The surprise announcement in February that the South Providence school would close roiled the community, as students and teachers said they weren’t given any opportunity for input before the decision was made. Students walked out of class to protest the closure, and the Providence City Council and Providence School Board both passed resolutions opposing it. Dozens of families and teachers testified before both local bodies opposing the decision, citing the tight-knit school of 350 students, beloved principal and unique learning style at the school, which was initially an experiment launched with a Carnegie grant in 2015. Students also said they were never consulted about whether they wanted to go to a school specializing in life sciences careers.
Since the state controls the Providence schools, the local resolutions were symbolic.
The superintendent, Dr. Javier Montañez, has acknowledged cost savings were a factor in the decision, but also pointed to low test scores, high dropout rates and other factors. Students were automatically transferred to the Juanita Sanchez Educational Complex, or JSEC, unless they selected another school, but 34 faculty jobs at 360 were eliminated. Teachers had to apply to other jobs within the district. The popular principal of 360 High School, Kerry Tuttlebee, no longer works for the district.
The vast majority of students at 360 were economically disadvantaged, and roughly half were multilingual learners.
The class-action lawsuit, filed against the Rhode Island Department of Education and Providence Public School District by parents in in April, focused on the rights of the multilingual learners, claiming the school system was violating Spanish-speaking students’ civil rights by disbanding the school and transferring students and teachers to other high schools. It invoked Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark Supreme Court case prohibiting school discrimination on the basis of race.
The parents in the suit claimed their children have thrived in the environment at 360, and the parents have been able to communicate with teachers and staff who speak Spanish, something they have not always been able to do.
The settlement, which came out of mediation between the two sides, describes a “unified school” between 360 and JSEC. While JSEC was set to be renamed the “Juanita Sanchez Life Sciences Institute,” the settlement says students will now be given the opportunity to come up with a new name for the school if they choose.
The district will also reopen a new two-week window for former 360 High School teachers to apply to work at JSEC.
The school will still follow the “redesign” plan for JSEC, which was approved by the Rhode Island Council on Elementary and Secondary Education last year. Redesign plans are created for schools that have the lowest possible accountability rating — one star out of five — for several years in a row. JSEC had even lower test scores than 360 High School, but was farther along in the process of being redesigned.
A series of practices that 360 High School was known for will also be implemented at the new unified school, according to the settlement, including restorative justice practices known as the “Kingian” approach to nonviolence, and mastery-based learning where students get multiple chances to take tests or submit coursework until they demonstrate mastery of a subject.
There will also be an “advisory” period every other day with the goal of “building a strong relationship between the student and their advisor and school counselor, developing the student’s personal learning plan, and making post-secondary plans for the student.”
The agreement also lays out how the new school will serve multilingual learners, including by providing class materials in their preferred language, implementing “team teaching” between core content teachers and ESL-certified teachers and more.
The settlement still needs to be formally approved by Judge John J. McConnell, who was also the mediator.
Jennifer Wood, the attorney for the families who filed the lawsuit, declined to comment until after the settlement is finalized.
Victor Morente, a spokesperson for the state Department of Education, said a joint statement would be issued later with the plaintiffs, as detailed in the settlement. But he highlighted that the settlement found no liability on the part of the school district, and that the new school would operate under the existing redesign plan for JSEC.
The lawsuit did not address the district’s decision to close the school without community input, one of the chief complaints from students, parents and teachers. Asked if school leaders will handle the next school closure differently, spokesperson Jay Wegimont said “community engagement will continue to be a priority for PPSD, and the district is committed to enhancing it.”
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Steph Machado can be reached at steph.machado@globe.com. Follow her @StephMachado.