by | Jul 3, 2024 6:00 pm | Comments (4)
Jabez Choi photo
Youth@Work participant David Uzuka: "It's a great opportunity."
The city’s youth employment program welcomed 748 students aged 14 to 21 into the workforce this summer, across more than 100 worksites.
A press conference celebrating the Youth@Work program — which kickstarted July 1 — was held Wednesday afternoon at Hill Regional Career High School, right outside a gymnasium filled with kids playing basketball.
by | Jul 2, 2024 12:30 pm | Comments (11)
Thomas Breen photo
Broken windows, for now, at 188 Bassett.
New Haven Adult Education’s planned move from the Hill to Newhallville took a key step forward, as the zoning board cleared the way for the city to build a new 4,500 square-foot addition to the back of a derelict building on Bassett Street.
by | Jul 2, 2024 9:18 am | Comments (6)
Maya McFadden photos
Family gathered to celebrate library dedication honoring Hazel Pappas (pictured below).
Maya McFadden Photo
A mother, grandmother, sister, and advocate for thousands of young New Haveners — and for the broader public school community — will live on, through the newly dedicated Hazel B. Pappas Media Center at Roberto Clemente Leadership Academy.
by | Jul 1, 2024 9:22 am | Comments (1)
Contributed photos
This Citizen Contribution was submitted by Dawn M. Slade of DMS Communications.
It may not win an Oscar. Yet it may be the most important film they ever make.
by | Jun 28, 2024 9:15 am | Comments (18)
Maya McFadden Photo
Student rep John Carlos Serana Musser: District's lack of working infrastructure "brews chaos in a school."
A Metropolitan Business Academy elevator that was vandalized by students and accidentally damaged by a substitute janitor has cost the district an extra $29,000 in repairs — and has resulted in another sizable contractual change order.
by | Jun 28, 2024 9:14 am | Comments (3)
Maya McFadden Photo
LEAP Aquatics Director Oscar Rodriguez at the soon-to-be-filled-with-water Jefferson Street pool.
A privately owned pool will be open for free public access on Friday evenings — and for low-cost swim lessons throughout the summer — thanks to a youth athletics and tutoring nonprofit’s commitment to keeping the community in the water.
by | Jun 26, 2024 9:02 am | Comments (48)
THOMAS BREEN FILE PHOTO
Madeline Negrón: Trying to avoid staff layoffs. Still searching for $2M in savings.
Schools plan to mitigate expected $12M definict.
The Board of Education approved an updated budget for next school year — that is still out of balance by $2.3 million.
by | Jun 21, 2024 11:56 am | Comments (33)
Maya McFadden photo
Williams and Blatteau: Human-centered schools a priority.
The New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) district began the school year scrambling to hire educators to address a teacher shortage.
It’s ending the school year with the announcement of staff cuts to come.
To the leaders of the city’s two classroom-facing unions, that mixed messaging is a problem — and reflects the broader challenges of understaffing, budget crunches, and inconsistent communication across the district. It also underscores the imperative of putting students’ needs first.
by | Jun 21, 2024 9:34 am | Comments (13)
Maya McFadden Photo
LeQuire (right) and students at Tuesday's "goodbye picnic."
Hillhouse rising senior David Coardes discovered his love for painting thanks to high school art teacher Rebecca LeQuire.
On a sunny afternoon at Lighthouse Point, he gathered with a handful of classmates to say goodbye to LeQuire — not because Coardes is graduating, but because LeQuire is leaving the district after what she says have been years of complaints insufficiently addressed by central office.
by | Jun 18, 2024 9:26 am | Comments (31)
Christopher Peak file photo
This will only be happening at Hillhouse this summer.
It turns out that only one public pool, at Hillhouse High School, will be open this summer — despite the public school district’s initial plans to have three of its five pools in good enough condition to be available for open swim.
Continue reading ‘Just Kidding. Only 1 Of 5 Pools To Open This Summer’
by | Jun 17, 2024 3:24 pm | Comments (3)
Abiba Biao photo
Jaysen Anthony Threet: "I don't even know if words can explain."
