The Providence School Board meets at the Providence Public School Department headquarters, seen here on Westminster Street. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current)
After the Feb. 12 inaugural meeting of the newly formed Providence School Board failed to meet a quorum, the board’s second meeting Wednesday night proved more productive: Members elected their new president within 10 minutes.
The board’s freshly elected leader, Ty’Relle Stephens, is a familiar face. Stephens, 23, has sat on the school board since being appointed by former Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza. When he took office in February 2021, he was the youngest school board member in the state’s history.
“I could thank many people, but there is only one who deserves the glory — God. He is the reason I stand here today as the youngest School Board President in Providence’s history at the age of 23,” Stephens wrote in a Facebook post Thursday. “It is only fitting that this moment happens during Black History Month.”
Stephens secured the presidency with only five affirmative votes because one member, Jenny Mercado, abstained. That left nine votes up for grabs on the two tickets presented at the meeting. Stephens ran for president with Anjel Newmann seeking to be vice president and Michelle Fontes running for secretary. The other lineup was Heidi Silverio for president, Corey Jones for vice president and Melissa Hughes for secretary.
Newmann, Fontes, Night Jean Muhingabo and Steve Williamson supported Stephens. Silverio, Jones, Hughes and Mireya Mendoza voted against Stephens. There was no discussion before the vote.
In a text message Thursday, Stephens said the board can unify to serve the city’s students, adding that members will be undergoing “extensive professional development” over the next few months, something state education officials have also called for.
Professional development for the school board is one of the conditions spelled out in a Feb. 18 letter from Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green to city officials for the city to regain control of its public schools. The letter specifies two years of training for board members with a “Students Outcomes Focused Governance coach.”
The state took over Providence schools in 2019 after a report by Johns Hopkins University found the schools were underperforming. Last August, Infante-Green recommended that the state’s education council extend the takeover up to three years, through 2027.
The takeover arrangement has reduced the board’s powers to mainly symbolic ones, and the shared governance has exhausted city officials, who have rallied for the takeover to end this summer. The commissioner and Gov. Dan McKee have humored the possibility that the takeover might end in 2026. Infante-Green has also previously stated the takeover is showing progress, and that there’s still more work to be done.
“Building trust is key,” Stephens said. “A strong, effective board starts with mutual respect and a shared commitment to our students…By fostering a culture of accountability and teamwork, I am confident we will operate as a unified body, fully engaged in the work ahead.”
The Providence School Board is now half-elected and half-appointed by Mayor Brett Smiley, following a 2022 city charter revision that took effect last year and replaced the all-appointee model that had been in place since 1968. That makes Wednesday’s election the second Stephens won recently, as he scored 73% of the vote in the race to represent his seat’s district in the November election.
The board retains four members from its previous, purely appointed iteration, which met for the final time in December. Only one of the sitting members, Hughes, did not vote for Stephens. Hughes and Mercado were the only appointees who did not vote for Stephens. Three of the elected members — Jones, Silverio and Mendoza — did not vote for Stephens.
Progress report
Not far from where the school board met Wednesday night on Westminster Street, the state’s Council on Elementary and Secondary Education was also discussing the city’s schools during a meeting at RIDE headquarters. A presentation by Drew Echelson, RIDE’s deputy commissioner for system transformation, outlined the agency’s latest reports on the takeover.
Echelson inventoried improvements in the schools themselves — like improvements last year in standardized testing scores not seen elsewhere in the state, the largest decline in chronic absenteeism statewide in 2024, and a National Blue Ribbon award in one of the district’s elementary schools.
The K-12 council also heard about Infante-Green’s latest communication to the city, the Feb. 18 letter to Mayor Smiley, the City Council and Providence Superintendent Javier Montañez which outlines steps the city must follow if the schools are to return to local control by June 30, 2026 — one of which asks the mayor and school board to specify their “vision” for Pre-K-12 education in the city. For now, the next steps are monthly meetings between city officials and RIDE leadership once the new board is settled in, according to the presentation.
Stephens has not always been the biggest Infante-Green fan, but said Thursday he’s on board to work with the commissioner for “a smooth and strategic transition back to local control…Regardless of past differences, our focus must remain on creating the best possible educational outcomes for our students.”
But there’s likely less room for interpretation of the takeover’s expiration date, Stephens said.
“At this point, I do not believe any single action by the board would shift the Commissioner’s timeline,” Stephens said. “From her perspective, 2026 appears to be the most feasible return date. My priority is ensuring the board is fully prepared for local control — whether that transition happens in 2025, 2026, or 2027.”
The full school board’s next meeting is March 19.
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