RI Mayors Mckee And Diossa Join Bill Gates And Other City Leaders To Discuss Education
Providence, RI — Today, Cumberland Mayor Daniel McKee and Central Falls Mayor James Diossa join a group of more than 50 mayors from across the country to discuss ways to improve public education in their cities. The event, entitled the «Mayors in Education Convening,» is being sponsored in Washington, DC by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The mayors are gathering to discuss a wide range of topics that are uniquely impacting public school students in their cities, including the Common Core State Standards, school finance reform, community engagement, and innovations and successful practices for mayoral leadership in education. Bill Gates also will host a morning conversation with the mayors on the importance of high academic standards and great teachers.
«Mayor Diossa and I are firm believers that public education is the best way to ensure all our children are able to succeed in life. Education also will be the main driver in improving our Rhode Island economy,» Mayor McKee said. «We are thankful to get the opportunity to share the success we’ve seen in Rhode Island and to learn more about what is working for cities across the country.»
Mayor McKee currently is board chair of the Rhode Island Mayoral Academies— a non-profit that supports the statewide growth of mayoral academies: high-performing, diverse, regional public schools governed by mayor-led school boards. Mayor Diossa sits on the board of Blackstone Valley Prep, part of the Mayoral Academies network and one of the highest performing public schools in Rhode Island.
«The backbone of a community’s prosperity is education,» Mayor Diossa said. «As mayor, I have to be intimately involved in cultivating better futures for Central Falls students. A convening like this, for me, puts a stake in the ground and says that mayors have a responsibility — as leaders of communities — to be truly knowledgeable on education issues. It’s an honor to join other like-minded mayors committed to improving public education.»
Other mayors in attendance include those from Sacramento, Hartford, Indianapolis, Tulsa, Baltimore, Memphis, Louisville, Nashville and Mesa.
For more information about the «Mayors in Education Convening» or the Rhode Island Mayor Academies, please contact Katelyn Silva at 401-932-5227.
Also be sure to follow Rhode Island Mayoral Academies on Twitter.
About Rhode Island Mayoral Academies
The mission of Rhode Island Mayoral Academies (RIMA) is to support the statewide growth of mayoral academies, which are high-performing, diverse, independent public schools governed by mayor-led school boards. RIMA works towards this mission by recruiting extraordinary school operators and leaders to open mayoral academies; supporting mayoral academies from the application stage through the first years of growth; and cultivating mayors across Rhode Island to become leaders in improving public education. Currently under the RIMA umbrella are the Blackstone Valley Prep Mayoral Academy (two elementary schools and one middle school) and Achievement First Providence Mayoral Academy.