In pre-K, a young Claire wowed her mother, DeNeil, by sounding out letters before her first day in kindergarten. DeNeil, like any mother, wanted her daughter to soar. But Claire’s teachers in the Providence Public School District stuck to the curriculum despite DeNeil’s best efforts. Claire struggled to read in her first and second grades.The pandemic upended everything. DeNeil, then working from home while caring for two young children, watched her daughter’s education veer off course. Hoping for another option, she placed Claire on a charter school waitlist, but no seat ever opened.Finally, in 2021, Claire was accepted to a school. But that same year, the Rhode Island State Senate passed a charter school moratorium bill, which then needed approval from the state House. Parents ultimately defeated the legislation, but not before DeNeil’s family paid a price. Amid the uncertainty, Claire’s seat was rescinded.
The following year, she joined the Excel Academy charter middle school. Now she’s entering Classical High School, a selective exam-based public school ranked first in Rhode Island and 166th in the United States.
Five years later, Rhode Island’s General Assembly voted for a charter school moratorium again, as Gov. Dan McKee (D-RI) seeks support from labor unions in a treacherous reelection campaign. The bill has reached his desk, and he now has 10 days to follow through on the veto promise he made to families so long ago.