After losing his father Louis Ortiz and four other family members in a matter of months during his time in high school, Metropolitan Business Academy senior Jaysen Anthony Threet didn’t think he’d cross the graduation stage.
But, last Thursday, he beat the odds.
by | Jun 17, 2024 2:33 pm | Comments (1)
contributed photos
This Citizen Contribution was submitted by Dawn M. Slade of DMS Public Relations.
Guilty or not guilty? That was the question considered in the mock courtroom in the auditorium of King-Robinson Interdistrict Magnet And IB STEM School, from 4:15 – 5:30 p.m. on June 12, 2024, as members of the King-Robinson Mock Trial team tried the case of the People v E and T.
The young lawyers included: Kaleb Perez, Keerome Suggs, Keysean Wagner, Tyrique Thigpen, Tyler Thigpen, David Samules, Joshua Dennis, and Amir Fludd. David Samules was an attorney and an expert witness (forensic pathologist), and Joshua Dennis was an attorney and one of the eyewitnesses (a white-haired fisherman).
by | Jun 14, 2024 5:22 pm | Comments (2)
Allan Appel Photo
Emily Contreras Lopez and Karyssa Twig, headed to Amistad Academy and Betsy Ross Arts Magnet respectively, sing at Friday's graduation.
You can really tell the character of a school by its graduation exercise.
by and | Jun 14, 2024 4:52 pm | Comments (15)
Maya McFadden photo
Graduation split-screen: 104 8th-graders celebrate at Fair Haven School ...
Arthur Delot-Vilain photo
... as eight 8th-graders prepare to move on up from Brennan-Rogers. Pictured here: Jovanna Coardes, Ca’Nayza Smalls, and Teneshia Harrington.
More than 100 eighth-graders walked across the stage in Fair Haven Friday morning to celebrate graduating from one of New Haven’s fastest-growing schools — at the same time that eight of their peers on the far west side of town gathered for a much smaller ceremony at one of the city’s fastest-shrinking schools.
by | Jun 14, 2024 10:59 am | Comments (2)
Jabez Choi photos
Jocelyn Juarez: Proudest moment was "handing in my last assignments."
On Bowen Field for Thursday's celebration.
When Jocelyn Juarez entered Hillhouse High School as a freshman, she struggled with a disability that inhibited her ability to walk. She often relied on her mother for support.
But on Thursday, at Hillhouse’s graduation ceremony at Bowen Field, Juarez confidently strode across the stage to receive her diploma. Her mother watched from the stands with tears in her eyes.
Continue reading ‘"Greatness Is Within" 190 Hillhouse Grads’
by | Jun 14, 2024 9:34 am | Comments (2)
Maya McFadden Photos
Mission accomplished, at Cross’s graduation ceremony.
Aspiring electrician Nakarie Wills, pediatric nurse to-be Nathalie Hiraldo, and future music producer CheMi “CJ” McGee all walked across the Wilbur Cross graduation stage — taking big steps closer to their post-high school dreams.
Continue reading ‘Eyeing Bright Futures, 360 Graduate Cross’
by | Jun 14, 2024 9:26 am | Comments (7)
Arthur Delot-Vilain photos
Paul Panagrosso: "I'm a lucky man to be here today."
Eighty years after officially graduating from what was then called New Haven High School, 98-year-old World War II veteran Paul Panagrosso walked across the stage with Hillhouse’s Class of 2024 on Thursday to receive his diploma.
Continue reading ‘World War II Vet Picks Up Deployment-Deferred Hillhouse Diploma’
by | Jun 13, 2024 6:22 pm | Comments (2)
Eleanor Polak photo
Kevin Barranco Carvente: “Most proud of the fact that I made it.”
When Kevin Barranco Carvente entered his freshman year at Hill Regional Career High School during the height of the pandemic, he had to take his classes from home, behind a screen. When in-person learning returned, he was met with masks, table dividers, and empty seats.
