Melissa Bailey File Photo
Mayor John DeStefano is sending home dispatches from his trip to Seattle to attend a school reform conference sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Following is his second dispatch, sent Thursday:
The group of mayors comes from Los Angeles to Philadelphia, from Akron to Memphis, and from Sacramento to Nashville. The stories are something: the middle school in L.A. where 120 kids were arrested in one year — in the school—and truancy and dropout rates among kids of color, some of which make New Haven pale in comparison (and we have pretty high rates).
Common among all the mayors is this sense that schools that fail kids are creating a future that is bad for all of us — bad for these kids for whom a post high school credential is essential for economic and family success, bad for the economy when employers can’t find a trained workforce, bad for neighborhoods where persistently high unemployment promotes violence, and bad for the future of America. How can we compete as a nation if our young can’t?
Each of us has spoken about what is happening in each of our communities — effective teachers, metrics and accountability, charters and non-academic supports. For my part, I described what is happening in New Haven, about a portfolio approach where all schools are organized and supported on a unique path to success, a focus on teacher and administrator talent and on Promise, our 100 percent college scholarship program. And as neutrally as I can say, New Haven is doing as much and, in most instances, more than anywhere in America.
There was also a lot of discussion about the role of mayors in education. But mostly, the Gates Foundation is promoting a sharing of ideas and a sense of urgency about the challenge facing our kids. Interestingly this is not much of a topic in the presidential contests now underway. Facing really high unemployment, violence and a flat economy perhaps this is understandable. Maybe we need a Marshall Plan for our kids.
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