News & Commentary

The ACLU of Rhode Island said today that the RI Department of Education has essentially acknowledged that the NECAP test – the high stakes test that it requires students to pass in order to get a high school diploma – is not a useful indicator of a student’s college readiness. It has done so after years of claiming otherwise, said the ACLU, by quietly revising its waiver policies this month to give diplomas to students who do not “pass” the NECAP if they are accepted into a “non-open enrollment, accredited higher education institution” or national community service programs like AmeriCorp or City Year.

In response to the ongoing controversy in Cranston involving the apparent retaliation taken against two City Council members for their vote in November on a police union contract, the ACLU has written to Mayor Allan Fung, raising concerns about the investigation of the incident that is being conducted.

The ACLU of Rhode Island is asking a court to impose fines against the Pawtucket School District for failing to respond to an open records request the ACLU submitted in October. The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court by ACLU volunteer attorney Karen Davidson, charges that the district unlawfully failed to respond to two requests from the ACLU for public documents. It is the second time in two years the ACLU has sued Pawtucket schools for ignoring the open records law.

The ACLU of Rhode Island today urged Exeter voters to know their rights at the polls for Saturday’s election, particularly in regard to the state’s Voter ID law.  Under the state’s Voter ID law, voters are required to show some form of identification to vote.  Photo ID is not required.  Registered voters who are unable to show identification must still be allowed to vote, and must be offered a provisional ballot at the polling place which will be counted as a full ballot after poll workers verify the signature matches that on a voter registration.  To help inform voters about the requirements of this law and other election issues, the ACLU has published a free brochure explaining rules and regulations surrounding voting on Election Day, the new voter identification rules, and how to deal with problems at the polls.  That brochure is available on the ACLU’s website.  

The City of Providence has agreed to pay $75,000 to settle an ACLU lawsuit involving the violation of the free speech rights of a local resident three years ago when she was barred from peacefully leafleting in front of a building where then-Mayor David Cicilline was speaking.

In court papers filed today, the ACLU has asked for a prompt hearing on its request for a preliminary injunction against the R.I. Board of Education for violating open government laws in dealing with the its controversial “high stakes testing” mandate. The ACLU’s motion asks the Court to order the Board to reconsider in open session a secret discussion and vote it took two weeks ago, rejecting, by a vote of 6-5, a petition filed in June by seventeen organizations seeking a public hearing on repealing the Board’s “high stakes testing” graduation requirement.

For the third time in less than two months, the ACLU of Rhode Island has taken legal action against the R.I. Board of Education for violating open government laws in dealing with the Board’s controversial “high stakes testing” mandate. The ACLU called the Board’s lack of transparency on this divisive issue “a refutation of the openness in government that Governor Chafee has so often promoted.”

A coalition of 15 organizations representing youth, parents, the disability community, civil rights activists, college access organizations and other constituencies delivered a letter to Governor Chafee’s office this morning, urging the Governor to speak with members of the Board of Education prior to their meeting Monday, at which the Board will vote on whether to initiate a public rule-making process over a proposal to rescind Rhode Island’s controversial new high-stakes testing graduation requirement.

Four open government organizations have called on RI General Treasurer Gina Raimondo to more fully release documents about the state’s hedge fund investments that were recently provided in heavily redacted form to the Providence Journal. The organizations – the ACLU of RI, Common Cause RI, the RI Press Association, and the League of Women Voters of RI – sent a letter to Raimondo saying they were “troubled” by her office’s response to the Journal’s public records request for the “due diligence” reports prepared by the state’s hedge fund advisor Cliffwater, and for certain other hedge fund documents.