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Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Yahoo
Twin High School Seniors Who Drowned in Lake Remembered as Students Who 'Gave This World Something Uniquely Beautiful'
Twin brothers have died days apart from each other, reportedly during a fishing incident while out of town. The Philadelphia School District confirmed the deaths of high school seniors Jamarion and Camarion Grady on its Facebook page on Sunday, April 20. 'The PPSD community has experienced tremendous losses this weekend and our hearts are with all those affected. We are deeply grateful for the outpouring of support from our community members and schools during this difficult time,' the announcement read. Related: 10-Year-Old Twins Die in Georgia House Fire: 'My Babies Are Gone,' Grandmother Says A follow-up post on Monday, April 21, described their deaths as 'an accidental drowning.' Sunday's post included school portraits of the twins, each dressed in a suit and tie, plus quotes they wanted to be remembered for. 'If you don't take risks, you can't create a future,' Jamarion said, adding that he aspired to be a real estate agent. Camarion's quote was the mantra he lived by: 'All or nothing.' He had dreams of becoming a barber. Though details have been limited, Vicksburg News reported that the twins died days apart after drowning while they were fishing at Lake Pushmataha in Mississippi's Pearl River community. According to the outlet, Neshoba County Sheriff Eric Clark said the brothers had been under the water for a while. PEOPLE did not immediately receive a response from the NCSO. Related: 4-Year-Old Twins Die After Toy Chest Lid Shut on Them While They Were Sleeping, Says Mom Jamarion, known by loved ones as 'Frog,' was reportedly pronounced dead on April 17, while Camarion, 'Fatt,' was flown to the University of Mississippi Medical Center, where he died Easter Sunday, April 20. 'Camarion was larger than life — in spirit, in personality, and in the way he showed up for the people he loved. Outgoing, fearless, and full of energy, he had a way of walking into a room and instantly lighting it up. His laughter was loud, his smile even louder, and his ability to connect with people was something truly special. Fatt didn't just make friends — he made everyone feel like they belonged,' the school district said. He was also remembered as 'a standout on the football field,' and 'the kind of teammate who celebrated others' wins as much as his own.' Related: Iraq War Veteran Tells Police 'I Blanked Out' After His 1-Year-Old Twins Die in Hot Car 'Camarion's faith grounded him. He loved God and wasn't shy about it,' they said. The post also talked about the siblings' relationship as twins. 'Though Camarion and Jamarion were twins, they were their own people, each remarkable in their own right. Camarion was the louder voice, the bigger laugh, the one always dancing. Always talking, always reaching out to lift someone else up. His bond with 'Frog' was undeniable, and their absence leaves an impossible void, but we will honor them as individuals, because they each gave this world something uniquely beautiful.' Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The school district invited community members to wear red and black on Wednesday, April 23, in a "show of unity and strength" as they remember Camarion and Jamarion. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Smiley puts faith in General Assembly in unveiling $624.1M fiscal 2026 budget
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley's proposed fiscal 2026 budget will rely on property tax hikes to help the city meet its obligations under a settlement with the state over funding city schools. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) A $15 million obligation to cover deficits in the Providence Public School District (PPSD) may have come under duress for Mayor Brett Smiley last fall, but he posed it as a win in his fiscal 2026 budget address Wednesday at City Hall. 'This budget includes the largest investment in our schools since at least 2006, making up for a generation of underfunding of our educational system in one fiscal year,' Smiley said in unveiling his $624.1 million spending plan. But he said the city needs $25 million in new revenue to satisfy all the terms of the November settlement with the Rhode Island Department of Education, which has controlled Providence's public schools since 2019. The proposed budget represents a roughly 4% increase in spending over the current fiscal year that ends June 30. The city is relying on a $29 million increase in its tax levy to support the proposed budget, with $23 million coming from new revenue sources. One of the primary mechanisms for getting that revenue, however, depends on authorization from the General Assembly allowing the city to raise its tax revenue above the 4% state cap for the next fiscal year. Smiley's proposed budget assumes the city will acquire the state approval needed to raise its tax levy, or total collected tax revenue, by 7.5%. The mayor's spending plan has actually lowered tax rates for all types of properties, but recent, state-mandated reassessments of home values in Providence mean that, even with the lower tax rates, the city would still go beyond the levy. That's why Smiley is waiting on state approval of a city-sponsored tax levy bill. An initial version of the bill stalled in March as Providence lawmakers held off to allow the Providence City Council to make recommendations. On April 2, Providence Democratic Rep. Rebecca Kislak introduced the current iteration, which has yet to be scheduled for a committee hearing. Companion Senate legislation, meanwhile, has yet to be introduced. Sponsor Sen. Sam Zurier, a Providence Democrat, said he intends to introduce the bill once the state legislature resumes next week. Kislak said via text Wednesday that maneuvering the bill through the State House has been difficult because state reps haven't had all the needed facts. 