A dozen public schools in Providence will be undergoing $20 million in facility improvements after a scathing report was released on the Rhode Island Department of Education.
A 93-page report by the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy released in June highlighted issues like bullying, fighting, poor learning conditions, and crumbling buildings, according to WJAR-TV.
"Air conditioners, the plumbing systems, all of the boilers and the water," Mayor Jorge Elorza told the NBC affiliate Tuesday. "All of that work, deferred maintenance that had been going on for decades upon decades upon decades."
As a result of the report, city officials visited 12 schools and will make improvements to them this summer.
The schools are: Pleasant View Elementary School, Gilbert Stuart Middle School, Martin Luther King Elementary School, Carl G. Lauro Elementary School, Nathanael Greene Middle School, E-Cubed Academy, DelSesto Middle School, Asa Messer Elementary School, Hope High School, Mt. Pleasant High School, Providence Career and Technical Academy and Roger Williams Middle School.
The mayor said change is needed.
"We need a transformation of our school system," Elorza told WJAR. "We're not doing right by our kids right now."
