Mrs. Mullins Shining Star panelists with siblings. Transatlantic Histories Program Director Thomas Thurston and teacher Waltrina Kirkland-Mullins in background.
The following article and photos came in from Davis Waltrina Kirkland-Mullins’ third grade students from the Davis Academy for Arts and Design Innovation let their academic light shine at the Harvard University Center for African Studies Association forum recently held in Cambridge, Mass.
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Christopher Peak |
Dec 4, 2019 8:56 am
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Aliyya Swaby File Photo
Elm City College Prep student works on 3-D design.
Achievement First is looking at combining two charter schools into one building to free up hundreds of thousands of dollars from its donor-reliant budget.
Hamden Public School Chief Operating Officer Tom Ariola and Superintendent Jody Goeler.
Though the state denied an extension for construction at the West Woods School in Hamden two weeks ago, the state remains committed to helping the town with construction costs at some point, Hamden officials announced on Wednesday.
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John Hinrichs and Lisa Rodriguez |
Dec 2, 2019 8:43 am
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Contributed Photos
For the second year in a row, cadets from James Hillhouse High School Army JROTC volunteered to spend their Saturday giving back to veterans by serving a Thanksgiving meal at the West Haven VA Hospital.
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Veronica Douglas-Givan |
Dec 2, 2019 8:37 am
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Current culinary studentsCross and alumni with the breakfast they prepared.
Veronica Douglas-Givan sent in these photos from Thursday’s Elm City Bowl, which brought together the Hillhouse and Wilbur Cross (and New Haven) communities for a pre-game meal and then an annual Thanksgiving football rivalry, which Hillhouse won 37 – 0 this year.
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Christopher Peak |
Nov 27, 2019 1:24 pm
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Assistant Superintendent Keisha Redd-Hannans.
An internal investigation has concluded that Assistant Superintendent of Schools Keisha Redd-Hannans never retaliated against Donna Aiello, an assistant principal who publicly opposed her plan to involuntarily transfer 53 teachers.
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Christopher Peak |
Nov 26, 2019 9:00 am
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Christopher Peak Photo
Students in the Coop High caf: Do they need more cow’s milk?
Chocolate milk, banned for the last decade, is making a return to the iceboxes of New Haven’s high school cafeterias. Twice a week.
That reversal, which will make chocolate milk available on a limited basis for a six-month pilot, was narrowly approved at Monday night’s Board of Education meeting.
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Sam Gurwitt |
Nov 22, 2019 12:51 pm
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Sam Gurwitt Photo
The West Woods PTA last Wednesday.
Hamden officials turned their attention to groundwater Wednesday as part of their latest efforts to put the future of West Woods School on drier ground.
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Christopher Peak |
Nov 21, 2019 7:37 pm
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New Haven contingent outside Boston federal building.
BOSTON—“We’re with you,” about two dozen Wilbur Cross High School students cupped their hands and shouted to the top of a federal building in Boston, where their classmate was trying to convince an immigration judge to let him stay in this country.
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Sam Gurwitt |
Nov 19, 2019 12:10 pm
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Sam Gurwitt Photo
Chief Operating Officer Tom Ariola and Superintendent Jody Goeler.
Despite frustration over the shifting nature of school construction plans and concerns about cost, the Hamden Legislative Council voted Monday to proceed with a large construction project at Hamden Middle School by approving a contract with an architect.
BOE Member Melinda Saller, Superintendent Jody Goeler, and BOE member Myron Hul.
After decades of leaky ceilings and floor puddles, students and teachers at the West Woods School in Hamden will have to wait even longer for any long-term fixes.
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John Hinrichs & Lisa Rodriguez |
Nov 14, 2019 8:44 am
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Contributed photos
The James Hillhouse High School Army JROTC cadets were very busy over Veterans Day Weekend. Instructors Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) John Hinrichs and Sergeant First Class (Retired) Lisa Rodriguez, both combat veterans, incorporated information on Veterans Day into their curriculum leading up to the events.
