Schools

Tiger Squad News Roars Back To Life

by | Apr 25, 2023 8:58 am | Comments (4)

Tiger Squad News crew Alae Aboutalib, Shayla Black, and Nima Safdari, with the first issue of their school's reborn newsletter (below).

The ink is dry on the first issue of the recently revived Tiger Squad News — as Celentano School reporters-in-training Nima Safdari, Alae Aboutalib, and Shayla Black return to the beat for a second newsletter that they hope will inform their classmates about just how much work goes into being a student reporter.

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History-Making Schools Chief Starts Listening

by | Apr 20, 2023 3:54 pm | Comments (9)

Paul Bass photo

Schools Supt.-to-be Madeline Negrón greets Lincoln-Bassett students Thursday morning.

New Haven’s first-ever Latina schools superintendent greeted Ecuadorian-born student Bryan Panata with an Hola,” made a Puerto Rican geography connection with Wilbur Cross junior Lunaa Omar, and remarked on how bilingual education has advanced since her childhood days working to learn English in a basement classroom.

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It's Official: Negrón OK'd As Next Superintendent

by | Apr 19, 2023 8:20 pm | Comments (8)

Maya McFadden Photo

Supt.-to-be Madeline Negrón with current NHPS leader Iline Tracey.

Former New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) teacher, principal, and director of education and current Hartford Public Schools Acting Deputy Superintendent Madeline Negrón will become the city’s next top schools official starting July 1, thanks to a unanimous vote of approval taken by the Board of Education Wednesday afternoon.

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New Roof Sought For Hillhouse Auditorium

by | Apr 19, 2023 1:50 pm | Comments (7)

NHPS image

Where the new roof would go.

The city’s school district is looking to replace a persistently leaky roof in Hillhouse High School’s auditorium — with questions remaining about the procedural thorniness of a multi-year” repair contract that extends from May to July, as well as about how delays to this needed fix might affect the school’s accreditation.

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Tax Day Lesson Takes On Austerity

by | Apr 18, 2023 7:11 pm | Comments (40)

Laura Glesby Photos

Dave John Cruz-Bustamante: CT schools should look like "palaces."

Teacher-protesters defining vocab.

Connecticut is the wealthiest state in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, Wilbur Cross junior Dave John Cruz-Bustamante told a crowd of educators gathered across the street from their school. 

But you wouldn’t know that from looking at our desks.” 

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Promotions Approved Before New Supt. Arrives

by | Apr 13, 2023 10:20 am | Comments (23)

File photo

John Nguyen, newly tapped to be NHPS's supervisor of research, assessment and evaluation.

Two assistant principals rose the ranks to new leadership roles in the New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) district, even as school board members raised questions about which vacancies need to be filled now, and which should be left open until the next superintendent is hired.

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Schools Get Cheesier

by | Apr 12, 2023 9:05 am | Comments (17)

Wikimedia Commons

Vegans, beware. Cheesy school products get budget bump.

The city’s school board agreed to hand over extra cheese to a fromage contractor in a food-focused budget vote, prompting a debate around how much cheddar the district actually saves when choosing minimum-bid contracts that bulk up midyear.

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Students Connect Over Story Exchange

by | Apr 11, 2023 11:50 am | Comments (3)

Maya McFadden Photo

Exchanging student stories -- and building empathy -- at HSC.

High School in the Community (HSC) freshman Kiley was convinced she would never get along with a senior student she found herself sitting across the table from. 

After each high-schooler opened up to exchange” personal, vulnerable stories with the other, the two students wound up trading phone numbers — and found they had more in common than they first thought.

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Opinion: Now Is The Time For Education Reform

by | Apr 11, 2023 11:45 am | Comments (10)

Michael Jefferson.

The history of anti-literacy laws in the United States dates back to the mid 18th century and the early 19th century. These laws were specifically designed to prevent Blacks both enslaved and free, from learning to read and write. The fear was a literate slave would have the means to forge documents that would aid in his/her escape from bondage. The fear was not unfounded. Many literate slaves did just that.

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Supe Search Nears End; Qualifications, Not Friendships, Touted

by | Apr 5, 2023 3:09 pm | Comments (12)

Supt. finalists Viviana Conner, Warren Morgan, Madeline Negrón.

The Board of Education has finished interviewing all three finalists to be New Haven’s next schools superintendent, who could be picked — on their merits, school board members attest, and not because of personal friendships — as early as next Monday.

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Civics Scholars Prep For Nationals

by | Apr 5, 2023 12:17 pm | Comments (8)

Maya McFadden photo

Cross juniors Adam Sharqawe, Anna Omelchenko, and Sophia Zhang: Ready for D.C.

Question: How will a team of Wilbur Cross students get to the national finals of a U.S. Constitution-focused competition in Washington, D.C.?

