Oscar's not coming. Right?
President Pro Tempur Pichardo. Present. Councilor Royas is absent. Councilwoman Ryan
because we have some million peoples over here. There's only one you choose, and he choose us. And that's what I think. First, I wanna put this on song, and my interpreter is not too long because I put it in half, and you can't receive.
Thank you, madam president. Thank you, madam president. At this time, I would like to, take a moment, to share with the committee and welcome someone, to this event. Well, they say it'd be I complex, especially welcome everyone. Was gonna say the chambers.
But I do want to first introduce a special guest of mine and of ours to introduce you, and that is Lerone Mayeric. If you could please stand. For those of you who are familiar with mister Myrick, Lerone Myrick. He is the executive director of the division of youth development under the Rural Department of Children, Youth, and Family, known as DCYM, but also aka the training school. And so we've been doing through the leadership of of the council, councilor Sanchez, and many of you knowing that our kids are a priority, our family's our priority, and we keep quoting how our kids can deserve can and should deserve a second chance.
And over the years, since 2008, we know that under the leadership of the state and so forth and also on the past eight years, mister Mayerick has been the executive director, comes all the way from Ohio, but now he claims just like everyone when they come to Providence, Rhode Island. This is their home. And so since that time, eight years and all this time, the rate of children and young people being passing through the training school has been reduced by eighty percent. So at any given time, there's less than 50 kids in in in in the training school system. And as the director was indicating, that's always because sometimes kids just remain there for a month or two.
But through the work that we're we've been doing, hopefully, more kids are going to be diverted and not end up in his in his facility. And as I said before, and I reiterated to him, is that our goal is to put him out of business. And so he's fine with that.
And so Yeah. Anytime. You know,
he has a tremendous experience working in in the correctional facilities, adult, youth, and through the leadership of the past eight years, he's been really making a significant contribution to the families and the kids that finding themselves through that channel. So with that said, again, Thank you. Thank you,
Thank you, pro tem, and thank you for joining us today. Item 12.
Madam president, motion to read the reading of item 12.
Passed for the first time on a roll call vote as amended.
Thank you, madam clerk. Item 13. Madam president, motion to waive the reading of items thirteen and fourteen.
Second, madam president. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion on 13 or 14? Item 15.
Madam President, motion to waive the reading of item 15, substitute and pass for the second time on
a roll call vote as amended.
Second, madam president. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion?
Thank you, madam president. Yeah. So so we all know what this audience is. I'm extremely proud to get to this point. For folks in the audience, this is making the eligibility process for our youth that have had interactions with law enforcement to get referred to the juvenile hearing board.
This is something that I'm extremely proud of of this council to to get to to this point. There was a a recent op ed in the round of current. I encourage you all to check it out. But this is speaking on this type of work on a statewide, and they mentioned they they use this as a reference to encourage the the rest of the state to follow suit. Because at the end of the day, we wanna make sure that every child in the city of Providence is giving is given a equitable, fair process when it comes to second chances.
I spoke about second chances last time, so I don't wanna go too much into it. But this is really gonna hopefully help people, help kids make better choices and receive the support and love that they deserve from our community. So I'm extremely proud. The only slight amendment to this ordinance is that we are putting an implementation period of ninety days to make sure that the juvenile hearing board is fully prepared to start receiving more cases being referred to them. And I do wanna give a shout out to Wise as she is here.
Further discussion on item 15?
If I may add, madam president, just as a piggyback on we can step up as a community. And lastly, last weekend, there was a a a workshop or a conference around brotherhood and about men receiving some assistance, especially around, as I like to call, brain health or mental health. Because we're all going through issues and tribulations at the community level, whether it's economics, whether it's putting food on the table. And these our kids are continuously being impacted through these social services that perhaps are are lacking the support. And I just wanted to commend this this entire council for really passing this and making this moving forward.
So thank you, madam president.
Thank you. Further discussion? Councilman Gatza.
Thank you, madam president. I just wanna thank councilor Sanchez for his leadership on this and thank you for your remarks pro temp. As you mentioned, there are several youth, particularly young men who are impacted by the juvenile hearing board or to your point, these kids deserve a second chance, but also to add on to your remarks, these kids are disproportionately kids of color. And so I'm so grateful for your leadership, for seeing this through, and looking forward to passing it for the second time tonight. And I just wanna thank everyone who had deep a commitment to this work and everyone who was working on this throughout the process.
I think it's going to be a game changer. And I want to thank everyone who's involved here on out and doing everything that we can to make sure that our youth, particularly our youth of color, have a second chance. So thank you. Thank you,
Council president Pro Tempore Pichardo. Aye. Councilor Rorius. Aye. Councilwoman Ryan is absent.
Majority Webb Sanchez. Aye. Councilman Taylor is absent. Councilwoman Anna Vargas. Aye.
Councilman Oscar Vargas is absent. You have 10 ayes, five absent. The motion carries. The matter is passed to the second time on a roll call vote as amended. Thank you.
City and our kids. So thank you. Item 16.
