PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- After hearing the pleas of dozens of students and staff from the Central Falls-based Segue Institute for Learning, the Board of Education voted to renew the school's charter for five more years Monday instead of the three years urged by Education Commissioner Deborah Gist.
The students jammed the Student Union Ballroom at Rhode Island College as the board debated the issue and erupted in cheers when they realized they had won.
Gist and others had argued that while there were many good things to say about Segue, which serves 240 students in grades 6 to 8, there were also some deficiencies such as not having met all of its federally required academic performance targets.
Members Antonio Barajas and William Maaia, however, said that giving Seque a three-year renewal instead of five was not the kind of encouragement school members were looking for.
The vote to expand the renewal to five years was 8-3 with Patrick Gaida, Karin Forbes and chairman Eva-Marie Mancuso voting against.The renewal was then approved 10-1 with only Gaida voting against.
Also renewed Monday night were charters for the Times (2) Academy in Providence, the Learning Community, and the Blackstone Valley Prep Mayoral Academy, all of which were given renewals for five years.