Let Me Get This Straight … The Pawtucket School Committee Pulled Someone Off Medical Leave … For a Day? To Replace a School Superintendent Who Was Out on Yes, Medical Leave?
First? Let’s give credit where credit is due. The unrelenting, unapologetic advocacy of Pawtucket Activist Khrystyne Bento, mixed with a dose of shame delivered by Pawtucket City Councilman Clovis Gregor appears to have had a devastating effect on … the best laid plans? … of the Pawtucket City School Committee, this past week.
The scenario: The Mayor of Pawtucket, and some say School Committee Chair, Donald Grebien has been desperately attempting to get rid of Pawtucket School Superintendent Patricia Royal, since, well, the week before she was hired. Ms. Royal has been Superintendent for little more than a year, inheriting a system riddled by administrative chaos caused by endless meddling from a City on the brink, financially and morally. Test scores have begun an upward arc. Morale has improved, with children, in particular, creating a strong bond with the Superintendent.
The Mayor, whose record on racial relations has been less than inspiring, routinely uses Pawtucket School Department (PSD) reserves as a rainy day fund for City operations. And, to put it mildly, it’s pouring in Pawtucket. The prior PSD Board was summarily fired at the Election Booth last November, based on their failure to approve a multi-million dollar transfer of funds from PSD to Pawtucket city coffers just a year or so after being elected … and endorsed … by Grebien.
This past Friday, in a hastily called meeting, followed by a thoroughly awkward press conference, Mr. Buck was appointed “Acting Superintendent”. (The “Acting” point is critical: words like Interim would have triggered legal ramifications based on what is apparent to even the most casual observer, that Superintendent Royal has in fact, been fired.) This, despite the absence of any formal, or back channel notice to Ms. Royal about her impending termination. In fact, Ms. Royal was on approved medical leave.
But here is the rest of the story … According to several Pawtucket School District employees, Ms. Lee Rabbit was to have been appointed replacement Superintendent. “White Lee Rabbit”. However, the potent combination of Ms. Bento’s advocacy, heightened by a Thursday Night Public Comment from Pawtucket Councilman Clovis Gregor shaming Omar Reyes, for firing Ms. Royal, the first Pawtucket School Superintendent of color, during Black History Month blew that up.
In a press huddle with Mr. Buck, Buck admitted that he learned of this selection that very Friday morning, lending to the notion that Mr. Buck as a hastily chosen replacement for Rabbit.
Meanwhile, multiple conversations point to a Pawtucket School Administration in turmoil, with no clear leadership. The stunner? Apparently Mr. Buck has returned to medical leave status.
Just what did the Pawtucket School Committee know, and when did they learn of Mr. Buck’s current employment status, apparently on protected medical leave?
As the Pawtucket School Department careens towards collapse, the question arises … Is Grebien intentionally steering the ship to the rocks? In Warwick, the Rhode Island Legislature just approved financial control of their school department to be ceded to the Mayor & City Council. After years of attempting, and failing to tinker with everything from the City Charter, to the makeup of the Committee itself, is this arrangement the real end game of Grebien?
Of note, Pawtucket has employed 5 different “permanent” Superintendents in 10 years … which is the very sort of Rhode Island record that Mayor/School Committee Chair Grebien seems to routinely garner.
Stay tuned. Videos will be added shortly to provide additional context.
