STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS

COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION

In re: Providence Public Schools District

Providence Public School Parents’, Students’ and Student Organizations’

Motion to Intervene
and for Accountability, Transparency and Inclusion
in the Proposed Intervention

The petitioners are Providence residents who are Providence Public Schools parents,

students and student organizations.

Youth in Action (YIA), Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM), Alliance of

Rhode Island Southeast Asians for Education (ARISE), and Providence Student Union (PSU) are

organizational petitioners on behalf of their members, students in the Providence Public Schools.

The petitioners have standing to join the hearing as intervenors because 1) they have a

direct personal interest in the success of an intervention in the Providence Public Schools and 2)

they will be harmed if the intervention does not include formal mechanisms for transparency,

accountability and inclusion of their perspectives in education system decision-making.

A. Petitioners Have A Direct and Personal Interest in the Outcome of the Proposed Order
of Control and Reconstitution.

No party to this hearing has a greater interest in improving the Providence Public Schools

(PPS) than the parents, students and student organizations who are petitioners to intervene. It is

their personal stake in the future of the PPS that drives their desire for accountability,

transparency and inclusion for parents and students in the intervention process.

The current and future academic and vocational success, health, well-being and life

outcomes of Providence students hang in the balance of an intervention to improve the schools.

1
If a state intervention in the PPS fails, the students’ life prospects will be adversely impacted.

Conversely, if a state intervention is crafted to have the greatest potential for remedying the

obvious deficiencies that the students and student organizations have been demanding be

corrected for years, the student petitioners will graduate from high school with opportunities for

life success commensurate with that of students in other Rhode Island school districts that are

performing more effectively on every measure of success.

Parent petitioners are tremendously concerned about the learning, future lives and well-

being of their children. The parents petitioning to be heard entrust their most precious asset,

their children, to the public schools at least 180 days a year for the majority of their waking

hours, for almost the entirety of their childhoods.1 Their children are being systematically

deprived of effective, responsive, culturally inclusive and rigorous educational experiences.

Consequently, the economic and social well-being of not only their children currently enrolled in

the schools, but generations of their families, will be harmed if the intervention for school

improvement is ineffective.

The petitioning student organizations have for years provided direct support to PPS

students to advocate for better educational services and improvement of the schools. As

organizations whose missions are centered around supporting students, and whose memberships

are comprised of current and past PPS students, they have a direct stake in the outcomes of the

intervention. They have a direct and personal stake in the outcome of the intervention, both as

organizations—whose missions, visions, spending decisions and activities will change depending

on the direction of the intervention—and as their student-members. The high stakes for the

petitioners in ensuring the success of an intervention to improve the schools cannot be

1
In fact, they are required by state law to do so, and to face civil penalties including fines and imprisonment if they
fail to do so. R.I.G.L. 16-19-1 et seq.

2
overstated. Elected and appointed officials are all term-limited, either by electoral cycles or

reappointment processes. Governors, Council of Elementary and Secondary Education

members, Commissioners, Mayors, City Councilors, School Board members and

Superintendents may be deeply committed to improving the public schools and may serve

diligently toward that goal, but they do not have the uniquely personal and profound stake that

the petitioners have in the outcome of the success of the proposed intervention for improvement

of the schools.2 The true continuity to inform, commit to, and sustain system-wide

improvements in Providence’s public schools lies in the those who are seeking intervenor status

in this matter: the parents and students who will experience not just life-long, but generations-

lasting effects from the success or failure of the PPS intervention. The parties to the action, other

than the petitioning intervenors, will change during the proposed term of the Turnaround Plan. If

the intervention in the schools is not meticulously structured for success, including incorporating

enforceable transparency, inclusion and accountability mechanisms for parents and students,

positive changes to the schools will not be sustained and the petitioners will be seriously harmed.

Over several decades, Commissioners of Education have consistently respected the role

of parents, students and organizations whose members are directly involved in the schools to be

both moving parties and intervenors in matters before the Commissioner for hearing.

