Pick to lead R.I. education department is daughter of immigrants, advocate for English learners
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If appointed by the state Board of Education, Angelica Infante-Green will succeed current commissioner Ken Wagner.
PROVIDENCE — The daughter of immigrants, Angélica Infante-Green would not be where she is today without the quiet persistence of her mother, who pestered the secretary of a high-performing school “on the hill” until her daughter was accepted.
“I was zoned to go to the school down the hill, which was struggling,” she said in an interview Monday. “My mother made it her mission to befriend this woman. It got me into the better school. That changed my life. That’s why I do this work. I don’t want parents to be put into these situations. I understand firsthand what a quality education is.”
Infante-Green grew up in Washington Heights, a heavily Dominican neighborhood in New York City where her family spent most of its life on public assistance. Today, she is a deputy commissioner in the New York state Department of Education.
Gov. Gina Raimondo will welcome Infante-Green, who is expected to become the next commissioner of elementary and secondary education, Tuesday at a press conference in the State House.
Infante-Green punches all of the tickets that Rhode Island was looking for in a new public education leader: she is bilingual, she has worked in the classroom and at the highest levels of state government, and is someone who understands policy and politics.
“Having somebody who has personally and professionally invested in dual language is going to be an incredible asset,” said Marcella Betancur, executive director of the Latino Policy Institute.
“She is someone who has advocated for students of color, for English learners, who we know are struggling in Rhode Island,” said Ramona Ramos, who heads the group Parents Leading for Educational Equity. “I’m excited. It’s going to take a village to fix the issues we have.”
Infante-Green’s entire career has revolved around expanding opportunities for English language learners and children with special needs. That mission is in part motivated my her 11-year-old son, Asher, who is autistic and has dyslexia.
When she discovered that there wasn’t a bilingual program for children with autism, she said, “I’ll build my own.”
Infante-Green created the first dual-language program for children on the autism spectrum in the United States.
Later, when Washington Heights was seeing a surge of immigrants, she created two middle schools — one for students whose education had been interrupted in their home countries, and a bilingual program for newcomers.
Her blueprint for English language learners received national recognition for its emphasis on treating English learners as assets whose culture should be honored. Her model also stressed that all teachers are responsible for teaching English learners.
Last year, when Infante-Green was applying for the commissioner of education job in Massachusetts last year, a group of parents began an online petition to keep her in New York. Infante-Green was one of three finalists for the Massachusetts job, which went to Jeffrey Riley, the former superintendent and receiver of the Lawrence schools.
“I don’t do anything without parents,” Infante-Green said. “I never make a decision for the entire community without the community’s voice. In New York state, we created a parents’ bill of rights. We wrote it in 25 languages. We want them to be empowered.”
Infante-Green doesn’t plan to tear up the changes that Commissioner Ken Wagner made in Rhode Island. She will stick with the Rhode Island Comprehensive Assessment System, where students fared poorly compared to their peers taking the same test in Massachusetts.
“The foundation has been laid,” she said. “Rhode Island has high standards and an assessment that measures them. Massachusetts has stayed the course. I don’t anticipate moving in a direction that would change the system.”
She also supports keeping funding for English learners as a line item, rather than embedding it in the education funding formula. But she said there is “a lot of work” to be done in this area.
“I was an English language learner and I will always be an English language learner,” she said. “I’m an example of what can be. This country was built on immigrants. It’s our moral responsibility to provide a high-quality education.”
Rhode Island has a hard time keeping education commissioners. Asked if she plans on staying, Infante-Green said, “I’m moving my family here. That’s a huge commitment. This is where we want to raise our kids.”
Wagner’s last day on the job will be April 26. He will then join the Annenberg Institute, an education think tank at Brown University
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