by | Feb 18, 2020 4:09 pm | Comments (4)
Allan Appel Photo
CFO Penn in foreground, with Superintendent Tracey.
The Board of Education is really not in deficit. It has just been chronically and systemically under-funded for the last 30 years, and you should write to your representatives, especially in the state to deliver that message.
Continue reading ‘School-Funding Road Show Rolls Into Westville’
by | Feb 17, 2020 8:55 am | Comments (3)
Christopher Peak Photo
Achievement First board discusses misconduct behind closed doors.
Schools may no longer hide evidence of educator misconduct by claiming that they need to protect students’ confidentiality, according to a ruling by the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission.
by | Feb 14, 2020 1:58 pm | Comments (7)
Emily Hays Photo
“No tears. No stress. We are more than this test.”
Parent advocates are ready to take this chant to the Board of Education – and possibly the statehouse.
Continue reading ‘Parents Explore “Breaking Up” With Standardized Tests’
by | Feb 13, 2020 12:56 pm | Comments (0)
Thomas Breen photo
Seven students at an alternative high-tech coding school based in Fair Haven have been awarded cost-of-living scholarships sponsored by Facebook, Google, and Intel.
by | Feb 12, 2020 4:09 pm | Comments (0)
Maya McFadden Photos
Assistant Principal Tianko Ellison: Idea grew over years.
Erin Palmer and Nicholas Clement with their display.
One thing the fire extinguisher, guitar, super soaker, and pressure cooker have in common? They were all invented by African Americans.
Thanks to the students of the Ross Woodward School, those and other African American inventions are showcased in a Black History Month gallery.
by | Feb 12, 2020 2:50 pm | Comments (1)
Aisha Staggers.
(Opinion) — Last year, an employee at my child’s school made national news as the result of a video in which she is seen in a grocery store spewing racial slurs and spitting on another shopper. The employee was a white woman; her target was a black man. She resigned before the school district could take action, but the damage was done.
The resignation did little to ease racial anxiety among black and brown students at Hamden High School. My daughter was particularly disturbed and like her peers wanted the school to do more.
Continue reading ‘Knowledge Talked, Wisdom Listened At “Names Hurt Us” Forum’
by | Feb 11, 2020 5:04 pm | Comments (3)
Emily Hays Photo
New Haven Academy seniors Alan Veloz and Jayline Hernandez Gomez: Tackling the schools’ changing demographics.
Alan Veloz saw his parents struggle to understand English at his parent-teacher conference, then saw it happen again with his younger brother. So he decided to take action.
by | Feb 11, 2020 3:29 pm | Comments (0)
Christopher Peak Photo
Choice Director Marquelle Middleton presents options to families.
This year’s school choice lottery will have 284 additional desks set aside in the city’s magnet schools for New Haven residents.
by | Feb 7, 2020 9:06 am | Comments (15)
Thomas Breen photo
The city-owned, nonprofit-managed Canal Dock Boathouse. Below: UNH’s Kristen Przyborski: Excited to partner.
The University of New Haven’s plans to lease part of the Canal Dock Boathouse to build out new classroom and lab space won cautious support from alders wary of the finances behind the proposed deal.
by | Feb 6, 2020 9:30 pm | Comments (12)
Christopher Peak Photo
Achievement First co-CEO Dacia Toll faces State Board of Ed Thursday.
Three local school districts within the Achievement First charter network are on probation, after repeatedly violating the state’s ground rules for operating a public school.
Continue reading ‘State Places Charter Schools On Probation’
by | Feb 6, 2020 9:00 am | Comments (32)
Christopher Peak Photo
Students leave Amistad High School at dismissal.
Suspensions have plummeted at Amistad High School to only 30 students so far this school year, reported Principal Simon Obas.
That came as news to students, who said the principal suspended almost twice that number of students — in a single day.
by | Feb 5, 2020 2:19 pm | Comments (0)
Brian Slattery Photos
On Tuesday evening, the students in the Academic Theatre Company at James Hillhouse High School were airborne. They were doing a strenuous warm-up for their rehearsal of The Wiz — which will be playing at Hillhouse High School from March 19 to March 22 — and learning to sing and fly at the same time.
by | Feb 5, 2020 8:54 am | Comments (23)
Christopher Peak Photos
School CFO Penn: New Haven behind by an “awful lot of money.”
Dwight neighbors examine school district’s proposed plan.
Mark Griffin had a front-row seat at opening night of a new neighborhood road show starring local education officials — and left vowing to write to his representatives from New Haven to Hartford to Washington, seeking more money for public schools.
by | Feb 4, 2020 4:19 pm | Comments (13)
Aside from restricted Alliance grants, the state’s funding has been flat for most of the decade.
