Covid-19

District Opens Livestream To Live Audience

by | May 27, 2021 12:26 pm | Comments (0)

Karen Ponzio Photos

Siul Hughes with DJ Collin In Kind

District Arts and Education turned their bi-weekly DAE Presents livestream into a live, on-site event Wednesday night as they invited a small number of guests in and added a food truck and outdoor musical entertainment — as a prelude to their indoor performance, that would be broadcast on Facebook Live.

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Wilbur Cross’s Drama Club Shines “A Light In The Dark”

by | May 26, 2021 8:42 am | Comments (2)

The cast of A Light in the Dark — the showcase from Lights Up Drama Club at Wilbur Cross High School, which will be broadcast June 4 and 5 — assembled in a rehearsal room at the school that would also serve as the beginning scene for the number I Feel So Much Spring,” from the William Finn-penned musical A New Brain.

As the music began, and music director Matt Durland conducted, all the voices behind the masks sprang to life.

The students glided across the floor as co-director Salvatore DeLucia weaved among them with a camera. It would all be edited together into a final product, with 17 other songs, in time for broadcast.

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Alder To State: Follow New Haven’s Lead On Worker Recall

by | May 25, 2021 11:38 am | Comments (7)

Paul Bass Photo

Alder Rodriguez (speaking at an event this month): Hundreds of my constituents and neighbors lost jobs in the pandemic.

(Opinion)—As both a healthcare worker and a member of the New Haven Board of Alders, I have seen the enormous impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our communities.

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Diary Disks Collect The City’s Memories

by | May 25, 2021 9:27 am | Comments (1)

Brian Slattery Photos

There was already one message written on the large black circle with the prompt I hope,” written in several languages. That first inscribed message read that our memories will not all be of darkness.”

The disk was located at the entrance to the Wooster Square Farmer’s Market this past Saturday morning. A woman with a child in a stroller approached the disk with a white marker. She knelt and added her own message. Within the hour, many more would follow.

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National Unions Intervene In Leadership Decisions For Teachers, Clerical Workers

by | May 21, 2021 5:21 pm | Comments (21)

Melissa Bailey, Emily Hays Photos

Candidates in do-over-over election: current teacher union president Dave Cicarella and Hillhouse teacher Vincenzo Sullo.

Balloting has begun to choose a new teachers union president — after the national union stepped in and canceled the previous election.

Meanwhile, the city government clerical workers union has new temporary leaders — after the national union stepped in and suspended the elected ones.

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$1B Chance Looms To “Transform” Learning

by | May 19, 2021 1:44 pm | Comments (2)

Thomas Breen photo

State schools chief Charlene Russell-Tucker in New Haven Tuesday.

Summer camp scholarships. Free student access to museums. Tens of millions of dollars to address learning loss. Hundreds of millions more in direct aid to local education boards — including $79.9 million, not $94 million, for New Haven schools.

A state official came to town to dangle those possibilities.

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Opinion: Spend Federal Covid $ On Climate Projects

by | May 19, 2021 1:43 pm | Comments (9)

Thomas Breen pre-pandemic photo

NHCM organizer Kiana Flores (center).

The following letter was written by Co-Op High School senior Kiana Flores in collaboration with other New Haven Climate Movement organizers to Mayor Justin Elicker in advance of Thursday night’s public hearing on how to spend the city’s American Rescue Act federal aid.

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Hybrid Class Reboot: Headphones For All

by | May 18, 2021 9:25 am | Comments (3)

Emily Hays Photos

Sophomores tune into their virtual class from their Hillhouse classroom.

Hillhouse sophomore Jazmin Townsend leaned forward in her desk to whisper an observation from the text into her microphone.

Half the class was sitting in the room with her. Half was online. They all contemplated how to keep the virtual conversation going after they heard her say: I think one interesting fact is that after it was cooked, the dumpling became alive.”

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State To Remove Mask Mandate In Most Situations; City Staying “Status Quo”

by | May 17, 2021 6:31 pm | Comments (8)

Thomas Breen photo

Mayor Elicker: city sticking with “status quo” approach to mask guidelines, for now.

Come Wednesday, fully vaccinated people will be able to leave their masks in their pockets — even when going indoors — in most settings across the state.

City Hall, meanwhile, is sticking with a status quo” approach to local mask-wearing recommendations, as city officials push to get more New Haveners inoculated against Covid-19.

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Catch-22 Holds Up Emergency Rent Help

by | May 14, 2021 5:08 pm | Comments (5)

Thomas Breen photo

Sidelined front-line worker Veronica Cassis: Why won’t the city help?

Laura Glesby photo

Clybrun (right) checking on tenants: Program’s point is to help people like this.

Veronica Cassis turned to the city for emergency pandemic help paying bills — and so far has been turned down because … she hasn’t been able to pay her bills.

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Hybrid Teaching Sparks Math Moves

by | May 14, 2021 10:18 am | Comments (2)

Emily Hays Photos

Teacher Michelle Romanelli, Cherifa Ourodjeri, 9, Kayden Bush, 9, Chawnaye Battle, 9.

After a year of sitting at their computers, King/Robinson fourth graders were ready to move. Their teacher, Michelle Romanelli, realized she could harness that energy to help them learn math.

This led to one of Romanelli’s takeaways from hybrid school — cutting up worksheets makes them way more fun.

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As Session Nears End, House Speaker Prioritizes Longterm Growth

by | May 14, 2021 8:41 am | Comments (1)

Connecticut Speaker of the House Matthew Ritter helps pick which bills make it to his fellow legislators for a final vote. What he’s looking for in those bills is investment in long-term growth.

Ritter talked about his priorities in an appearance on WNHH FM’s The Municipal Voice,” hosted by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and WNHH, as the legislative season draws to a close.

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