Pawtucket school board goes with Royal as superintendent

  • By LUZJENNIFER MARTINEZ and ETHAN SHOREY Valley Breeze Staff Writers

PAWTUCKET – A controversial and narrow vote to choose Patricia Royal as the next head of city schools could have long-term reverberations within the district, where teachers were strongly opposed to the process that saw Royal selected.

The search for a superintendent came to an end last Wednesday, June 14, with a motion passed for the job to go to Patricia Royal.

School board member Erin Dube, who led the superintendent search subcommittee that ended up being overruled in this process, had endorsed top-two finalist Alexandra Montes McNeil.

Dube said she was impressed with Montes McNeil “as a proven leader and someone with a track record on her resume. I saw her as a thoughtful leader, somebody who understood the challenges that we face in Pawtucket and understood the value of reaching out for assistance to better understand how to get creative solutions,” Dube said.

Dube noted that Montes McNeil was the only candidate who moved forward unanimously through the superintendent process, but a quartet of school board members disagreed, preferring Royal instead.

Read the rest of the piece from the Valley Breeze here.