OurSchoolsPVD Alliance

OurSchoolsPVD is an alliance of youth-led organizations and their allies with a goal of ensuring that state control of the Providence Public School District (PPSD) results in an educationally just and equitable system. OurSchoolsPVD is a first-of-its-kind effort in Rhode Island to create an intergenerational alliance to build the people power necessary to create the school system that Providence youth, families, and educators demand and deserve. We formed OurSchoolsPVD when the state took control over Providence Public Schools in the summer of 2019.

We have developed the following 3-D Platform calling for Democracy, Dollars, and Dignity for PPSD:

(1) DEMOCRACY: the creation of democratic, transparent, proportionally-representative, and publicly accountable decision-making processes and bodies to ensure that the people with the greatest stake in public schools in Providence – youth, parents, and educators – have the power to determine the future of our schools; 

We need a say, voice, and real decision-making power!

(2) DOLLARS: the equitable generation and allocation of resources to ensure our students and schools receive a quality, relevant, culturally responsive, asset-based education in a physically and emotionally safe and nurturing environment;

We need adequate and equitable resources!

(3) DIGNITY: the transformation of racist, classist, and otherwise oppressive school cultures and climates by prioritizing equity and justice; adopting anti-oppressive classroom teaching practices, curriculum, and school/district policies; updating hiring and retention practices; and supporting collaboration over competition and human need over commodification.

We need cultures, climates, classrooms, and curriculum of respect!

What We Do

We are fighting to ensure that youth and the community have a say in what happens to our schools. Even beyond the current state takeover, we are fighting for the transformation of PPSD towards a vision that is for us, by us.

What We’ve Accomplished

We’ve created a youth leaders cohort composed of a leadership body with 2 PPSD youth representatives from each organization, who are leading organizing & campaign work. The goal of this cohort is to give power back to the students after the state takeover. Our current campaign is to implement Ethnic Studies in schools.