by | Oct 31, 2019 1:51 pm | Comments (10)
Christopher Peak Photo
Anais Nunez outside hearing: Daughters are learning more.
The Achievement First charter network might have its flaws, but that doesn’t mean its New Haven schools should close, supporters told state officials weighing their future.
Continue reading ‘Parents Turn Out To Back Charter Renewals’
by | Oct 30, 2019 1:13 pm | Comments (17)
Christopher Peak Photo
Iline Tracey: I’m committed to this school system.
New Haven’s new schools chief wants to bring music and art back to the classroom — and stability to a district that has been mired in turmoil for the last two years.
by | Oct 29, 2019 8:10 am | Comments (37)
Thomas Breen Photo
Rev. Abraham Hernandez at rally: More Latino ed boarders needed.
Christopher Peak Photo
Yesenia Rivera presses hiring question before leaving room.
Underrepresented from the school board to the superintendent’s cabinet to the classroom, Latinos are demanding a more visible place within the city’s school system, as they already make up nearly half the student body.
That cry was heard at both ends of the city on Monday night, as protestors waved signs at a nomination hearing and the school board’s only Latina member walked out of a meeting in tears.
by | Oct 29, 2019 7:49 am | Comments (20)
Christopher Peak Photo
Carol Birks.
(Updated) The latest chapter of the ongoing drama with New Haven’s school superintendent has finally come to an end, as Carol Birks has signed a severance agreement to give up her position in charge of city schools for a six-figure buyout.
by | Oct 28, 2019 3:07 pm | Comments (13)
Sam Gurwitt Photo
Morgan Tobio: “Teach the boys not to be distracted.”
Hamden High sophomore Maddi came to school Friday wearing a sweater over her tank top. She didn’t mind, given the temperature outside. But come warmer weather, she’ll risk having a teacher order her to wear the sweater — in order to conform to the dress code.
by | Oct 28, 2019 7:42 am | Comments (5)
Christopher Peak Photo
Students play house at Conte-West Hills.
Recess is no longer the only time New Haven’s students will get to play around.
by | Oct 25, 2019 4:46 pm | Comments (17)
Christopher Peak Photo
Mayor Toni Harp announces the Boys & Girls Club will stay open at a Friday press conference.
A six-figure grant from the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven will allow the Boys & Girls Club to keep the doors open at its three existing sites while it develops a long-term plan.
by | Oct 23, 2019 3:03 pm | Comments (13)
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Public Health Commissioner Renee Coleman-Mitchell.
An unsafe number of kindergarteners at six local elementary schools have been going to class without immunizations for measles.
by | Oct 23, 2019 12:28 pm | Comments (0)
Hamden Fire Department
Two crashes occurred Wednesday morning involving school buses.
by | Oct 22, 2019 12:55 pm | Comments (6)
Christopher Peak Photo
Jackson-McArthur at the school board.
After years of turmoil, a period of calm and repair has begun in New Haven’s school system, in the view of a decision-maker with an up-close view.
Continue reading ‘Ed Board’s Jackson-McArthur: Time To “Cool The Coals”’
by | Oct 18, 2019 9:21 pm | Comments (29)
Christopher Peak Photo
Cross student Tayshalee Hernandez leads chants at Friday’s rally.
Which is the real threat to the public? An 18-year-old undocumented immigrant, known throughout his high school as a “bright student,” who was pulled over for driving erratically? Or the ICE agents who were waiting “to stalk and kidnap him” at his next his court date?
Vanesa Suarez, an organizer with the Connecticut Immigrant Rights Alliance (CIRA), said that a federal judge had given the wrong answers to those questions.
She was one of hundreds of people at a defiant rally Friday evening on the steps of City Hall to demand the release of a New Haven teen who’s being held for deportation by immigration authorities.
by | Oct 18, 2019 5:24 pm | Comments (21)
Christopher Peak Photo
Partnership for Connecticut holds first meeting, at Science Park.
After talking up how much they value “inclusiveness” and “collaboration,” the leaders of a state-backed venture retreated behind closed doors to discuss how they plan to save struggling students in Connecticut’s poorest high schools.
by | Oct 18, 2019 7:35 am | Comments (8)
Tsering Dorje
Two Tibetan Red Guards.
The young woman in the photograph is intent, concentrating. Is her face set in resolve? Or is there doubt behind her eyes?
It’s 1966, in Tibet, and she’s a member of the Red Guard — the soldiers charged with submitting the people of Tibet to China’s horrifically destructive Cultural Revolution, and in the process, erasing history.