In R.I. Parents for Progress v. Pawtucket School Committee, Commissioner of

Education, May 22, 1992, the Commissioner found that because the R.I. Parents for Progress

2
The period of Proposed Order runs at least through 2022. In 2022 the Governor, the Mayor of Providence and a
majority of the Providence City Council will be replaced due to term limits. Eight of the nine members of the
Council on Elementary and Secondary Education have terms that expire prior to 2022 and the Chair serves at the
pleasure of the term-limited Governor. The average tenure for a state commissioner of education, as of 2019, is less
than two years. (Meet the Latest Class of States Schools Chiefs, Education Week, March 20, 2019,
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2019/03/20/meet-the-latest-class-of-state-schools.html)

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included at least two parents whose children attended a school that would be affected by the

school breakfast program, the organization had standing to challenge the district’s refusal to

implement the program:

Given the role of the Rhode Island Parents for Progress organization in the presentation
of this matter to the School Committee, the latter's recognition of that organization as the
proponent of the school breakfast program, the School Committee' s consideration of the
merits of the program, the participation of at least one Cunningham School parent in this
appeal, and the clear interest that a parent has in the services and programs
provided at his or her child's school, we find that the decision of the School Committee
adversely affected rights of the members of Appellant sufficient to confer standing to
bring this appeal under R.I.G.L. 16-39-2.

R.I. Parents for Progress v. Pawtucket School Committee, p. 6 (emphasis added).

The same conclusion was reached the following year when the Commissioner found that

because the statewide Coalition to Prevent Childhood Poverty included a parent with a child

enrolled in the Newport public schools, the organization had standing in a Commissioner’s

hearing regarding the school breakfast program in their community.3

In Pattavina et al. v. Newport School Committee, Commissioner of Education, May 26,

2011, the Commissioner, relying on the school breakfast cases, confirmed again that parents and

students enrolled in schools within a school district had standing to challenge education policy

decisions (in Pattavina, the design of a new school) because they alleged that they were

adversely affected by the challenged decision:

Going back at least as far as 1981, Commissioners have ruled that when at least some
of the members of a group seeking standing in a matter before the Commissioner
are parents of children affected by the decision being weighed, the group has
standing to be heard. Bradford Save Our School Committee v. Westerly School
Committee.4 In more recent rulings the Commissioner has analyzed the standing of
persons who claim to be adversely affected by a school committee’s decision in order to
ensure that a specific, legally-cognizable “injury” is in fact alleged. In the 2004 case of

3
Campaign to Eliminate Childhood Poverty v. Newport School Committee, Commissioner of Education, August 5,
1993, p. 6.
4
Decision of the Commissioner dated September 21, 1981; affirmed by Board of Regents on February 11, 1982.

4
 Bristol-Warren Save Our Schools v. Bristol-Warren Regional School Committee,5 the
School Committee argued that the petitioners were not persons “aggrieved” and that the
organization formed to challenge the School Committee’s plans for school construction
lacked standing to appeal to the Commissioner. The group in Bristol-Warren alleged that
the School Committee had arbitrarily rejected their alternative plan and instead adopted a
more costly, ill-conceived plan to meet the elementary facility needs of the district. The
Commissioner acknowledged in Bristol-Warren (at page 2 of the decision) that
allegations of excessive cost of the project, harm to the quality of life in the towns of
Bristol and Warren, and the benefits of alternative plans are very important issues. These
claims, however, were insufficient to establish the group’s standing. The finding that
the group had legal standing for their appeal was based on the fact that the group
was comprised of several parents of affected students and that the students were
alleged to be adversely affected by the School Committee’s plan. (emphasis added)
Pattavina, p. 8.

The same result was reached as to student groups in Certain Students at Hope High

School v. Providence School Board, Commissioner of Education, August 16, 2010. In that case,

students alleged that they had a direct interest in the allocation of common planning time within

the school day and that they would be harmed if changes were made to reduce common planning

time.

