WOONSOCKET – Longtime Woonsocket resident and Cumberland educator Martin Crowley is running for Woonsocket School Committee on a platform of improving educational outcomes, building better school culture through increasing safety for students and teachers, and ensuring that students, families, and educators have a stronger voice in decision-making.
Crowley says he’s devoted his life to education, athletics, and community service.
The son of longtime educator Martin Crowley Jr., he lives in Woonsocket with his wife, Jill Olson-Crowley, director of the Woonsocket Education Center and former clerk of the School Committee. They are parents to Ashton and Ryan and grandparents to Riley. His brother, William Crowley, continues the family legacy of public service as deputy fire chief in Woonsocket.
“I feel extremely grateful and humbled to have the opportunity to represent the community I love,” he said. “Woonsocket students deserve stability. Our teachers deserve respect. Our families deserve a voice in the decisions that impact them. If elected, I will work collaboratively and transparently to strengthen our schools and ensure accountability to the people we serve.”
For the past 28 years, Crowley has served the Cumberland School District, where he is now in his fifth year as an administrator and athletic director. He served until recently as president of the Rhode Island Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, participates in the statewide Principals’ Committee on Athletics, and works closely with school leaders across Rhode Island to support students, academic programs, and extracurricular opportunities.
Crowley says a lot of good goes on in Woonsocket schools that doesn’t get enough recognition. He said he sees an opportunity to increase educational outcomes, including through improving attendance. He said it’s important to support the systems in place and expand on them for students, families, and teachers. Family supports are so important, he said, and doing more outreach is a start.
Crowley is one of seven people to formally declare for the November school board election, and all must return required signatures to qualify for the ballot.
He said he plans to bring his experience in Cumberland to the job in Woonsocket, notably his work on preparing budgets for his department, working on policy, and problem-solving with colleagues. Some initiatives work, some don’t, but it’s always about what’s in the best interest of the students, said Crowley. Safety is always on everyone’s minds, he added, and he plans to work with others to prioritize it.
On initiatives from Cumberland that he plans to promote in Woonsocket, Crowley said their mental health programs have been very successful, as have their prioritization of overall school culture. He said he was so impressed during Civics Day at the Rhode Island Statehouse with two junior high groups from Woonsocket who presented on solutions for homelessness. Teacher Cory Brien had those students so well prepared, he said.
To sum up the situation in Woonsocket as he sees it, said Crowley, there’s a lot of good going on, but a lot more that can happen. A lot of work needs to happen on the state funding formula to ensure that Woonsocket students are treated the same way as students from wealthier communities.
Crowley said it’s been good to see the mayor mend fences with the Woonsocket Education Department, and he believes a new school coming online will further improve the culture in the district. When students have culture instilled in them at a young age, he said, it becomes second nature and improves things as they get older.
Crowley says he’s had great support from a number of people presently on the School Committee and City Council, and also has a positive relationship with the mayor and members of the city’s General Assembly delegation.
He and other candidates participated in a launch party to gather signatures on June 30 at Ciro’s.
