Melissa Bailey Photo
If both sides agree on a deal, New Haven may hire its first for-profit charter company to run a public school.
The city is in talks with a small charter school company about taking over management of Roberto Clemente Leadership Academy, according to schools Superintendent Reginald Mayo.
Clemente serves 538 students in grades pre‑K to 8 in a brand new building on Columbus Avenue in the Hill. The district announced last week that Clemente will face major changes in the fall as one of two low-performing schools tapped as “turnarounds.”
Management of the other new turnaround, Wexler-Grant School, will remain in-house under current leadership. But Mayo said the district is pursuing a different path with Clemente — hiring an outside group to manage it as a New Haven public school with a unionized teaching staff.
If negotiations succeed, Clemente would be the district’s second — and by far the biggest — public school to be taken over by a charter group. The first was Domus Academy, a specialized school that opened in the fall with 48 kids.
Mayo said he spent Friday morning meeting with a company about the possible takeover.
“We’re negotiating,” Mayo said. “I’m hoping that we could come to terms.”
The company, which Mayo declined to name, is relatively small. It runs two charter schools, he said. “This would make three.”
If it’s successful, the company would be city’s first for-profit group to take over a school. Domus Academy is run by a Stamford-based not-for-profit social service agency. He said the group is for-profit, but it’s been around for years, and it’s “not that bad.”
New Haven’s evolving school reform experiment has relied on trying a host of different approaches to improving low-performing schools, as well as higher-achieving schools.
Mayo said the district has had broader talks with city-based Achievement First and with KIPP about taking over a New Haven public school. Neither is looking to do so at the moment, he said.
The district had concrete discussions with “five or six” outside entities about taking over Clemente, according to school reform czar Garth Harries. He said because it’s a professional services contract, the district does not have to go out to bid, and did not issue a formal Request for Proposals.
The district hasn’t made a final decision on whether to turn Clemente into a charter school, Harries said. Given the small scale of Domus, converting 500-plus-student Clemente into a charter-run school would be a major step.
“It’s a big decision, no question,” Harries said.
$400K Effort
Mayo said Clemente can do well with some “particular focus” by an outside group.
“Clemente has been the lowest-performing school in New Haven for the longest time,” Mayo said.
The school has been on the federal watch list for failing schools for nine years — the longest in the district, he said.
He said the district has been trying to boost student performance at the school for some time. He said it’s time for a change. “Let’s do something different.”
Clemente’s principal of 16 years, Leroy Williams, will step down at the end of this academic year, the district announced last Monday.
Mayo said in order to make the contract work with the charter company, the district will need to raise $400,000.
The district looking at ways to raise that money — including from the federal government. After handing out $7.38 million to four low-performing New Haven schools last year under the School Improvement Grant program, the feds are accepting new applications for another round of competitive grants.
The grant, which aims to “turn around” failing schools, requires schools to change the way they are run, using one of four specified models.
Because of its low performance, Clemente is the only school eligible to apply, Mayo said. The grant would fit well with the district’s plans to revamp the school, Mayo said.
New Rules
Whether or not Clemente gets taken over by a charter company, the 45 teachers will still have to reapply for their jobs and face changes to work rules if they stay.
Teachers at the school learned Monday of some of the changes that lie ahead. Under the terms of the union contract, the district has to let teachers know by March 15 if their school is going to become a “turnaround,” and what the work rules would be.
The union agreed to extend that deadline until March 21, when standardized tests were completed, Harries said.
On that day, teachers at Clemente stayed after school for a meeting. They got a two-page outline of the changes proposed for the school.
Click here to read the document.
The letter caps the student school day at 6.5 hours, which is much shorter than, say, at Domus, where students spend nine hours at the school.
Teachers will have to spend an extra two hours at school prepping for classes. They’ll be required to take on student advisory responsibilities. And they have to promise to “check email and phone messages at least 2 times per day,” and “respond to all email or phone messages from parents within twenty four hours.”
These rules will hold whether or not the school becomes the city’s first for-profit, charter turnaround.
There’s no set deadline for when teachers have to decide if they’d like to stay at the school, according to Harries.
Mayo said the district “should decide shortly” on whether to sign a deal with the charter company.
“They’re going to need some time to prepare.”