B. The Petitioners Will be Harmed if the Proposed Order is Adopted as Written, Without
Specific Inclusion of Formal and Enforceable Mechanisms for Accountability and
Transparency to Include Parents and Students.

The central priority of the petitioners is a successful intervention that ultimately results in

improvements in the PPS. The Proposed Order of Control and Reconstitution does not contain

defined and enforceable avenues for transparency, accountability and the input of students and

parents in the Reconstitution. If the proposed intervention is to succeed, formal enforceable

mechanisms that provide transparency and accountability to parents and students—the most-

affected parties—must be built into the intervention itself. Proceeding with the intervention

without specifically providing for such oversight, accountability, inclusion and transparency

5
Decision of the Commissioner dated June 9, 2004.

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jeopardizes the successful and sustainable improvement of the schools, harming the petitioners.

In particular, the harmful effects of the disenfranchisement of communities of color from formal

participation in education system decision-making has been documented in state takeovers of

local school districts throughout the nation.6 When the schools are managed by local governing

bodies, community members can organize to replace them through electoral processes if they are

dissatisfied with their schools. When local elected and appointed decision makers are replaced

by state officials and their designees, both electoral accountability and the transparency

statutorily required of local governmental bodies like the City Council and the School Board are

lost unless this harm is mitigated by putting in place specific accountability and transparency

measures such as those sought by the petitioners.

For at least two decades, researchers and policymakers have reinforced the need for

genuine and formal parental and community involvement in fostering and sustaining school

reform. Over 20 years ago, the U.S. Department of Education emphasized:

Improving relationships between schools and the communities they serve and operate in
is a vital part of making any kind of lasting change in the learning environment. As states
and districts raise accountability for student achievement, all stakeholders across the
community must play a role in turning around low-performing schools. Effective districts
maximize community resources by developing partnerships with parents, community-
based and religious organizations, businesses, universities, and teachers unions.
Stakeholders help define problems and choose solutions only when they actively
participate in the process of change.7

This central truth has not changed in the intervening decades: “People support what they help

create.”8 In spite of this knowledge, the historical terrain of state takeovers is littered with the

6
https://votingwars.news21.com/school-takeovers-leave-parents-without-a-voice-in-education/, Morel, Domingo,
Takeover: Race, Education, and American Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2018), also, My Turn: Community
a Key Component to Fixing Providence Schools, Domingo Morel, Providence Journal, July 17, 2019.
7
TURNING AROUND LOW-PERFORMING SCHOOLS A Guide for State and Local Leaders, U.S. Department
of Education, May 1998, https://www2.ed.gov/PDFDocs/turning.pdf
8
Beth Schueler, A Third Way: The Politics of School District Takeover and Turnaround in Lawrence,
Massachusetts, Educational Administration Quarterly, 1-38, (2018) p. 9.

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unsuccessful efforts of those who have failed to include meaningful parent and student

participation in every aspect of the intervention. This outcome can and must be prevented

through parent and student involvement:

[P]arents needed to be seen “as people who bring new capital, not as people who you
need to pacify. We talked about [how] the reform had to be substantially about building
the base of community support and mobilizing the social capital that existed in
communities… and connecting that up with schools so that the reform was structural
about what’s happening in the entire school system.” 9

These same principles are emphasized in the R.I. Family Engagement Advisory Council Act of
2011. 10
Research supports a positive correlation between family engagement …and the
performance of the student, school and district….It is often difficult to obtain a
comprehensive amount of feedback from all stakeholders across the educational spectrum
when making educational policy. Well-intentioned education-related initiatives which
are introduced or produced without sufficient feedback or input from
families/guardians of students involved often produces negative feedback from these
families/guardians, which results in potentially effective initiatives being interrupted
or abandoned altogether. (emphasis added)
R.I.G.L. §16-94-3(a) and (c).

