Mayor Taveras Visits His Former Schools as Part of Inaugural Celebration

As a graduate of Providence public schools, Mayor Angel Taveras knows first-hand the transformative power of a great education. He believes Providence must take bold steps to make sure our City provides a college and career preparatory education for every single child in our schools, regardless of family income, skin color, or zip-code. Failure is not an option. Anything less is simply unacceptable.

Four days after he was inaugurated as Providence's 37th Mayor, Taveras demonstrated his firm commitment to Providence public schools by hosting neighborhood celebrations throughout the City at the schools he attended growing up in Providence.

The neighborhood inaugural celebrations were held at Mary Fogarty Elementary School, Roger Williams Middle School, Nathanael Greene Middle School and Classical High School. They were free and open to the public.

The Mayor celebrated with students, parents and neighborhood residents at each school and reminisced about his days there as a student. At the Fogarty School, Mayor Taveras spoke especially of his third grade teacher, Mrs. Dorothy Donaldson, who encouraged and inspired the future Mayor, seeding Taveras' dream to become an attorney and live a life of public service.

Mayor Taveras said that Mrs. Donaldson embodied the hard work and commitment to educating Providence's school children of our City's more than 2,000 public school teachers. He spoke at each school about the importance to Providence's economic future to create a best-in-nation public school system, and the need to foster a culture of achievement in our public schools.

Echoing his inaugural address on the steps of City Hall, Mayor Taveras spoke of the need to develop a comprehensive portfolio of high-quality schools that serve every child. He said Providence must support teachers by continuing to develop a nationally admired evaluation and professional development system.

The Mayor said Providence Schools must identify opportunities for strong parental and community engagement, recognizing that a child's most important teacher is always at home.

Providence will seek to create new early-childhood-learning opportunities, Mayor Taveras said, so that our youngest students get the preparation they need to attend school on an even playing field. The City will build on the excellence of the Providence After School Alliance by working with the its colleges and universities to establish quality summer learning opportunities.