But on Thursday, after years of perseverance and improving conditions, Barranco Carvente graduated alongside 134 of his Career classmates — in person.
by | Jun 13, 2024 3:16 pm | Comments (9)
Laura Glesby Photo
Dev chief Piscitelli (right) with developer Winstanley: NHPS part of "ecosystem of growth."
City/NHPS Presentation
Laboratory and classroom space in 101 College designed for NHPS students.
Fifteen high school juniors from Hillhouse, Wilbur Cross, and Career have been selected to join cancer researchers and vaccine developers this fall in bringing to life a long-awaited College Street biotech hub.
by | Jun 13, 2024 2:32 pm | Comments (12)
Jabez Choi photo
Alexandr Lavranchuk and Nike Desis: Trying to get a better handle of what queer students experience at school.
Old Lyme teen librarian Nike Desis was on a mission: to figure out how to be a better ally for queer and trans young people.
So, on Wednesday night, they made the 30-mile trek to New Haven’s Ninth Square to take a deep dive into LGBTQ+ students’ rights, at a workshop hosted by the New Haven Pride Center.
Continue reading ‘Pride Message: LGBTQ+ Students Have Rights’
by | Jun 12, 2024 3:32 pm | Comments (2)
Maya McFadden photos
Theodosia Ross (center) with foster mother Arlene Wright, biological mother Tara Wills, and grandmother Christina Bradley.
Families swarm Parish Hall to watch Riverside students cross the stage.
Riverside Academy senior Theodosia Ross walked the stage to receive her high school diploma that, less than a week ago, she didn’t think she’d get — but she did, despite a long journey through foster care, not being motivated to attend school, losing her father, and battling depression.
Ross was one of Riverside’s 12 graduating seniors who received their diplomas Tuesday afternoon. The class of 2024’s graduation, held at Betsy Ross’s Parish Hall on Kimberly Avenue, was a small but mighty one for New Haven’s last remaining alternative high school.
Continue reading ‘Theodosia Kept Pushing, & Reached Graduation’
by | Jun 12, 2024 2:00 pm | Comments (5)
Thomas Breen photo
Youth & Rec’s Gwen Williams and Ronnie Huggins, ready for summer.
More than 700 young New Haveners have above-minimum-wage jobs waiting for them this summer if they accept employment offers from the city’s youth and rec department — thanks to a recent bump in funding for the city’s Youth @ Work program.
by | Jun 12, 2024 11:43 am | Comments (20)
Contributed photo
At Monday's school board meeting; Karen Wilkinson and Minnie Evans.
As New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) Superintendent Madeline Negrón grapples with the prospect of staff layoffs for next school year, long-term substitute teacher Maria Threese Serana called for more recognition of subs like herself who have been filling classroom vacancies daily since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
by | Jun 11, 2024 11:12 am | Comments (5)
Jabez Choi photos
Sunjai Yancey Williams, watering broccoli pots in the Ivy St. Community Garden.
First-graders Amayah Williams and Anastasia Rivera: Making dog treats for the animal shelter with "love."
Lincoln-Bassett School fourth-grader Sunjai Yancey Williams carefully poured water into a pot of broccoli sprouts. Her eyes were focused. The second she finished with the pot, they eased in relief.
She and her classmates were inside the greenhouse at the Ivy Street Community Garden for their Newhallville school’s “Community Day” — and helping the garden grow was part of the programming created by Assistant Principal Eva Schultz.
Continue reading ‘Lincoln-Bassett Students Lend A Helping Hand’
by | Jun 7, 2024 3:30 pm | Comments (4)
Maya McFadden Photo
Hilarie Alden: Now, officially, a "life changing" teacher.
“She pushes you to be your best self.” “She’s always positive.” “She makes school fun.” “Her good mood in the classroom influenced me to do better things outside class.”
Those words of praise and so much more were offered by Worthington Hooker parents and students on Friday as they shared testimony about this year’s “Life Changing Teaching” awardee and Hooker second grade teacher, Hilarie Alden.
Continue reading ‘Surprise! Teacher Honored For "Life Changing" Work’