PAWTUCKET – Omar Reyes, a higher education director and adjunct faculty member, says he is running for re-election to the School Committee.
During his first term, he officially became the first person of color and Latino to chair the School Committee in Pawtucket, he said, and has advocated for better resources for schools, fought for a new building for Slater Middle School, worked to prevent school closures in Pawtucket, helped bring student representatives to the table with the school board, and secured small increases in the city contribution for two years in a row.
He noted that before that, the city had not increased its contribution in six years.
Reyes said he will continue to fight for teachers and students to have the best possible resources by advocating for increased funding, smaller classroom sizes, and the best possible classroom supports for educators.
“Pawtucket youth hold limitless talent that needs to be realized through our educational system. To achieve this, we must not only invest in our schools and teachers, but also in our students to empower them to recognize their abilities and educational talents,” he said in a release.
“We need to fight for our schools. Currently, our district is facing historic challenges, as 47 percent of our kids attend schools in the bottom 5 percent of all schools in Rhode Island. It is not our ability or our teachers who are at fault; it is the lack of resources our district has had to deal with for over a decade. Ensuring that our kids have the best school district possible is my main goal over my next term and that means pushing for transparency and for a bigger contribution from the city to our schools,” Reyes said.
If re-elected, Reyes said he plans to keep promoting transparency for teachers, and the educational outcomes of Pawtucket students, and to continue educating the public about the issues facing city schools.