'Where the mayor and city council (unanimously) are in agreement, I think the state should give them reasonable leeway to exceed the levy cap,' Kislak wrote. 'And once we see the budget we can have concrete conversations about the policy (and levy cap) which until tonight were hard to have. We didn't have any way to talk about what the cost would be to Providence homeowners.' If the levy hike failed, Smiley's budget would return to the City Council, which would need to cut and pivot accordingly to keep it under the existing cap. Should that happen, Kislak noted that the State House can help in other ways, and that proposed legislation relating to parking lot and Airbnb taxes could help plug the gaps. Speaking to reporters after his speech, Smiley said he's still 'confident that the General Assembly would pass our request for a one-time exception to the cap. Were that not to pass, we'd be back to the drawing board, and we're going to have to make very serious cuts. But I don't think anyone wants to do that, and I think especially now that the actual tax rates are out, and instead of talking in the abstract, we're talking about specifics.' This year's spending plan would have been actually $9 million less than the fiscal 2025 budget, if not for the settlement payment, Smiley said in his speech. 'We think we found that right balance,' Smiley told reporters after his speech. 'At least $9 million worth of cuts is exceptional. That never happens in city government.' The tightrope act was so successful, Smiley said, that the tax increase 'we feared was necessary' became 'the lowest responsible rate,' the mayor said. The increase is a little more complicated underneath the hood: The city actually had to adjust and lower the ratios between different kinds of tax rates to comply with state laws. But, Smiley noted in his speech, 'Many people's homes may be worth significantly more than they were 10 years ago,' and for fiscal year 2026, some types of properties in Providence saw their value jump over 30% or 40%. Adjusting the ratio tax rates cushioned the increase to individual tax bills while increasing the levy overall. After adjusting for the lowered tax rates and increased property value, the proposed rates are: 4% for single-family homes. The average value went up 31% to $551,881. The average tax bill would go up $161, from $4,392 to $4,553. 16% for owner-occupied homes with two to five families. The average value increased 47% to $585,027. The average tax bill would go up $650, from $4,176 to $4,826. 4% for owner-occupied condos. The average value rose 32% to $507,713. The average tax bill would go up $166, from $4,023 to $4,189. 5% for single-Family Homes, non-owner-occupied. The average value went up 33% to $445,385. The average tax bill would go up $287, from $6,127 to $6,414. 16% for non-owner-occupied homes with two to five families. The average value went up 48% to $606,365. The average tax bill would go up $1,197, from $7,534 to $8,732. 5% for non-owner-occupied average value went up 33% to $335,877. The average tax bill would go up $220, from $4,617 to $4,837. 5% for buildings with six to 10 units. The average value went up 36% to $947,975. The average tax bill would go down $1,157, from $24,382 to $23,225. -1% for buildings with 11 or more units. The average value went up 28% to $4,832,121. The average tax bill would go up $1,699, from $132,392 to $134,091. -2% for commercial Properties. The average value went up 20% to $855,368. The average tax bill would go down $401, from $25,035 to $24,635. In the meantime, Smiley didn't want to put the onus of this debt entirely on the city's residents. About 96% of the city's costs are fixed year over year, and the remaining 4% is more flexible. City accountants exercised their cleverness to reduce spending without pilfering too much from residents' pocketbooks. 'There's only three ways to balance this budget,' Smiley said. 'Either we raise property taxes, we find other revenues, or we make cuts. The budget that I propose tonight does all three things, and it tries to do all three things and strike the right balance.' We think we found that right balance. At least $9 million worth of cuts is exceptional. That never happens in city government. – Providence Mayor Brett Smiley Property tax exemptions for people over age 65 and veterans would see 25% and 100% increases, respectively, to mitigate the tax hikes. The city expects to cut 23 positions, many of them vacant. Only two would require layoffs, and both are nonunion, city officials said. Cost of living adjustments will be paused for nonunion employees making over $100,000. A $3.2 million savings in public safety overtime, meanwhile, is largely possible because of increased staffing in the municipal fire department. There's also a $2.8 million cut in services, but these do not represent an elimination of resident-facing programs, officials said. Residents would not see reductions in direct services like trash pickup — an earlier idea to pick up garbage every other week has been nixed, for instance. The 8% reduction in services in the mayor's spending plan, city officials said, involves more cuts to internal purchases or contracts within city departments. Alas, life in the city will not go untouched. Take the shiny new parking kiosks Smiley mentioned in his budget address last year, which could now be bearers of bad news for drivers who forget to feed the meter. A number of fees and fines could eke up. Among the fee changes: The fine for 'overtime parking' from 2 to 5 a.m. would go from $20 to $50. Parking at an expired meter would rise from $25 to $40. Parking in a prohibited area would rise $30 to $50. Parking in an emergency zone would rise from $100 to $250, although the city is considering raising the cost only for nonresidents. The budget is available on the city's website. City Council committee meetings will see the budget inspected and reviewed, and council members have the power to edit line items. The final budget will emerge in June. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Smiley calls for data sharing once Providence gets its schools back from state
