Providence City Council to take up school closures, police recognition resolutions

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — The Providence City Council on Thursday will call on the Department of Education and Providence schools to release details from meetings about the looming school closures and recognize two former city police officers.

In the resolution, City Councilor John Goncalves cites that when the Rhode Island Department of Education took over Providence schools, one of the “four core values” of the Turnaround Action Plan was “transparency.”

Goncalves argues that the Department of Education has neglected this value when it comes to the school closures and is now requesting the state to turnover all information regarding meetings they had about the closures within 48 hours of passage.

Also Thursday, the City Council will introduce legislation to name an auditorium at the Providence Police Department after Col. Hugh Clements — who retired from Providence early this year after almost 40 years.

The auditorium will be named the “Colonel Hugh T. Clements, Jr. Auditorium.”

The City Council will also propose to rename the Providence Police Pistol Range in Scituate after Sgt. Edmond Malloy.

The range’s name would be changed Sergeant Edmond F. Malloy, Jr. Police Firing Range.

Malloy, a Providence native, served on the Providence police force for 30 years. He died of liver cancer at the age of 51 in 2019.