Latest news with #ExcelAcademy
Boston Globe
7 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Providence Council president reverses course on Excel Academy deal
Miller's change of heart before tonight's City Council vote appears to kill the lease arrangement with Excel Academy, although charter school advocates are still lobbying other council members to support the deal. Reality check: This is more of a value statement from Miller – one that keeps her closest political allies happy – than it is a nail in the coffin for Excel Academy. Get Rhode Map A weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State. Enter Email Sign Up Excel started accepting fifth graders from Providence, North Providence, and Central Falls during the 2022-2023 school year, and it already has the approval from the Rhode Island Department of Education to eventually grow to a K-12 school. The council has no ability to block that expansion. Advertisement But Miller has created an obstacle for school leaders because they believed they had negotiated a deal that would be beneficial to everyone involved. Now they'll need to find new space as their school continues to grow. The bigger picture: This is a bad look for Miller, and she's smart enough to know that. But opposing charter schools is not going to cost anyone their seat on the Providence City Council (the pro-charter movement is not considered a major player in city elections). Advertisement Where Miller's decision could become a problem is with the state takeover of Providence schools. Providence leaders were unsuccessful in convincing the General Assembly to return the school to local control this year, and Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green already has approval to keep control of the district until October 2027. One of Infante-Green's primary concerns about Providence is that the local government – the mayor's office, council, and school board – is too dysfunctional to oversee the school district. Miller's flip-flop doesn't help with that perception. This story first appeared in Rhode Map, our free newsletter about Rhode Island that also contains information about local events, links to interesting stories, and more. If you'd like to receive it via email Monday through Friday, . Dan McGowan can be reached at
Boston Globe
10-06-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Approving the Excel Academy lease would put our students first – and prove what's possible
Partnering with Excel Academy allows the Lauro space to be utilized again while reducing the financial burden on the city and creating new opportunities for collaboration that serves all students. Between Excel's rent payments, capital improvements, facility costs, planned annual neighborhood beautification projects, and philanthropic support, the total investment coming into our city will be around $80 million. Get Rhode Map A weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State. Enter Email Sign Up Excel Academy–which is open to any student from Providence, North Providence, and Central Falls, with the majority coming from Providence–is one of the top 10 schools in Rhode Island for student growth in both math and English language arts. Ninety-five percent of students identify as students of color, and many will be the first in their families to go to college. Advertisement Rhode Island Education Collective, This shared space agreement creates a meaningful opportunity for charter and district schools to collaborate in the way they were always meant to—by exchanging ideas, sharing resources, and learning from each other to better serve all students. Placing two strong schools under one roof creates a culture of partnership rather than competition, setting a powerful precedent for education across Rhode Island. Together, these schools can show how alignment between charter and district models can elevate instruction, enrich school culture, and expand access to high-quality education in Providence. It's the kind of innovative, student-centered cooperation our public education system urgently needs. This lease agreement also offers clear financial benefits. At a time when the Advertisement It shouldn't be revolutionary for a school district and a charter school to work together to do what's best for our children. I hope what's planned for Lauro becomes the first of many examples of our city's leaders coming together to put our students' needs first and ensure every child has access to the high-quality education they deserve, whether they attend a district, charter, or any other public school. Victor F. Capellan is the founder and CEO of Rhode Island Education was the former superintendent of schools in Central Falls and has been a leader in education for 25 years in various capacities in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York.
