NORTH PROVIDENCE – Longtime educator Janet Smith was twice appointed to a position at a town school three years ago, but left after working eight total days.
Smith, who ran for an at-large school board seat in town four years ago after considering running for District 2, is now challenging incumbent District 2 member Anthony Mariorenzi in the November election.
After hearing from residents about Smith previously taking a job with the district, The Local Insider submitted a request for information to the North Providence School District on her previous appointments, and Director of Human Resources Matthew Hicks responded with the following:
“Ms. Smith was appointed on Nov. 27, 2023, as an Integrated pre-k teacher at Centredale Elementary School with an effective start date of Dec. 11, 2023. On Dec. 3, 2023, Ms. Smith declined the appointment prior to starting. On Dec. 21, 2023, Ms. Smith re-contacted the district regarding the open position and was again appointed on Dec. 22, 2023, with an effective start date of Jan. 2, 2024. Ms. Smith worked eight days as an integrated pre-K teacher at Centredale Elementary School before submitting her resignation on Jan. 14, 2024, with an effective date of Jan. 16, 2024.”
Smith said she won’t dignify any questions about her previous application to work at Centredale, saying she’s focused on her campaign about issues and to improve the district. She noted that she was with the Providence School District for 10 years, and is now going into her third year in the same role in Pawtucket.
“Centredale School was not for me, so I moved on,” she said.
Smith has worked for a number of school districts, including North Providence, Johnston, Central Falls, Cumberland, Providence, and Pawtucket.
Her appointments to the position in North Providence came several months after she and Mariorenzi lost to Anthony Marciano in that year’s at-large race. Marciano finished with 2,780 votes, or 59 percent of the total, Smith finished with 1,011 votes, or 21.5 percent, and Mariorenzi finished with 920 votes, or 19.5 percent.
The Town Council last year appointed Mariorenzi to fill the District 2 seat vacated by Chuck Pollock, after the council went back to a simple appointment process following a firestorm of criticism a year earlier over the process of appointing Thomas Norato to replace Marciano.
Smith is running this year as an independent against Mariorenzi, a Democrat, so they didn’t have a primary. In the primary for the at-large seat on the committee last week, educator Lorraine Moschella, principal at Greystone and McGuire Schools, easily defeated Lance Mantia in the primary for that seat, winning nearly 76 percent of the vote, or 3,012 to 970.
Mariorenzi was a substitute teacher in North Providence for four years, from 2021 to 2025, before taking a teaching position in Lincoln in 2024.