1. Transparency

“Transparency is the best disinfectant.” Louis Brandeis

Transparency and formal mechanisms for community involvement in the development of

the Turnaround Plan prior to its adoption and implementation are necessary to support the

success of the intervention and the improvement of the schools. This must include community

involvement in the development of the goals of the plan and measures of success to be included

in the plan (which should extend beyond standardized testing measures). Parents and students

should be included in formal mechanisms to participate in the development of each element of

the Turnaround Plan, as well as the definition of short- and longer- term measures for success

9
Karen Mapp and James Noonan, Organizing for Parent and Community Engagement in Baltimore City Public
Schools, Public Education Leadership Project at Harvard University, August 2015, p. 5.
10
R.I.G.L. §16-94-1 et seq.

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during the implementation of the plan, and the development of exit criteria for return of the

control of the district to local authorities.

2. Accountability

“Trust but verify.” Ronald Reagan

Direct accountability to the parents, students and the community through frequent,

periodic, regular public reporting on the development, approval and implementation of the

Turnaround Plan is critical to the success of any intervention. This must include fiscal auditing,

analysis and reporting and frequent updates on the activities of the Turnaround Plan’s core

elements of budget, program, personnel, governance and facilities.

3. Inclusion in Key Decisions

“I must follow the people. Am I not their leader?” Benjamin Disraeli

In the past, the Providence Public School District has provided transparency and

inclusion for the community in the selection of key leaders, such as the Superintendent and

school principals. That widely accepted best practice must not be sacrificed on the altar of the

intervention. Parents, students and student organizations must have an opportunity to meet

finalists for key positions such as Superintendent, review finalist credentials and provide their

perspectives on which leader will best serve the community’s goal of improved schools.

C. The Intervention is More than a Political Plan, it’s Personal: Nothing About Us
Without Us

No one wants an immediate, robust, effective intervention to improve the PPS more than

the petitioners: Providence parents, students, and student organizations. Some of the petitioners

attended the Providence schools themselves and are now seeing those same schools failing their

children. Many of these high school students and members of the student organizations they

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belong to have spent their entire educational lives caught in a spiral of low-expectations,

unresponsive schools, deteriorating facilities and little or no engaging instructional experiences.

These parents and students did not need a visiting team from Baltimore to tell them what’s going

on in the Providence Public Schools. They are all too painfully aware.

This must change. Petitioners file this Motion to insist that this multigenerational cycle of

system failure must stop. An intervention designed and authorized behind closed doors will not

succeed. The literature examining the results of state interventions in public schools

demonstrates that an intervention without authentic and mandatory community inclusion will fail

to bring significant and lasting improvements to the PPS. The petitioners demand clean, well-

maintained educational facilities that communicate respect for the learners within; up-to-date

instructional materials; anti-racist and culturally responsive teaching; engaging, relevant and

rigorous curricula; and learning environments that are physically and emotionally safe for all

students. No state takeover can deliver on these expectations without mandatory, formal

community accountability, transparency and inclusion from the outset. The petitioners intervene

in this matter to respectfully require these essential ingredients for success in this long-overdue

intervention for dramatic improvements to the Providence schools.

Respectfully submitted,
Providence Parents, Students and Student Organizations

By their Attorney,
/s/ Jennifer L. Wood #3582
The R.I. Center for Justice
1 Empire Street, Suite 410
Providence, RI 02906
(401) 491 1101 ext. 801
jwood@centerforjustice.org

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 Certification
I certify that on September 4, 2019 a copy of this Motion and Memorandum with
supporting materials was provided by electronic delivery to John A Tarantino
(jtarantino@apslaw.com) Counsel to the Commissioner and Marc DeSisto
(marc@desistolaw.com) Counsel to the Department of Education and both electronically and
with four hard copies to legal@ride.ri.gov.