The City of Providence wants to investigate consolidating certain data sources across municipal and school district networks when its schools return from state to local control. The district superintendent is concerned about the plan's finer points when it comes to data sharing. (Photo illustration by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) Some systems get too complex. Providence Mayor Brett Smiley thinks that has happened with overlapping information technology (IT) and data systems across the city's government and public schools, which have been under state control since 2019. 'We should all want the best resources, the best experts, working together,' Smiley said at the Zuccolo Recreation Center on Federal Hill during the April 10 release of 'Providence's Plan for Our Schools: Building a Brighter Future.' The report is the city's first concerted effort to describe how it will resume and maintain control of its schools when the state takeover ends sometime in the next two years. Five of its 63 pages are dedicated to recommendations on how the city thinks IT and data practices should be structured after local control returns. Smiley wants to align the city and district more closely, and to eliminate redundant software or data collection. 'These are opportunities for both efficiency and higher quality services,' he said Thursday. Among the more ambitious ideas is to broaden the kinds of student data shared between district, city and third-parties to improve city offerings at recreation centers. Schools and rec centers 'serve the same youth and provide interconnected services, but they frequently use different data collection platforms to track student attendance,' the report notes. 'The City will explore where it may merge Recreation Department and PPSD [Providence Public School District] platforms to reduce the number of duplicative systems and improve communication.' Also on the city's wish list for local control: A more streamlined model for IT management, with the report stating it wants to investigate which 'roles and functions or contracts…may be duplicative' between city and district. 'All of us are vulnerable to cyberattacks. It's a global trend, as you well know,' Smiley told reporters Thursday. 'The city's IT department will help the school department's team and vice versa, so we can better protect our students' data, our employees' data.' The mayor's report notes that 'PPSD's IT department is currently understaffed…[and] no PPSD employee directly oversees the network, and the work has been outsourced to consultants.' An interim IT director has been in place since July 2024, according to a district contract. But the most recent PPSD organizational chart, created after that contract, still shows the top IT position as vacant. The district also had IT troubles in September 2024, when a ransomware attack on PPSD's internal systems exposed about 200 gigabytes of district files, including confidential and personal information of staff and students. Now the city wants to 'enhance long-term sustainability and data security,' according to its new report. 'This reliance on external contractors presents risks, including reduced control over internal processes, potential delays in addressing technical issues, and a lack of institutional knowledge of IT systems within PPSD.' Rhode Island Department of Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green expressed concern that the city's plan as-is might violate state law. PPSD Superintendent Javier Montañez is concerned the data sharing aspects may violate federal law, too. 'The report suggests sharing of student and family data with city structures that would conflict with federal privacy laws,' Montañez wrote in an April 10 letter to the Providence schools community. The current plan needs 'greater specificity, more detailed action steps, and accountable timelines and individuals,' Montañez wrote, and dubbed the report itself an exercise in redundancy, as it 'proposes even more City control in day-to-day operations of the District, not less.' Privacy concerns would fall under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which mandates that schools can't usually share minor students' personal information without written consent from parents or guardians. The city's proposal explicitly states that any new data sharing efforts 'will comply with relevant federal education data laws,' including FERPA and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA). A cheat sheet from the U.S. Department of Education notes the four most common exceptions to written consent for students' personal data. It can be collected in a database if proper safeguards are in place, and researchers and auditors can access student data in certain contexts. School officials can access students' personal information as long as there is 'legitimate educational interest' involved, FERPA dictates. And an outside party can be considered a 'school official' if it 'performs an institutional service or function for which the school would otherwise use employees.' PPSD uses similar language in its 2024 template for data sharing contracts. Providence is not the first city or state to attempt integrating select data between municipal and district powers. There's much guidance on how to construct data sharing agreements. Scale can complicate speed, as has been the case in California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom campaigned in 2019 and 2022 for a