Answer: By honing their oratorical skills, arguing against voter suppression, and raising an additional $7,000 for the out-of-state trip. 

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Schools Seek $4M Above Mayor's Budget Rec

by | Mar 31, 2023 5:34 pm | Comments (22)

Maya McFadden photo

Supt. Tracey: "I might be leaving here not closing a budget" if full $207M is not approved.

NHPS slide

Top school-district officials pitched alders on sending the Board of Education $207 million next fiscal year — as they made their case for why rising teacher salaries and special education costs warrant $4 million more than what the mayor has proposed. 

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Hillhouse Tutor Works Toward Teaching Dream

by | Mar 31, 2023 12:23 pm | Comments (6)

Yash Roy Photos

Sayed Taha at NHPS career fair: “Students here also need a lot of help, love and support, and I hope I can give them that as a teacher.”

After teaching English in his home country of Afghanistan as recently as nine months ago, new New Haven resident Sayed Taha hopes to pick his educator career back up as a New Haven Public Schools teacher.

Taha was one of roughly 150 interested candidates to pursue that potential job opportunity at the district’s career fair — all as he continues to work with NHPS on moving up from his current role as a Hillhouse tutor by first receiving his teacher certification.

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Students Pay Attention In Class

by | Mar 30, 2023 9:16 am | Comments (4)

Maya McFadden photo

Fair Haven School's Lesly Lopez introducing vocab in dual-language lesson.

Hannah Tanguay was on a mission to teach her Fair Haven School first-graders two different definitions of the class’s newest vocabulary word: store.”

She had a trick up her sleeve to keep her students engaged — and the school district administrators at the side of the room took note as they observed a classroom model for how to focus young learners’ attentions and ward off distractions.

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New Reading Program Picked For K-5

by | Mar 29, 2023 3:06 pm | Comments (5)

Maya McFadden photo

Barnard kindergartener Max shows teacher Jocelyn Freeman his completed workbook assignment in a classroom piloting the HMH reading program.

The city’s school district has picked Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s (HMH) Into Reading and ¡Arriba la Lectura! programs to anchor a new approach to teaching literacy for kindergarten through fifth grade.

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Survivor Brings Holocaust History To Class

by | Mar 27, 2023 3:39 pm | Comments (34)

Lisa Reisman file photo

Isidore "Izzy" Juda with 1938 passport issued after escaping to Switzerland.

Midway through a discussion at Congress Avenue’s John C. Daniels School, fifth-grader Lucas Rivera posed a question to Holocaust survivor Isidor Izzy” Juda that caused Rivera’s roughly 50 classmates to inch even further forward in their seats.

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Science Fair Probes Oily Oysters

by | Mar 27, 2023 2:25 pm | Comments (3)

Maya McFadden photos

Clemente sixth-grader Luis with oily oyster science experiment.

With science fair judge Robin Querker.

Will oysters survive if submerged in motor oil?

Roberto Clemente sixth-grader Luis set out to answer that question — as he crafted a locally relevant science fair project focused on environmental harms to New Haven bivalves.

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Schools Coordinator Charts Path Towards Filling Vacancies, Keeping Staff

by | Mar 27, 2023 9:10 am | Comments (3)

Wanted: 193 New NHPS staffers.

NHPS Coordinator of Recruitment & Retention Sarah Diggs.

New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) currently has 193 job postings up on its website for 193 vacancies it’s looking to fill with new teachers, admins, coaches and substitutes.

Sarah Diggs has her eye on reducing that number — and on making the district more efficient in its hiring, and more attractive to potential employees.

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Residency Vote Keeps 3rd-Grader In Class

by | Mar 24, 2023 1:35 pm | Comments (14)

Thomas Breen photo

Conte West Hills Magnet School: Exiled 3rd-grader can return.

A Conte West Hills third-grader can finish out the last few months of the school year at her Wooster Square magnet” school — thanks to a Board of Education vote to reverse the district administration’s decision to bar the young student from her New Haven classroom after finding out that she lives in Hamden. 

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Cinema-To-Childcare Campus Plan Detailed

by | Mar 23, 2023 2:08 pm | Comments (6)

Rendering of proposed new childcare campus at ex-Cine 4 site.

Allan Appel photo

David Symond, Jr., Allyx Schiavone, Margo Early, and Karin Patriquin on Wednesday.

The corn will keeping popping at the central ticketing-and-candy counter of the old Cine 4 movie theater — even as that entryway fixture is converted into a reception desk for a planned new early education campus now in the works on Middletown Avenue. 

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School Board OKs $207M Budget Request

by | Mar 23, 2023 10:16 am | Comments (0)

NHPS slide

The school district's FY24 budget request.

The Board of Education voted unanimously to approve a proposed $207 million schools budget request for next fiscal year, teeing up that financial plan — which is more than $3 million above what the mayor has proposed sending the district’s way — for review by the Board of Alders.

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