/s/ Jennifer L. Wood

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 Domingo Morel
Department of Political Science
Rutgers University
Newark

EMAIL: domingo.morel@rutgers.edu
WEB: domingomorel.com

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
Rutgers University – Newark Newark, NJ
Department of Political Science
Assistant Professor, 2016-Present

Brown University Providence, RI

Annenberg Institute for School Reform
Visiting Scholar, 2018-Present

Wellesley College Wellesley, MA

Department of Political Science
Visiting Lecturer, 2015-2016

University of Massachusetts Boston Boston, MA

McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies
Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Public Policy and Public Affairs, 2014 - 2015

EDUCATION
Ph.D. Political Science, Brown University, 2014 Providence, RI
M.A. Political Science, Brown University, 2011 Providence, RI
M.A. Counseling and Educational Psychology, Rhode Island College, 2001 Providence, RI
B.S. Human Development and Family Studies, University of Rhode Island, 1998 Kingston, RI

FIELDS OF INTEREST
American Politics, Race and Ethnicity, Urban Politics, Education Politics, and Public Policy

RESEARCH
Books
2018. Takeover: Race, Education, and American Democracy. Oxford University Press.
 Winner of the 2019 W.E.B. Du Bois Distinguished Book of the Year Award, National
Conference of Black Political Scientists
 Reviewed in Perspectives on Politics
 Featured in an “Author Meets Critics” panel at 2018 American Political Science Association Annual
Meeting

2018. Latino Mayors: Power and Political Change in the Postindustrial City, co-editor with Marion Orr. Temple
University Press.
 Reviewed in Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics
 Featured in an “Author Meets Critics” panel at 2019 Urban Affairs Association Annual Meeting
Articles
2019. “Who Governs?: How Shifts in Political Power Shape Perceptions of Local Government Services,” with
Sally A. Nuamah. Urban Affairs Review.

2016. “The Effects of Centralized Government Authority on Black and Latino Political Empowerment,”
Political Research Quarterly.

2016. “Race and State in the Urban Regime,” Urban Affairs Review.

Book Chapters
2018. “Latino Mayors and the Evolution of Urban Politics,” with Marion Orr. In Latino Mayors: Power and
Political Change in the Postindustrial City. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

2018. “Managing Fiscal Stress in Providence: The Election and Governance of Mayor Angel Taveras,” with
Marion Orr and Emily Farris. In Latino Mayors: Power and Political Change in the Postindustrial City. Philadelphia,
PA: Temple University Press.

2018. “Latino Mayors and the Politics of the Postindustrial City,” with Marion Orr. In Latino Mayors: Power and
Political Change in the Postindustrial City. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

2016. “Latino Public School Engagement and Political Socialization,” with Marion Orr, Kenneth Wong, and
Emily Farris. In Urban Citizenship and American Democracy: The Historical and Institutional Roots of Local Politics and
Policy, eds Amy Bridges and Michael Javen Fortner. New York: SUNY Press.

2014. “Black and Brown Coalition Formation in New England: Latino Perceptions of Cross-Racial
Commonality,” with Marion Orr and Katrina Gamble. In Latino Politics en Ciencia Politica: The Scientific Analysis of
Latino Politics in the United States, eds. Anthony Affigne, Evelyn Hu-DeHart, and Marion Orr. New York: New
York University Press.

RESEARCH IN PROGRESS

“The Politics of Municipal Pension Reforms,” with Marion Orr and Jonathan Collins (under review).

“Slow to Gentrify? The Role of Race and Politics in the Timing of Gentrification,” with Akira Drake
Rodriguez, Mara Sidney, Nakeefa Garay and Adam Straub.

“Dominican Migration and Political Office Holding in the U.S.,” with Yalidy Matos.

Book Manuscript: Talent Development: Addressing Inequality through Higher Education.

