Providence Teachers Protest Heating and Safety Problems at 13 Schools
The Providence Teachers Union held a protest outside the school district's administrative offices after school on November 4 over persistent heating, maintenance and safety problems in the city's public schools. Hope High School student Elijah Guzman joined his teachers at the protest; the union said 13 schools experienced heating outages in the past week alone.
Union president Lindsay Paiva told the crowd the protest was not only about heat, and that the union has filed more than a dozen safety grievances with the district. Superintendent Javier Montañez wrote to parents on October 29 about the situation, but teachers said heating outages were continuing at Hope High School, Greene School, Central High School and elsewhere.
On November 4 the district gave The Providence Journal information on four of the schools, citing boiler problems at Hope and Greene, but did not address the other nine schools teachers had named. Mayor-elect David Morales also attended the protest to hear the teachers' concerns.
As temperatures fall across New England, classroom heating directly affects students' learning environment and health. The union is asking the district to address the heating and safety hazards at all 13 schools and to provide a clear repair timetable, rather than responding only to individual schools.
(Source: The Providence Journal)
Source: The Providence Journal
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：普罗维登斯的希望高中。经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Hope High School in Providence. Via Wikimedia Commons.
