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According to this article, Barbara S. Cottam says “incredible possibilities lie ahead if we all follow through on this long-term vision”. These are the words of a public-affairs person or politician, reassuring and pleasant-sounding, but actually say nothing. Her bio on ride.ri.gov says she’s on several boards and groups. It’s unclear what her expertise is, related to education, or how she even has the time, given all the commitments. The article singles out Providence as a special failure, but fails to mention 30 percent of the students are non-native English speakers (according to other news sources), which the measurements here are not showing. Reading between the lines, those student are (undocumented?) immigrants, and their continued/increasing presence in such large numbers are likely a large part of the education plan, but it is not being openly discussed. I assume the new school being discussed for Warwick, if it is built, could be making room for some of those ?