Anthony Pedulla has experience working inside East Providence schools as an employee, within the school department administration as a supervisor, and through work as a leader within local unions.

Now, he’s hoping 2026 is the year he gets elected to work towards a better school department as a member of the school committee, as he is running for the Ward 4 seat on the East Providence School Committee.

“I'm running for school committee because well-educated children become well-rounded adults,” Pedulla said in a recent interview. “The children only get one shot at their education. I have over 30 years experience in the school department on both sides of the aisle, being a worker and an administrator.”

A native Riverside resident, Pedulla joined the Army National Guard after acquiring his GED from East Providence High School, and served three years in the Army. He worked a couple different jobs before ultimately landing at the East Providence School Department, where he took on a role as a custodian. He would work up the ladder, eventually going to the maintenance department and becoming a facilities supervisor; spending 33 years working for the district before retiring a few years ago.

“The first thing I learned was that the cleanliness and the maintenance of a building creates a better working and learning environment. And without that, the kids can’t learn,” Pedulla said of what he learned during his time working for the district. “I have kids come up to me to this day and say that they remember me from the schools, which is nice.”

Pedulla said that his wide range of experience — growing from a custodian to a district supervisor in charge of 13 schools and responsible for 40 people — has prepared him to see things from “both sides of the aisle” when working on the committee.

Likewise, Pedulla said that his experience working as a leader within both the Local 2969 and Council 94 unions (serving as president of the former for 12 years and a member of the executive board of the latter for a year) has prepared him for issues such as contract negotiations.

More fundamentally, Pedulla said he has skin in the game to want to make the district run more effectively.

“I also have a third generation grandson in Waddington School, and I would also like to try to save the school department some money,” he said. “Basically protecting the taxpayers and letting people know they’re getting the best bang for their buck.”

Asked how that could happen, Pedulla said he would like to take a look at how vendors and outside contractors are vetted for work done within the district — something he was comfortable looking into due to his experience as a district administrator — and that he would prioritize preventative maintenance of the buildings.

“Also a lot of the technology contracts we have to look at,” he added. “The children are spending too much time on screens.”

In terms of policies, Pedulla zeroed in on the bullying policy for the district, which he said he had heard from conversations with residents wasn’t sufficient.

“Kids are being bullied, so I’d have to look at what policies they have in place right now and really pick them apart and get into them because apparently they’re not working,” he said. “I would like to see some more SROs in the schools too, as far as safety goes.”

Pedulla ran four years ago for school committee in Ward 4 but received the fewest votes in a three-way race. Now, with current incumbent Jessica Beauchaine opting to step down from the race following an election filings scandal that developed over the summer, Pedulla faces one other candidate in Chrissy Rossi. The winner will be decided during the Nov. 2 General Election, as school committee races are nonpartisan.

“I’m just trying to run a clean campaign and I’m here to do what I can to help the kids, however I can help the kids,” Pedulla said of his opponent.
“I want to try to help. I want to try to make things better any way that I can,” he continued. “My vision is to get my hands in there and try to help every kid in the school department, every staff member, every community member that needs my help. I’m a kind of guy where I’ve helped people my whole life. That’s what I’m going to continue to do.”