statewide educational data system that would track students' progress from preschool through employment. CalMatters reported that as of March 2025, the system is still not ready for public consumption, with one expert citing 'an abundance of caution regarding students' privacy' as a major reason for the delay. But Providence operates at a much smaller scale than the Golden State, and the city's local control report gives one case study of how the district and a third-party entity successfully cooperated to share necessary data. In 2024, the city received $200,000 from the state education department to team up with the Providence After School Alliance and deliver out-of-school programming at two underperforming PPSD middle schools, as part of Gov. Dan McKee's Learn365 initiative. The alliance entered into a data-sharing agreement with the district for information regarding demographics like multilingual learners and free and reduced lunch recipients who participate in the after-school programming. The idea is to 'implement a targeted and responsive program that aligns with PPSD's district-wide priorities…as well as help inform future after-school programming that integrates both academic learning and enrichment,' according to the city report. It's also not the first data agreement the alliance and the district have shared. According to a 2012 brief from The Wallace Foundation on 'Data-Sharing Strategies That Work,' PPSD and the after school alliance took seven years to forge a different agreement. The brief notes that by making the alliance 'a quasi-district entity that's providing a service…that the district would provide itself but can't,' the arrangement was able to satisfy FERPA requirements. The city and district already use the same public records request software, NextRequest. People seeking information on PPSD send a request through the city's portal, and the city's clerical staff satisfy the request. Smiley and his office have stressed that the report is not final or prescriptive. Spokespeople for both PPSD and the Mayor's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
More than 200 Providence teachers need to apply for new jobs
The Providence Public School Department building is seen on Westminster Street in Providence. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) The Providence Public School District (PPSD) finished sending out its annual batch of 'displacement' notices earlier this week, letting teachers know they would need to find and apply for alternate positions in the city's 37 schools. The number of teachers being shuffled around is nearly half as many as it was last year: There were 209 Providence Teachers Union (PTU) positions displaced this year, compared to 384 last year. 'To be clear, being displaced is not the same as being laid off or non-renewed,' Herman James, the district's chief talent officer wrote, in a March 24 letter updating the Providence School Board on this year's displacements. In his letter, James gave the hypothetical example of a school that's slimming its social studies department, meaning a qualified teacher will have to find a relevant job elsewhere in another of the district's schools. The three highest categories of teachers displaced this year were those working in high school English language arts (31 displacements) and special education (24 displacements), followed by 23 displacements issued for elementary school teachers. There were 16 displacements for both physical education instructors and early childhood teachers, and nine for English as Second Language teachers. Jay G. Wégimont, a spokesperson for PPSD, said via email the displacement process happens annually each spring and is shaped by the teachers' union contract. 'It's worth noting that this happens in large urban districts across the country and this annual staffing process occurs in districts across Rhode Island due to shifts in student enrollment, programmatic changes, budgetary considerations, and licensure compliance requirements,' Wégimont wrote. The Providence Teachers Union did not respond to requests for comment, but has expressed concern in the past to media outlets that displaced teachers aren't always able to find equivalent positions and can potentially face layoffs. There are more available positions in the district than there are displacements, according to James' letter. As of Wednesday, there are 260 open positions for PTU roles, according to James. There were also 95 teacher assistants displaced this year. They'll be able to vie for 104 open positions starting April 7, according to James' letter. Last year, 206 teacher assistants received displacement notices. Last year's considerable number of teacher displacements derived partly from school mergers and closures which saw educators shuffled around from schools like 360 High School and Gilbert Stuart Middle School, both of which closed last spring. In 2024, enrollment in the state-controlled public school district rose 2% — the first increase since the 2018 school year, according to data from the state education department. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
DOJ investigating Rhode Island schools over loan forgiveness program only for 'educators of color'