Yet here’s a photograph of it, making history. It’s part of Forbidden Memory, a fascinating exhibit of photographs by Tsering Dorje, a soldier in the Red Army who took pictures of the Cultural Revolution as it was happening, offering a very rare glimpse into one of the darkest moments of the 20th century — a glimpse that curator William Frucht, on Wednesday, could use to help students from Audubon Street’s Atlas Middle School explore cultural memory, how repressive governments sometimes try to erase it, and how it can be preserved and maintained.
Continue reading ‘“Forbidden Memory” Un-erases The Cultural Revolution’
by | Oct 16, 2019 2:44 pm | Comments (3)
Christopher Peak Photo
Patricia Melton at Wednesday’s press conference.
Another private university is joining in New Haven’s initiative to help more public-school students graduate from in-state colleges without sinking into debt.
by | Oct 16, 2019 11:48 am | Comments (8)
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Phillip Penn, New Haven’s new CFO, with Iline Tracey.
After more than a yearlong search, the school district has finally hired a chief financial officer.
by | Oct 11, 2019 1:15 pm | Comments (12)
Jill Ryan Photo
If you have kids in a New Haven Public School, you probably get a lot of phone calls from Daniel Diaz.
The kids, at least, are often happy when he calls.
by | Oct 11, 2019 12:53 pm | Comments (0)
Sophie Edelstein’s hip and leg surgeries got her interested in biomedical research — and set her on a path.
Continue reading ‘After Surgeries, Cross Student Found A Calling’
by | Oct 7, 2019 7:56 am | Comments (12)
Christopher Peak Photo
Fred Till, the school transportation director, changes a parent’s route.
Dakenya Johnson: Five blocks too far.
“I don’t know where I’m at,” an 11-year-old told her mom on the phone, right after a school bus driver told her she had to get off at an unfamiliar corner in the Dwight neighborhood.
A month later, after getting through that parental nightmare, Dakenya Johnson now knows where her daughter is going to be picked up and dropped off every day. But she still thinks the five-block walk from their house is too far.
She doesn’t know if the district is going to fix it, and her patience is running out.
by | Oct 7, 2019 7:40 am | Comments (0)
The following was contributed by King Robinson Inter-district Magnet School kindergarten teacher Mallorie Madden.
Contributed photos
The staff at King/Robinson Inter-district Magnet: An IB STEM School added a twist to their back to school night this year.
by | Oct 4, 2019 7:36 am | Comments (18)
Christopher Peak Photo
Superintendent Carol Birks kicks off the school year at an August convocation.
Superintendent Carol Birks wants to be remembered for graduating a full class of students, trying out new models of early childhood education, and recognizing staff accomplishments.
by | Oct 4, 2019 7:35 am | Comments (0)
Allan Appel Photo
(l-r)Peter Stolzman, Jeffrey Alpert, and James Barber
Two of New Haven’s anchoring organizations that promote and support literacy and learning — from birth to high school and beyond — marked anniversaries Thursday evening with separate Lawn Club fundraisers, toasts, and appreciations of how single individuals with a calling can indeed change the world
Continue reading ‘Literacy, Learning Groups Mark 80 Years Of Service’
by | Oct 3, 2019 7:45 am | Comments (3)
Christopher Peak Photo
New Amistad Principal Simon Obas.
Amistad High School’s principal has placed two staffers on administrative leave pending an investigation based on complaints from students about inappropriate behavior, and two other staffers for allegedly failing to report the complaints.
Continue reading ‘Amistad Principal Places 4 Staffers On Leave’
by | Oct 2, 2019 6:30 pm | Comments (38)
Christopher Peak Photo
Birks being protested over proposing to cut 53 teaching positions.
Iline Tracey: Fourth superintendent to take over schools in 3 years.
At month’s end, Carol Birks will no longer be the superintendent of New Haven Public Schools, according to Board of Education President Darnell Goldson.
After a year and a half on the job, Birks has agreed to a settlement deal from the Board of Education to walk away for between $150,000 and $200,000, Goldson said.
by | Oct 2, 2019 7:46 am | Comments (1)
Achievement First
Doug McCurry: Plans for final year, after founding the charter network two decades ago.
A co-founder of the Achievement First charter school network will move on to another job — at a time when its controversial model of “no excuses” schooling is being reconsidered.
by | Oct 1, 2019 2:52 pm | Comments (4)
Christopher Peak Photo
Lauren Sepulveda receives a congratulatory hug from her students.
Lauren Sepulveda felt like a “pretty average” high school student with no direction — until a social studies teacher encouraged her to sign up for an Advanced Placement class and compete in National History Day.
Sepulveda, now a social studies teacher herself at Fair Haven’s Clinton Avenue School, found out just how exceptional she is when she was surprised Tuesday with a $25,000 check for being one of the country’s best teachers.