Schools

3 Students Vie For Open Ed Board Seat

by | May 17, 2023 1:16 pm | Comments (2)

School board student rep candidates Laila Kelly Walker, John Carlos Serana Musser, and Hsiu-Mei Chow-Yen, with current board member Dave Cruz-Bustamante.

Making classroom lessons more relevant and engaging, increasing student pride in school facilities’ good repair, and boosting mentorship programs for K‑12 students across the district.

Those top the list of priorities of the three New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) students who are now running in an election for a soon-to-open student rep seat on the Board of Education.

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Student Engineers Put Pressure To Practice

by | May 16, 2023 12:15 pm | Comments (2)

Maya McFadden Photos

King-Robinson STEM teacher Jonathan Hill, with seventh grader Thomas: "They solve their own problems in here."

Eighth grader -- and budding engineer -- Nevaeh James building her hydraulic system.

As her hands worked deftly on a new in-classroom engineering project, King-Robinson eighth grader Nevaeh James glanced back and forth between a basic model of a hydraulic system and her own build — which she had designed to be bigger and with an additional moving claw.

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Cross Culinary Champs Bring Home The Gold

by | May 12, 2023 4:59 pm | Comments (8)

Nora Grace-Flood photos

Cross chefs-in-training show off their culinary chops at Friday's presser.

Punchy restaurant pitches and smoke from searing scallops filled Wilbur Cross Friday morning as students showed off lessons learned from participating in a nationwide youth culinary competition — and from living in a small city as culturally rich as the meals served up by the school’s award-winning cooking crew.

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Barnard's Classroom Garden Springs to Life

by | May 11, 2023 10:44 am | Comments (2)

Maya McFadden Photo

Sixth graders Tiranke Keita, Grace Sherman, and Issac Oliver in Barnard's garden bed.

Barnard sixth grader Tiranke Keita dug a hole in the bed of her school’s garden, Grace Sherman filled it in with a handful of rich compost, and Issac Oliver nestled in a starter plant of lettuce — kicking off the Derby Avenue PreK‑8 school’s latest effort in hands-on, hands-in-the-dirt learning.

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Ed Board Vote Leaves Bus Deal In Limbo

by | May 11, 2023 9:08 am | Comments (13)

Maya McFadden file photo

Will NHPS pick up or drop off new First Student bus contract?

New NHPS Director of Transportation LaShell Rountree.

The city’s school district has a new transportation director — but may soon be without a school bus provider, as the Board of Education failed to agree on what should happen next after First Student’s current contract ends on June 30.

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Look What's Growing In A Classroom On Goffe

by | May 9, 2023 3:08 pm | Comments (1)

Allan Appel photo

Digging up "worms" at Reggie Mayo school's new garden.

The romaine, zucchini, and radishes were going in, along with bright orange marigolds. 

So were plastic squooshies” of worms, lime-green butterflies, black-dotted ladybugs, and other creatures that pre-schoolers can now bury in the dirt and then dig up, not months hence at harvest time, but within seconds, and then call out a loud surprise” at the remarkable re-finding of the object.

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Smith Files For First-Time Alder Run

by | May 5, 2023 6:53 pm | Comments (31)

Nora Grace-Flood photo

Smith signs up with City Clerk staffer Michelle Lee Rodriguez.

As East Rocker Caroline Tanbee Smith filed papers to make official her first aldermanic run, Fair Havener Claudia Hererra readied to hand over the local legislative baton — to a candidate she says will build bridges between those neighborhoods and across the broader city if she’s elected to be Ward 9’s next representative.

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Ready For College, Hillhouse Senior Persevered

by | May 5, 2023 4:07 pm | Comments (7)

Contributed photo

Hillhouse senior and aspiring future congresswoman Ma'Shai Roman.

School board student representative Ma’Shai Roman is on track to graduate from Hillhouse High School in less than two months to pursue a college degree in political science with the goal of one day becoming a U.S. congresswoman.

If you had read her that sentence two years ago, Roman likely wouldn’t have believed it — as she was in the midst of transferring to her third high school while struggling with her mental health, all against the backdrop of the isolating and education-disrupting effects of a global pandemic.

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Truman Students Step Into High Tech

by | May 2, 2023 2:22 pm | Comments (5)

Lisa Reisman Photo

Imagining the Hiptec Suit Version 1

Behold the Hiptec Suit Version 1, a VR full suit created by a group of 10 eighth graders from Truman School on a field trip to DAE, formerly known as the afterschool program District Arts + Education.

Portable, adjustable, and a lightweight microfiber nylon, it features a body tracking belt that regulates the user’s temperature, a sensor that recognizes anxiety and tells you to breathe, and the option for virtual reality therapy sessions. 

There’s just one caveat. Hiptec Suit Version 1 exists only on a whiteboard. 

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Sorority Steps Up With Saturday School Meals

by | May 2, 2023 8:54 am | Comments (4)

Maya McFadden Photos

The "ladies in pink and green" kick off Childhood Hunger Initiative Power Pack.

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Theta Epsilon Omega Chapter at Saturday's kick off.

A local chapter of a historic Black sorority has teamed up with the city’s public school district to make sure kids who come to class on Saturdays don’t go home hungry.

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"Amazing 8" Open New Promise Chapter

by | May 1, 2023 2:19 pm | Comments (7)

Paul Bass Photo

Inaugural HBCU-bound Pennington Scholarship recipients, from left, Anaya Moore, Skye Williams, Tiara Walters, Laniyah McNeil, Antoine Pittman, Trinity Ford, Brianna Lane, and Migdalia Marquez at Monday's event with Promise President Patricia Melton.

Eight high schoolers made hopeful history Monday — and in the process helped New Haven confront historical wrongs.

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Education Justice Vision Takes Shape

by | May 1, 2023 11:04 am | Comments (5)

Maya McFadden photo

Nakeshia Alford & her kids at teachers union-hosted education justice town hall.

Higher quality school lunches. More reliable school bus transportation. Enough hand soap and paper towels in all school bathrooms. And better work opportunities for public-school students under the age of 16.

New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) students put forward those goals among many others as they joined parents, teachers, and education allies in defining what a fully funded city school district could look like.

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Tree Plantings Honor Beloved Educators

by | Apr 28, 2023 5:05 pm | Comments (1)

Nora Grace-Flood photo

Jemar, Jessica Marie, and Jebrell, the children of late teacher Marites Siervo, water a tree planted in their mom's memory.

Riverside Academy senior Davon Hardgrove shoveled dirt over the roots of a Zelkova tree planted in memory of a late principal who led his school through tough times — and pledged to continue her legacy of community service throughout his own life.

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Attendance Update: More Students Showing Up

by | Apr 27, 2023 4:37 pm | Comments (11)

Contributed photo

Ms. Colon's 2nd grade classroom takes home the John C. Daniels first place March Madness prize.

How does an elementary school more than halve its chronic absenteeism rate, down to 25 percent, in a year?

John C. Daniels School leaders had one answer for City Hall public-education watchdogs: supplement district-wide support services with a series of homeroom attendance contests that get kids to cheer on one another for showing up to class.

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Student Voices Heard In Citywide Council Vote

by | Apr 26, 2023 8:56 am | Comments (9)

Maya McFadden Photo

Ta’LannaMonique Lawson-Dickerson with NHPS students Chyna Lopes, Naylanee Alejandro, and Kate Kim at April monthly Citywide Student Council meetup.

Roughly 40 high-schoolers from across New Haven gathered on Sherman Parkway to cast their votes in support of having a greater say in school district decision making, higher-quality facilities, a more socially relevant curriculum, and increased investment in student well-being and restorative justice.

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