RI welcomes first Mayoral Academy

CUMBERLAND, R.I. (WPRI) - Top politicians and educators joined together to mark the grand opening of Democracy Prep Blackstone Valley. The new charter school in Cumberland is Rhode Island's first Mayoral Academy.

The ribbon cutting ceremony drew quite a crowd. Governor Donald Carcieri, House Majority Leader Gordon Fox, Senate Majority Leader Daniel Connors, Cumberland Mayor Daniel McKee and Rhode Island Education Commissioner Deborah Gist joined many others in welcoming the new school.

"Our young people who attend charter schools benefit from having access to new avenues of learning and the kind of parental involvement these schools encourage," said Gov. Carcieri. "

The president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, Nelson Smith, also addressed the audience. He said, "Over the past seven years, I have made it a priority to expand options for students and parents and the bottom line is this is an investment well worth making."

Democracy Prep is a publicly funded charter school that offers a longer school year and longer school days, mostly to students who come from challenging backgrounds. Students attend class from 8:00am-4:00pm and there are 190 days of school instead of 180.

The mission of the school is to get students ready for college, starting on day one when the children are in kindergarten.

Right now, 76 kindergarteners from Central Falls, Cumberland, Lincoln and Pawtucket attend the school. The plan is to eventually serve students through twelfth grade. We're told there are already at least 100 children on a waiting list for next year's class.

Cumberland Mayor McKee said, "I am extremely pleased after two years of hard work, with the support of the Governor, as well as House and Senate leaders, we accomplished this worthy goal. This initiative puts Rhode Island on the map nationally as a state truly embracing education reform and new school initiatives."

As a result of the legislation, Rhode Island Mayoral Academies are given more flexibility in designing teacher salaries and health and retirement benefits. Supporters say that encourages recruitment of innovative teachers and allowed for incentive-based or outcome based pay.