By Kim Kalunian, WPRO News
Tonight Rhode Island’s new Board of Education will have its first meeting tonight, Monday at 5:30 p.m. at CCRI's Warwick Campus, and newly appointed chairwoman, Eva-Marie Mancuso, will be at the helm.
The Board was created late last session as an amendment to the budget, and some say the last-minute decision was made in the interest of secrecy.
“I don’t know that it was secrecy but it certainly was quick,” Mancuso told Gene Valicenti on the WPRO Morning News Monday.
Mancuso said the first order of business at Monday’s meeting will be to lay out the board’s agenda and mission, something Mancuso believes was kept purposely vague in the legislation.
“In the legislation they did not lay out all of the particulars, I believe for a reason, because they wanted change, and they wanted a new structure,” Mancuso said. She says it will be left up to the executive committee — the two commissioners and college presidents – to determine the structure of the board.
According to the law, the Board will be responsible to submit its final plan by July 1.
Mancuso said in addition to defining the duties of the board, they will also look ahead at new business regarding the state’s K-12 public schools and higher education.
“It’s a great challenge,” said Mancuso.
Formerly, the state’s education systems were handled by two separate boards: The Board of Regents for Secondary and Elementary Education, and the Board of Governors for Higher Education.
Although it’s a lot of ground to cover, Mancuso said that the new board will not be responsible for a lot of decision making, and will instead provide oversight for the commissioners and college presidents.
“We’re not, as a board, going to redesign the NECAP test,” said Mancuso. “And we’re not going to redesign what the requirements are going to be for high school.”
Mancuso said the board will oversee the process of such things, and hold the commissioners and college presidents accountable and responsible.
“I believe the challenge is something we can actually do,” she said, adding that the new board allows for those who hold stake in each area of the state’s education system to actively participate in a discussion of important topics.
According to the agenda for the meeting, the Board will also consider a revocation of permission for The Sawyer School to operate in Rhode Island. The school abruptly closed its doors in January.