Boston Globe
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Alex Alex's quixotic candidacy for Boston mayor
As expected, Wu was polished, sharp, and unsparing in her critiques of Kraft: 'This is a city that cannot be bought,' she said in her opening remarks. Meanwhile, Kraft came across as overly cautious, vague, and out of his depth, calling for a 'pause' on bike lanes and generic 'new sources of income' for the city. He may have the money to run for mayor, but judging by his debate performance, he forgot to buy an actual plan. Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up Related : Then there was Alex — no tailored suit, no entourage, no name recognition. The formerly undocumented immigrant only decided to run for office last month and won't even make the ballot; the deadline to submit the required 3,000 certified signatures from registered Boston voters is May 20. As of Monday morning, he'd only collected around 150. Advertisement And yet, Alex, for all his inexperience and rough edges, seems clear-eyed about the odds. 'I don't really have the delusion that I'm gonna win the race for mayor, but I know that my ideas are gonna get out there. I know that people are gonna see there's value in them,' he told me over the weekend at a coffee shop in Roslindale, where he'd biked from his place in Uphams Corner. So why run at all? Before I get to that, it's worth learning who Alex is, including the story behind his undeniably odd name. He was born Alex Palacios Santos in Oaxaca, Mexico, to a single mother who left for the United States when he was just 8 months old. When Alex was 3, his aunt brought him illegally through the US-Mexico border to reunite with his mother in Boston. 'My mother was abusive my whole life,' Alex said. 'There were a few weeks where I couldn't leave my room.' Despite the instability at home, Alex stood out academically. After attending two public elementary schools in Boston, he landed at Excel Academy, a charter school in East Boston, for fifth grade. Around that time, he was connected to At 16, he left home and has been estranged from his mom ever since, he said. Sorting his legal status 'helped him feel settled, because there was so much that's unsettled in his life,' said Josh Fischel, a former Steppingstone program associate who met Alex about 15 years ago and remains a mentor today. 'He denies this, but I have a strong memory of him always carrying a dictionary around. Not because he needed to translate stuff. He just wanted to know what bigger words meant.' Advertisement Fischel, now an English teacher in Acton-Boxborough, was surprised when Alex told him he's running for mayor. 'Did I try and talk him out of it? Sure.' Fischel was worried that Alex would come across like 'a bit of a crank' at the debate. 'But he sounded more prepared than the billionaire's son.' Alex, Fischel told me, 'was not born to stay in his lane. If he's interested in doing something, he's just going to do it, damn the consequences.' Alex attended college at New York University and majored in critical systems studies, an academic field perhaps fitting for someone who's interested in dismantling inefficiencies and spotlighting structural injustice from the ground up. Big, ambitious goals for any public servant, let alone a 24-year-old long shot candidate. 'I've faced so many issues that people my age and people older than me would not have faced,' Alex said. 'I'm also trying to gain experience.' He said he's applied to multiple jobs at City Hall with no luck, including a youth outreach coordinator position and a climate innovation analyst role, 'looking at the city's infrastructure and making sure that it's more responsive to the realities of ecological collapse,' he said. At the forum, Related : Advertisement Where Alex starts to lose the room is when the conversation veers into As for his last name, Alex said he changed it when he became a US citizen in 2023. He'd thought deeply about how neither of his last names reflected any part of him, but he also didn't feel it was right to appropriate an Indigenous name without the connection. 'People don't see me as Black. People don't really see me as Native. They just see me as a question mark,' Alex said. So, he doubled down on the one thing he could claim fully: himself. Gimmicky? Maybe. But also revealing — it's a symbol of someone who's still in search of an identity, political or not. After our interview and before starting his work shift at a fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant, Alex biked to Franklin Park Zoo Advertisement Sure, he's not going to be your next mayor. But in a race filled with polish, money, and manufactured messaging and barbs, maybe we needed someone like Alex Alex to make us look twice. Marcela García is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at
Boston Globe
12-05-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Providence City Council to consider $14m charter proposal for vacant elementary school building
The Advertisement The bigger picture: Excel Academy started accepting fifth graders from Providence, North Providence, and Central Falls during the 2022-2023 school year, and it already has approval from the Rhode Island Department of Education to eventually grow into a K-12 school. Get Rhode Map A weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State. Enter Email Sign Up In other words, the council doesn't have the ability to stop the school from growing; it can just disrupt the process by not allowing the school to lease city-owned property. (Excel has also been in talks with Rhode Island College about using the former There are 8,206 students from Providence attending charter schools in the current school year, and that number is expected to grow to 9,311 by the 2026-2027 school year. The district lost 2,650 students between 2020 and 2024, although it has ticked up slightly in the current school year. Advertisement What's next: Excel Academy needs space to continue its currently approved growth plan, but it also wants to get a deal done before the 2026 election season begins interfering with everything. Charter school leaders across the state are also keeping an eye on the changes in the Rhode Island Senate, where newly elected This story first appeared in Rhode Map, our free newsletter about Rhode Island that also contains information about local events, links to interesting stories, and more. If you'd like to receive it via email Monday through Friday, . Dan McGowan can be reached at