AWARDS

2017. Clarence N. Stone Scholar Award. American Political Science Association, Urban Politics Section.

INVITED TALKS AND PRESENTATIONS

2019. Yale University. Workshop on Race and Social Science.

2019. Harvard University. Harvard Graduate School of Education.

2019. New York University. Institute for Public Knowledge.

2019. College of William and Mary.

2019. Baruch College. The City University of New York.

2018. University of California, Berkeley. Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society.

2018. Princeton University. Education Research Section, Woodrow Wilson School.

2018. Brown University. Anton-Lippitt Conference, Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy.

2018. Brown University. “Power, Public Schools and Political Attitudes in Post-Katrina New Orleans.”

2018. Albert Shanker Institute. The 2018 Elections: What Do They Mean for American Education?

2017. Rutgers University Law School. “Examining the Systems that Drive Inequity in Public Education and
What We Can Do About It.”

2016. Wellesley College. “Minority Voters and the 2016 Presidential Election.”

2016. Boston University. “Anti-Blackness in the Latinx Community.”

2016. Brown University. “Latinas/os and the 2016 Presidential Election.”

2015. Boston University. “The Democratic Party and Black Lives Matter.”

2014. Providence College. “Making the Invisible Visible: Helping Boys of Color Succeed.”

2011. University of Rhode Island. “Access to Higher Education: The Talent Development Program.”

2009. Brown University. “Responding to “Encountering American Faultlines: Race, Class and the Dominican
Experience in Providence.”

2008. Rhode Island Foundation. “Rhode Island Latinos, Debunking Myths and Uncovering Truths: Evidence
from the New England Latino Survey.”

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
“Who Governs?: How Shifts in Political Power Shape Perceptions of Local Government Services.” Presented
at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Toronto, CA.

“A Pension is a Promise.” Presented at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Urban Affairs Association, Los
Angeles, CA.

Author Meets Critics: Latino Mayors: Power and Political Change in the Postindustrial City. 2019 Annual
Meeting of the Urban Affairs Association, Los Angeles, CA.

“A Pension is a Promise.” Presented at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the National Conference of Black Political
Scientists, Baton Rouge, LA.

Author Meets Critics: Takeover: Race, Education, and American Democracy. 2018 Annual Meeting of the
American Political Science Association, Boston, MA.

“Power, Public Schools and Political Attitudes in Post-Katrina New Orleans.” Education Reform,
Communities, and Social Justice: Exploring the Intersections 2018 Research Conference, Rutgers University.
“Power, Public Schools and Political Attitudes in Post-Katrina New Orleans.” Presented at the 2018 Annual
Meeting of the Urban Affairs Association, Toronto, Canada.

“Power, Public Schools and Political Attitudes in Post-Katrina New Orleans.” Presented at the 2018 Annual
Meeting of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists, Chicago, IL.

“Conflict, Conciliation, and Cities’ Search for Legitimacy.” 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Political
Science Association, San Francisco, CA.

“Race, Power, and the Intergovernmental Regime.” Presented at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Urban Affairs
Association, San Diego, CA.

“The Effects of Centralized Government Authority on Black and Latino Political Empowerment.” Presented
at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL.

“Centralized Authority and Descriptive Representation: Effects of State Takeovers of Local School Districts
on Black and Latino Representation.” Presented at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science
Association, Chicago, IL.

“Bringing the State In, or Not: State Intervention and Black and Latino Local Political Empowerment.”
Presented at the 2013 Annual Conference of the Urban Affairs Association San Francisco, CA.

“Do Weak Local Institutions Invite Federal Attention?: Prospects for Education Reform” (with Jennifer
Cassidy). Presented at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Seattle, WA.

“Do Weak Local Institutions Invite Federal Attention? Prospects for Education Reform” (with Jennifer
Cassidy). Presented at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL.

“Latino Public School Engagement and Political Socialization” (with Emily Farris, Marion Orr and Ken
Wong). Presented at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL.

“Latino Political Engagement and Public School Quality” (with Emily Farris, Marion Orr and Ken Wong).
Presented at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Washington D.C.

OPINION AND OTHER PUBLIC WRITINGS

“State Takeovers of Schools Are About Political Power, Not School Improvement,” The Conversation (July
2018).

“Return to local control in Newark schools is good step, but still not enough,” The Star-Ledger (September 2017)

“What the Newark Riots Can Teach Us About Education,” Fortune (July 2017).