Madam president, motion to waive the reading of item 16. Pass for the first time on a roll call vote and refer to special committee on health, opportunity, prosperity, and education.
Second, madam president. We have a motion and a second. Discussion? Council Member Lee. Thank you, madam president.
And, audience, I apologize that my back is to you. It seems weird, but I'm just gonna go for it. So today, July 2, is the second full day of the Providence Public Schools return to local control, and I'm gratified to introduce this ordinance that's collaboratively designed to simplify procurement so that educators and students can more efficiently receive the supplies and services that they need. This ordinance that I'm introducing tonight establishes that a school department purchasing agent, which is a new position appointed by the mayor with council approval, will be responsible for awarding all PPSD contracts under $500,000 or that aren't multi year or not from a single source award. That's most of them, the vast majority of them.
All other contracts will still need board of contractors to apply approval, but this is a really significant change. It reduces the number of contracts subject to box review from several 100 to around three dozen. And this ordinance change was crafted with support from the mayor and the school board president with close consultation with Providence Public Schools leadership. Big thanks to all involved for your time and collaboration, and I also wanna thank the city solicitor's office for their close attention and support. I just wanna, like, very quickly say how we got here.
In March, I convened a working group that was focused on the ways that the city council could support the school's return with a real focus on sustaining the kind of teaching and learning that will serve all students as well as possible. This group, called the PPSC Local Governance Working Group met five times, and it included representatives from the Providence City Council, city administration, Providence Public School District, Providence School Board, Rhode Island Department of Education, organized labor, parents, and students. And people get a lot of their time, so I really wanna thank them by name. I wanna thank councilor Royas, representative Nathan Bia, who is also the principal of Alvarez High School, Providence School Board President, Tyrell Stevens, and school board members Heidi Silviero and Doctor. Steven Williamson, Sheila Dormandy from the City of Providence Mayor's Office, Paula Dillon and Zach Scott from the Providence Public Schools, Drew Eccleson from the Rhode Island Department of Education, Cindy Robles, Linda Paiva, and Carol Pagan from the Providence Teachers Union, Melissa Hughes and Aubrey Johnson who are PPSD parents, and Kingsley Dye who is a PPSD student and member of the Providence Student Union.
This group, again, met five times, also coordinated with the school board's ad hoc committee which was designed to handle issues related to the school's return to local control. And I really thank the school board for that collaboration. The issue of procurement really quickly overreaches an area that we could and should improve prior to the state takeover. Purchasing most goods and services required contracts to move through multiple levels of review, which could take more than ninety days for any single contract to be completed. And too frequently and, you know, I
think any of us who have anything to do with
the schools can remember this prior to the takeover. Students and teachers often didn't have what they needed. This was like a no no, and I'm really glad that we identified that this was something that we could address. We didn't wanna replicate the old process when the schools came back, but we did agree that procurement decisions should remain publicly accessible and subject to meaningful oversight. So at that point, we requested legal guidance, as Jeff Bell knows, there were a lot of requests, regarding procurement authority and procurement thresholds.
The city solicitor's office advised that the reform could be implemented by ordinance rather than having to change the charter. That's what we're doing now. So just so you know what's coming up, this ordinance will require a two thirds vote following a public hearing. The public hearing will take place on June 13 at 05:30PM, and then at our second June meeting, we'll we'll vote. I also wanna know sorry.
July 13 at 05:30PM, and at our second July meeting. It is July now. I know that. In the weeks of this month prior to the ordinance passing, the city is prepared to expedite any contracts essential for the start of school. And I also wanna note that PPSD leadership worked really closely with Ride ahead of the school's return to make sure that that was really already taken care of.
So the school's in really good shape. Although this is not happening coincident with the school district's return, we're in no way in crisis, and it's okay that we're taking this month to do this. And I'm very grateful to Zach Scott, deputy superintendent of operations in particular, did really great work to make sure the district would be ready for action on August 1. So I hope that all of you will support this important change that preserves accountability and increases efficiency. Thanks.
From my understanding, this working group was started in anticipation of local control. Not July 1 local control. So I I definitely wanna give a huge shout out for to all the members of this group to to do this hard, due diligent work. Obviously, we're we're all the lawyers. We wanna be able to do this.
We'll we'll watch you guys, so we we appreciate you guys as well. But this is a a very powerful moment, think, because what we're doing here essentially is something that a lot of politicians don't do, and and I think it's important to to recognize this moment and and show it as an example of true leadership not just here in Providence but across the state. We are giving a little bit of power up in exchange for more timely process for our students. And then they that's why we do this work to improve the support and resources that our students receive. So I I just wanna highlight that point that this isn't
seems like there's a lot more work to do. But the fact that we're doing this now while the schools are coming back is a huge step in in the right direction. I just wanna give the flowers to the folks that brought us to this point. I'm proud to to be here as his colleague. Thank you.
Thank you, councilor. Thank
you, Madam President. I also just wanna commend Councilor Davidson for your leadership on this. Thank you for taking the bull by the horns literally and figuratively on this one. We know that this has been a big issue for Providence Public Schools for a very long time. I think as we retain local control,