After back-to-back years of budget slashing, New Haven’s Board of Education concluded it has built up enough trust in its financial management to ask for a $12.5 million increase in funds for next school year — and is taking its case directly to the public.
by | Feb 4, 2020 3:13 pm | Comments (0)
Markeshia Ricks photo
Karen DuBois-Walton: Newly appointed to the state Board of Ed.
The top-decision-maker on public housing in New Haven, Karen DuBois-Walton, will now help make decisions for the state education system as well.
Continue reading ‘Public Housing Chief Tapped For State Ed Board’
by | Feb 4, 2020 1:18 pm | Comments (0)
Contributed Photo
Henry Fernandez of LEAP contributed the following:
LEAP is opening a free Saturday Code Club for all children and teens ages 11 to 15. (Kids do not have to already be in LEAP.) Young technology enthusiasts and beginners alike can join to learn more about coding, robotics, virtual reality, app design and more. Short workshops led by instructors and volunteers are followed by opportunities to further explore the topic on their own, with one-on-one help from program staff. Participants will have the opportunity to create projects based on their own interests, collaborating with peers and supported by program staff.
by | Feb 4, 2020 9:18 am | Comments (7)
Sam Gurwitt Photo
Josh and Carmen Parker: Teacher apologized. Fire the principal.
Almost two weeks after her daughter had been cast as a slave in a class play, Carmen Parker stood with 100 other people to demand, among other fixes, a student to teacher pipeline and a central reporting system.
by | Feb 3, 2020 4:22 pm | Comments (3)
Helena Chen Carlson Photo
Latoya Howard spent Saturday morning volunteering at the annual New Haven Public Schools Expo with her daughter Corinne, both motivated to share their personal experiences to help other parents through the somewhat confusing process of choosing the best school for their child.
by | Feb 3, 2020 8:53 am | Comments (4)
Christopher Peak Photo
Bilingual class at John S. Martinez.
On the state’s most comprehensive look at school quality, New Haven’s grade declined last year, primarily because of a harsh new assessment of its instruction for English learners.
Continue reading ‘Schools Docked For Bilingual Shortcomings’
by | Jan 31, 2020 1:16 pm | Comments (33)
NHPS
Inside a dual-language classroom at Christopher Columbus Family Academy.
(Opinion) Two years ago, as the parent of a toddler, I read the New Haven Independent’s coverage of a local lecture by Nikole Hannah-Jones, in which she provocatively and purposefully charged white parents with perpetuating school segregation through their choices about where to enroll their children in school. This decision was not squarely in front of me, based on my child’s age at the time. Years before Justin and I had kids, we bought a house in the East Rock neighborhood. Most families in our neighborhood send their kids to Worthington Hooker School and I assumed we would do the same. However, Ms. Hannah-Jones’s words struck a chord with me and I started to wonder — what other options should we be considering?
by | Jan 29, 2020 4:00 pm | Comments (32)
Sam Gurwitt Photo
Carmen Parker (standing in back) with husband Josh.
After finding out that her daughter’s teacher had been placed on administrative leave for planning a play that would have black children playing slaves, Carmen Parker had a message for the Hamden School District: The problem is not the teacher, it’s the system.
Continue reading ‘Slave Play Teacher Put On Leave; Parent: “Scapegoating” Not The Answer’
by | Jan 28, 2020 4:09 pm | Comments (8)
Sam Gurwitt Photo
Parent Carmen Parker: “They sent my baby home a slave.”
A play aimed at introducing elementary school students to the horrors of the trans-Atlantic slave trade has instead sparked concern about how race is taught today in Hamden schools.
by | Jan 27, 2020 9:26 pm | Comments (0)
Sam Gurwitt Photos
An assembly at Hamden High School last year.
The internet has been down at Hamden’s schools for two and a half weeks, with recovery delayed by a seagull fried in an electrical transformer. But a light is visible at the end of the arduous tunnel of cyber-recovery.
Continue reading ‘Hamden Schools: Fried Seagull Won’t Prevent Cyber-Recovery’
by | Jan 27, 2020 9:09 pm | Comments (19)
Christopher Peak Photo
New board president Rivera with predecessor Goldson; Goldson said he is eyeing Gary Winfield’s State Senate seat next.
At its first meeting under a new mayor, the Board of Education Monday evening elected new leadership of its own, starting with a new president.
by | Jan 23, 2020 5:23 pm | Comments (3)
Christopher Peak Photo
Lihame Arouna and Nico Rivera call for a student senate on Thursday.
School administrators would start receiving more proposals from student leaders under a plan for a new legislative body that high schoolers are putting together.