation.
“I don’t want to jump the gun on anything,” she said. “I do not have enough information to make any assertions at this point.”
Pawtucket’s superintendent has not returned our request for comment for the second day in a row.
As of right now, no meeting between district leadership and RIDE has been set up.
Pawtucket students go back to school in less than a month.