Elisabeth Harrison

The attorney for the former head of an agency that allegedly had disabled people working for less than minimum wage maintains his client did nothing wrong.

John Cicilline says he has received paperwork from the U.S. Justice Department relating to John Capobianco, Sr. and his nonprofit company Training Through Placement, but he said yesterday he had not yet had time to review it.

Providence Mayor Angel Taveras says he is “outraged and saddened” by the findings of a Federal Justice Department investigation, alleging civil rights violations in a program for disabled students.

In a written statement, Taveras says the program, which ran for two decades at the Birch Vocational School inside Mt. Pleasant High School, failed its most vulnerable students. The city is looking into pursuing criminal charges.

Governor Lincoln Chafee is in Chicago Monday for a symposium on education. The event is hosted by James B. Hunt Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy, a group affiliated with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The institute says its goal is to strengthen public education by bringing politicians and policymakers together to discuss state-level education policy.

The Rhode Island Board of Education is expected to vote tonight on a contract extension for State Education Commissioner Deborah Gist. She’s been weathering heavy criticism over the last few months from some parents, students and teachers, who complain that she ignores their concerns about all of the changes happening in Rhode Island public schools. One of the most controversial issues has been a new policy of standardized testing as a requirement for a high school diploma.

Rhode Island Education Commissioner Deborah Gist is likely to learn Thursday whether her contract is being renewed and for how long.

Deborah Gist has been a target of criticism lately from some teachers and students who say they don’t like her leadership style and they disagree with her focus on test scores. Now that her contract is expiring, there’s speculation the State Board of Education will offer a one-year extension, instead of a three-year contract. Gist says that would be difficult to accept.

Some Providence high schools will begin Wednesday classes later than usual under a new plan aimed at saving the city up to $2.5 million. The change to a 9:25 a.m. start may be welcome for students and their teachers, who often complain teenagers are zombies early in the morning.

Schools adopting the later Wednesday mornings include Hope High School, Classical High School and Central High School. On other days those schools will start at 8 a.m. and finish up by 2:45 p.m. like most other high schools in the district.

A controversial new state policy says high school students in Rhode Island need a score of 2 or better on standardized state testing to graduate. That’s only partially proficient, but thousands of students didn’t make the grade when they took the test last fall. School districts are now working to get those students up to speed so they can meet this new requirement. Rhode Island Public Radio’s Education Reporter Elisabeth Harrison sat down with a district official and a Math teacher in Cranston to find out how it’s going.

Rhode Island Public Radio political analyst Scott MacKay sat down with host Elisabeth Harrison to discuss Governor Lincoln Chafee's decision to join the Democratic party.

Members of the student advocacy group Providence Student Union have issued an apology to Rhode Island Education Commissioner Deborah Gist for making comments about her reputation. The students said they regretted the tone of a press release that said they planned to mourn the “expected ‘death’ of Commissioner Gist’s reputation.”

The comments came after Gist refused the group’s invitation of a public debate about the state’s use of standardized test scores. The Providence Student Union called it a mistake to make the issue personal.