“Race and State in the Urban Regime,” Urban Affairs Forum (February 2017).

“Government takeovers of local authorities can mean that some communities are better represented at the
expense of others,” London School of Economics US Centre’s Blog on American Politics and Policy (April 2016).

“Latinos Transform Latino Politics,” Providence Journal (April 2014).

TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Assistant Professor
Rutgers University – Newark Newark, NJ
American National Government
Urban Politics
Policymaking in the American Political System
The Politics of Poverty

Visiting Lecturer
Wellesley College Wellesley, MA
The Politics of Inequality in America
American Politics
Urban Politics

Visiting Assistant Professor

University of Massachusetts Boston Boston, MA
The New England Political Environment
Political Institutions

Instructor
Brown University Providence, RI
Rhode Island Government and Politics

Adjunct Professor
University of Rhode Island Kingston, RI
Blacks and Latinos in US Politics

Teaching Assistant
Brown University, Political Science Department Providence, RI
City Politics, Professor James Morone (Spring 2014)
Education, Inequality, and American Democracy, Professor Susan Moffitt (Fall 2013)
The American Presidency, Professor Wendy Schiller (Spring 2012)
Politics of the Illicit Global Economy, Professor Peter Andreas (Fall 2011)
Introduction to the American Political Process, Professor Wendy Schiller (Spring 2011)
Introduction to Public Policy, Professor Robin Phinney (Fall 2010)

Advising
Brown University, Undergraduate Honors Thesis Advisor (2013 and 2014)

MEDIA COMMENTARY
Basic Black, Boston Public Radio (WBGH), Latino Public Radio, New York City Public Radio (WNYC),
Providence en Español, Providence Journal, Providence Phoenix, Rhode Island Monthly, RI Public Radio.

LANGUAGES
Bilingual, Spanish (native speaker)

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
American Political Science Association
Midwest Political Science Association
National Conference of Black Political Scientists
Urban Affairs Association
POLITICAL / PROFESSIONAL LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE

Rhode Island Latino Policy Institute at Roger Williams University 2006-2016

Co-founder and Co-Chair of Board of Directors of institute committed to generating and communicating non-
partisan data of Latinos in Rhode Island

Rhode Island Latino Civic Fund 2001-2012

Past President and Board member of organization created to promote the civic education, registration and
political participation of Latinos in the state of Rhode Island

Rhode Island Latino Political Action Committee 2001-2012

Past President and Board member of nonpartisan organization formed to influence the political process in the
state of Rhode Island

Univocal Legislative Minority Advisory Coalition 2006-2010

Co-founder of coalition created to introduce and support legislation that addresses the needs of communities
of color in Rhode Island

Latino Dollars for Scholars of R.I 2000 – 2016

Past President and current Advisory Board member of non-profit organization which awards scholarships to
Latino students from Rhode Island pursuing a higher education

OTHER EXPERIENCE
University of Rhode Island Kingston, RI
Academic Advisor, Talent Development Program 2002 – 2009
Recruited and provided academic advisement to students in the Talent Development Program (TD), a program
for students of color and students of disadvantaged backgrounds.
Presidential Search Committee Member 2008- 2009
Appointed by the Rhode Island Board of Governors and the Commissioner of Higher Education to serve as
the staff representative on the Presidential Search Committee

Equity Council 2008- 2009

Member of President’s Equity Council

Commission on the Status of Students, Staff and Faculty of Color 2005 –2009
Commission created in 2005 to examine the current status of people of color at the University and to develop
recommendations designed to promote the development of an environment conducive to the full inclusion and
development of students, staff and faculty of color.

Joint Strategic Planning Committee 2007- 2009

Member of President’s strategic planning team and Chair of Access to Excellence subcommittee

Rhode Island College Providence, RI

Admissions Officer 1998 - 2002
Coordinated recruitment activities for a special admission program (Preparatory Enrollment Program).