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Christopher Peak |
Nov 13, 2019 4:04 pm
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Hernandez Gomez at Tuesday ed board meeting, where she spoke out.
As far back as third grade, Jayline Hernandez Gomez felt something was missing from her education. She learned about the brutality of the transatlantic slave trade; her lessons skipped over how America kept control of Puerto Rico by firing machine guns on protesters in the 1930s.
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Christopher Peak |
Nov 13, 2019 8:54 am
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Thomas Breen Photo
Paras’ prez Wilkins-Chambers: “Never seen anything like this.”
A student kicked his teacher in the leg, then claimed she kicked him back. Administrators didn’t find any marks on the boy from what seemed to be “minor physical contact,” a union official said, but Central Office decided to send the teacher out on administrative leave while an investigation is underway.
That teacher joins 69 school employees who were placed on administrative leave last year — at a cost of at least $410,000 (without including substitute teacher pay), according to newly obtained records.
Mayor-Elect Justin Elicker offered that idea Thursday afternoon in response to the first surprise question he fielded since Tuesday’s election by a local reporter — who also happens to be a third-grader at East Rock Community School.
Larry Conaway after alders voted in support of his ed board appointment. Top: Latinx protesters in the Aldermanic Chambers.
Against a backdrop of broader racial tensions in city politics, alders approved Larry Conaway’s Board of Education appointment in a divided decision that saw four Latinx legislators praise the experienced local educator —and then vote no.
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Christopher Peak |
Nov 7, 2019 4:25 pm
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Iline Tracey.
Interim Superintendent Iline Tracey’s newly signed contract doesn’t come with an official end date, allowing the Board of Education flexibility to pick another successor quickly or keep her on permanently.
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Christopher Peak |
Nov 7, 2019 3:11 pm
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NAEP
Chart shows Connecticut with third-largest gap in 8th grade math scores, based on poverty.
The typical students in Connecticut’s public schools are now more likely to show up to class with a significant obstacle to their education, yet they continue to outperform most of the country on a major national exam — even after a recent slip in scores this year.
Latina/Latino students account for more than 47 percent of the total student population of the New Haven Public Schools — currently the largest segment of the district’s student body. Yet, this same community is underrepresented, significantly, at all levels of the District’s staff.
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Josiah Brown |
Nov 5, 2019 9:30 am
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Josiah Brown, a volunteer member of the board of the Literacy Coalition of Greater New Haven, sent this account of an event in which the Coalition was involved.
David Braze, Nicole Landi, Joanne R. White, and Waltrina Kirkland-Mullins
The October event had been previewed, along with other literacy news, in an earlier Independent story—and preceded by one night the annual spelling bee to benefit New Haven Reads, a key Coalition participant. (As Lucy Gellman’s coverage of the Oct. 25 spelling bee noted, “While New Haven Reads tutors 550 kids a week, an all-time high of 234 more remain on the waitlist” — so additional volunteer tutors are needed!)
The importance of this work was underscored days later by the release of the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores. On average nationally, both 4th-graders and 8th-graders saw declines in reading proficiency since 2017. In Connecticut, 4th-graders’ reading skills showed a slight decrease — while average gaps among various groups remained troubling. In a Connecticut Mirror account, Ajit Gopalkrishnan of the State Department of Education was quoted saying that though he doesn’t regard it as an “excuse … we are working on improving language acquisition for our English learners, who are a substantially bigger proportion of our population than even five years ago.”
(The NAEP’s “proficiency” standard is stiffer than that of virtually every state’s interpretation of “proficient.” According to the NAEP website, “… reaching the NAEP Proficient level is not necessarily the same as reaching a state’s standard for proficient performance at a given grade level.”)
The Youth Services Committee of the New Haven Board of Alders will hold a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 6, 2019, in the Alder Chamber of City Hall, 165 Church St., re:
