A New Era: School Might Not Get Built

Creed High School — nee ​“Hyde,” New Haven’s smallest traditional high school— got some tough news this week: its promised new school building is last on the district’s construction priority list.

It’s so last that it might not get built.

That was the takeaway for members of the Board of Education from a committee update to the master plan for school construction that prioritized the building of Quinnipiac Real World Math STEM School, West Rock Authors Academy ahead of Creed.

While the prioritization process doesn’t call for scrapping a new building for Creed all together, its placement at the bottom of the list means that the school, which is currently camping out in North Haven, could be without a permanent home for years to come.

If the rebuilding plan dies, it would mark a turn amid changing budget realities for New Haven’s district-wide school construction plan, which has been remaking campuses across town without obstacles for decades with state government picking up most of the tab.

Creed, which has 225 students, has long lived with uncertainties. It moved from Hamden to temporary quarters in North Haven in 2013. It was supposed to move into a new wing to be attached to Hillhouse High School. That plan was killed amid opposition in the community.

The next idea was to make it one of the final new schools to emerge from New Haven’s citywide school construction plan. Or to move it into St. Stanislaus Church’s former school building on State Street (since taken over by Booker T. Washington Academy), or consolidating into the city’s four other traditional high schools.

In addition to not knowing whether Creed was going to remain a separate school, students started this school year without a principal, though they now have one, Laura Roblee.

School system operations chief Will Clark spoke at Monday night’s board meeting about what’s left on the list of the school district’s nearly now $1.67 billion, 21-year school construction program. The remaining schools to build include a new school for Quinnipiac Real World Math STEM School and West Rock Author’s Academy and Creed.

The $45 million Strong 21st Century Communications Magnet and Lab School on the Southern Connecticut State University campus got the go ahead last year to be built after the Board of Alders reversed course and approved the construction of the school. The state is providing a $34.3 million grant to allow the city Board of Ed to build the 440-student lab school in partnership with Southern. The city’s share is $10.7 million in bonding.

But Clark said there likely won’t be any such generosity from the city or the state in future budget years, and noted that those struggles could seriously impact whether Creed gets a new school, but also the building of the other two. He suggested that the district think hard about priorities.

“Frankly, the Hyde project has been to the Board of Aldermen before, both as its own project and as a project within Hillhouse, and both times it did not make it through,” he said. ​“So, I think we also have to be realistic about the need to truly focus where the priority is and what we want to do.”

Board member Darnell Goldson interpreted Clark’s words more plainly.

“The fact is that Hyde is not a priority,” he said. ​“And I think we have to be honest with that community about that. I don’t see with the finances that we have now, with the finances that are predicted on the state level in the next couple of years, that there is any way that Hyde is ever going to be a priority.”

Goldson said it was time to be honest with the Creed/Hyde school community so that good decisions can be made going forward.

“As opposed to keep saying to them ​‘Sure, it’s on a list somewhere and one day we’re going to get to it,’” he said. ​“They’re never going to get to it. The state is never going to fund it; the Board of Aldermen is never going to approve it. We want to be honest about that.”

Clark said the citywide school construction sustainability committee, which is responsible for updating the master school construction list, is still committed to finding a solution for Creed. The school officially remains on the construction list. But he said realistically, even for the school that is highest on the priority list, it could still be at least four years before that school is built because it is a multiyear project in a good budget year. If it takes at least four years per school, it could be nearly a decade before a school could be built for Creed, and that would be assuming that there is land or even pre-existing building available.

“The committee clearly wants to keep looking at this,” he said. ​“We still have Creed as an active school. We want to support it. It’s continuing to do good things. There are some very encouraging programs going on there, and we want to support that.”

The Creed news personally disappointed Board of Education student member Jacob Spell. He’s currently a junior at Creed.

“I, along with many people from the Creed community, felt discouraged upon hearing that Creed will not be getting a new school any time soon,” he said Thursday. ​“Students at Creed feel marginalized and isolated at the current North Haven location.”

Spell said the sports science theme at Creed (its official title is Dr. Cortlandt V.R. Creed Health and Sports Sciences High School, after a recent renaming) drew him to attend the school. He plays basketball and wants to pursue a career in sports medicine.

“We are a health and sports science school, yet we don’t even have a gym,” he said. ​“Long bus rides definitely have a negative impact on student morale, so I believe having a building in New Haven would definitely boost school spirit and classroom productivity.”

He said transportation problems to the North Haven campus often cut into class time. And he gave a big thumbs down to the notion of moving Creed students into existing bigger schools rather than continue pursuing a new building.

“Breaking up the school is not the answer,” Spell said. ​“Here at Creed we have a strong sense of community and students are doing great things. All we are missing is a building that fits our needs.”

Student board member Coral Ortiz Thursday, echoed Spell’s disappointment at learning that Creed might not get its new school after years of hearing promises to the contrary. She argued that not building the school could unintentionally send the message to Creed students that their school is not as important as others.

“Not giving what was promised shows a lack of integrity,” said Ortiz, a Hillhouse senior. ​“It kind of feels like as a student, and this might not be the intention, but that they don’t care about Hyde — and Hyde students have told me this — as much as New Haven Academy or ESUMS [Engineering and Science Magnet School]. It sends the message to Hyde students that we value these students at XYZ school more. Every education should be equal. It’s disappointing.”

At Monday night’s meeting, board member Che Dawson stressed the need to plan for what happens to Hyde students.

“I don’t think that means that we can’t plan for that with that in mind,” he said of not building a new school. ​“What is our next best option? I think it’s worth whoever’s in charge to bring those folks in to ask that question. I know where they are is kind of far out … but I think at the very least, and I think you agree, or I think I hear you saying, at least have a conversation with these people and have a plan.”

Board member Ed Joyner brought up a word that has riled the Creed/Hyde community in the past: consolidation.

“If you look at some of the reports from the fiscal organizations the state is in real deep trouble and I think we ought to accept certain fiscal realities as they emerge,” he said. ​“We should be as truthful to the public as possible. We certainly have enough space in this district to accommodate students at the secondary level if you look at the high schools. These are not the best times for public education and we have to accept that and we can’t have pie in the sky approach as we move forward.”

The idea of consolidating or moving Creed/Hyde came up last spring when then Chief Financial Officer Victor De La Paz made the suggestion as part of cuts the district could make to balance its budget. Then Superintendent Garth Harries said at the time that consolidation had the potential to save the district about $727,000 by eliminating operational and transportation costs to the building in North Haven.