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched an investigation into a Rhode Island school district to determine whether its student loan forgiveness program for teachers discriminates against White applicants. In a March 21 letter sent to Providence Public School District (PPSD) and the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE), the Justice Department's Civil Rights Office announced an investigation into whether the district and education office's employment practices — specifically a student loan forgiveness program — have engaged in racial discrimination against White teachers. "It is important to note that we have not reached any conclusions about the subject matter of the investigation. We intend to consider all relevant information, and we welcome your assistance in helping to identify what that might be," the letter states, as first reported by The Boston Globe. PPSD's "Educator of Color Loan Forgiveness Program" offers student loan forgiveness for educators of color through a grant from a nonprofit, the Rhode Island Foundation. Parental Rights Group Files Complaint Against Oregon School System For Alleged Racial Discrimination Recipients can receive up to $25,000 of college loans forgiven once the teacher completes three consecutive years of teaching in the district. The eligibility requirements indicate recipients must "identify as Asian, Black, Indigenous, Latino, biracial, or multi-racial" and must have at least $5,000 in student loans to repay. Read On The Fox News App Legal Insurrection Foundation (LIF), a Rhode Island-based, nonprofit investigative and research group that fights discrimination in education, filed a complaint with the Department of Education in 2022, claiming that the district was engaged in an ongoing "practice of discrimination" by making this program only available to non-White applicants. The group was unsuccessful in getting the Biden administration to take up the case, but was "thrilled" upon learning the Trump administration's Justice Department would be investigating. "It's been almost two and almost two and a half years since we filed it," Cornell Law School professor and LIF President William A. Jacobson told Fox News Digital. "We followed up. It got transferred to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. We followed up with them repeatedly. We couldn't get the Biden administration to do anything to stop this. And finally, the new Trump administration under the Department of Justice Civil Rights Office has brought an action. So we're very pleased with that," he added. Department Of Education Launches 'Endei' Portal For Parents, Students Teachers To Report Discrimination Jacobson said they were "extremely thankful" that the DOJ was taking action because the case had "no other place to go." "The Rhode Island attorney general could have brought suit here. There are Rhode Island laws that are being violated. But nothing was done. The political infrastructure in the state of Rhode Island unfortunately insulates powerful political and economic players from the rules that everyone else has to abide by," he said. "If this was just a private company doing this, probably the regulators would have gotten involved. Probably somebody would have been willing to sue. But because it's the largest school district in the state, being run by the state Department of Education, funded by the largest charity in the state, I think they felt immunity from the rules everyone else has to abide by," he continued. Jacobson called the program an "outrageous" example of racial discrimination that would have caused a national uproar if it had favored White applicants. "Can you imagine if a school district had a program only open to White teachers? It would be a national uproar," he said. "But there seems to be an attitude that as long as the discrimination is against Whites, it's lawful. But it's not. The civil rights laws protect everybody equally. And that's what we're seeking here. " Jacobson said his group launched its Equal Protection Project, which focuses on combating racism and other equal protection violations, because of how "egregious" the PPSD program was. The LIF is also calling on the Justice Department to investigate the nonprofit charity which funds the PPSD loan forgiveness program, the Rhode Island Foundation, alleging the nonprofit has been a "major funder of discrimination" in Rhode Island schools. The Rhode Island Foundation did not respond to a request for comment. PPSD confirmed to Fox News Digital that the DOJ notified the district and the Rhode Island Department of Education on Friday that an investigation into their student loan forgiveness program had been launched. "It is important to understand that this is an investigation, and no conclusions have been reached at this time," a spokesperson for PPSD told Fox News Digital. "PPSD is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, national origin or other protected status. We remain committed in our efforts to recruit and retain a teaching population that reflects the diverse community we serve." Click Here For More Coverage Of Media And Culture PPSD also shared with Fox News Digital a letter that Providence Schools' Superintendent Javier Montañez sent to the school board on Sunday, reiterating that PPSD was "an equal opportunity employer" that does not "discriminate on the basis of race." Montañez said the legal counsel for PPSD and the Rhode Island Department of Education would collaborate with the DOJ on the investigation. The superintendent said the loan forgiveness program had been created in 2021 to help the district attract more diverse educators, at a time when non-White students represented approximately 80% of the student population, but less than 20% of educators in the district identified as teachers of color. "Increasing the diversity of our teaching force is not only aligned with the core values of the District, but also has a direct, positive impact on student outcomes as demonstrated by years of educational research," he wrote. "This loan forgiveness program was created with the best interest of students in mind to ensure that our students are taught by individuals to whom they can both identify and relate as well as those who are talented and skilled in their academic craft," he added. The U.S. Department of Justice did not return a request for comment. Fox News' Brian Flood contributed to this article source: DOJ investigating Rhode Island schools over loan forgiveness program only for 'educators of color'
