The Providence Public School Department’s facade on Westminster Street. (Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current)
PROVIDENCE — Three of the applicants for five appointed seats on the Providence School Board recommended by Mayor Brett P. Smiley are already sitting board members.
Smiley announced his recommendations for half of the 10-member board on Tuesday afternoon. Voters in November elected the board’s other five members. A total of 25 applicants sought appointments to the board.
Smiley’s picks are subject to approval by the City Council.
The board formerly had nine members, all mayor-appointed until a charter change approved by city voters in 2022 restructured the composition and made half the seats elected starting with the November 2024 election. The elected and appointed seats are split up by five regions.
The three sitting members picked by Smiley are:
Melissa Hughes (Region 1), a parent of two Providence public school students, who is the school board’s secretary and also chair of its Policy Committee. Her experience includes the Providence School Building Committee, the Providence Schools Parent Advisory Council and parent-teacher organizations at her children’s schools.
Ashley (Anjel) Newmann (Region 2), a co-executive and youth program director at AS220 who teaches art, design and social justice classes in local institutions of higher ed.
Night Jean Muhingabo (Region 4), a direct care provider for seniors with disabilities at Perspectives Corporation Country, who was appointed to the Providence School Board in 2021. He has focused on health and wellness in his tenure on school board committees. Muhingabo placed third in the region 4 race in November, behind Mireya Mendoza, who won 37% of the vote, and David Talan, who scored 28% of the vote. Muhingabo won 22% of the region’s voters, a little under 1,700 people in all.
Also recommended by Smiley are:
Jenny Mercado (Region 3), a certified nursing assistant at Hasbro Children’s Hospital and a Mount Pleasant High School graduate. A mother to two Providence school students, Mercado is an advocate for bilingual and newly arrived parents, helping them navigate the Providence public school system. Mercado ran for one of the elected seats in November, but was runner up to the victorious Heidi Silverio, who amassed 45% of the electorate with 2,999 votes. Mercado drew 34% of the vote in the three-candidate race.
Steven Williamson (Region 5), a planning and programming specialist at the Rhode Island Department of Health, who has been actively involved in local nonprofits and community work.
The City Council is scheduled to receive the appointments at its Thursday meeting, but the appointments are “off-docket,” said council spokesperson Roxie Richner in a text message Tuesday. That means the appointments do not appear on the agenda for Thursday’s meeting but will be received by the council.
Smiley’s picks will then be forwarded to the council’s finance committee for preliminary approval. Once approved by the full council, the candidates will be sworn in by Mayor Smiley in February.
The first five appointees are going to serve staggered terms: Hughes would serve a one-year term, ending in 2026; Mercado and Muhingabo would serve two-year terms, ending in 2027; and Newmann and Williamson would serve three-year terms, ending in 2028, said Anthony Vega, the mayor’s press secretary.
After these initial appointments, all future terms will be three years.
City Councilor John Goncalves took to X Tuesday to confirm his support for the appointees: “Extremely excited about this incredible slate of school board members!” he wrote.
The mayor previously said that the school board will elect its own president. Ty’Relle Stephens, an incumbent who won his region’s elected seat in November with a staggering 73% of the vote, announced his candidacy Tuesday evening on X.
“These recommendations are an important step in strengthening our education system and ensuring the success of every student in Providence,” Smiley said in a statement. “Each candidate brings valuable expertise and a strong commitment to our community. As we work toward successfully returning to local control, these leaders will be essential in advancing our educational priorities and ensuring that all students, teachers and families receive the support they need to thrive.”
Even with its new structure, the school board continues to lack powers typical of such public bodies, thanks to state control of the district by the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE). Decisions like how Providence schools budget money or hire teachers have largely been the wheelhouse of RIDE Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green since the state agency took over the struggling district in 2019.
The takeover was set to expire last year, but the Rhode Island Council on Elementary and Secondary Education in August instead refreshed state control through 2027. Infante-Green has expressed that the takeover could end sooner, if academic metrics like grades, graduation rates and standardized test scores improve — a possibility hoped for by Providence students who would like to see an end to state control.
Smiley has said the city is ready to take back control of the Providence Public School Department on July 1, the start of fiscal year 2026, and that the city may ask the General Assembly for help.
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