What Would Hazel Say?

The late longtime public education advocate Hazel Pappas was present yet again, this time in memory only, at the Board of Education this week — as current New Haven educators invoked the impact she had on countless local students, parents, teachers, and school staff who were able to meet her face to face at in-person meetings.

Ashley Stockton, a sixth-grade English teacher at Wexler-Grant School, spoke up about Pappas’s impact on school board meetings more broadly, and on her own career as a New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) teacher in particular, during Monday’s latest full Board of Education meeting, which was held entirely online via Zoom.

Stockton’s testimony came amidst the ongoing citywide debate about whether or not New Haven’s school board should return to in-person meetings, stay remote on Zoom in the way that it has since the start of the pandemic nearly three years ago, or find some kind of hybrid in-person/remote option.

During the public participation section of Monday’s online meeting, Stockton recalled the passing last month of Pappas, whom she met for the first time at a Board of Education meeting in-person nearly 12 years ago. 

“Over the years I had the pleasure of talking to Mrs. Pappas before and after board meetings. Through our neighborly conversations I learned she had a grandson at the school where I taught and we enjoyed this connection,” Stockton said. ​“I would not have known Mrs. Pappas if we had been denied the opportunity to attend these public meetings. Thankfully past leaders did not prohibit us from meeting publicly, getting to know one another, and building community.” 

“By refusing to hold in person public meetings,” Stockton continued, ​“the current leadership is denying citizens the opportunity to gather and fully participate.”

She noted that the school board has disabled the Zoom function that allows viewers to see the number of participants. She also shared that during the board’s Jan. 9 meeting, she suddenly lost internet connection in her home, which meant she could not watch live on Zoom or YouTube as the online meeting was held. 

“Meeting remotely assumes that all members of the public have access to consistently working technology,” Stockton said. 

During her testimony Monday night, Stockton also criticized statements Mayor Justin Elicker and Board of Education President Yesenia Rivera have made in support of keeping board meetings remote — that is, that holding the meetings online boosts citizen attendance. 

“President Rivera and Mayor Elicker have said that remote meetings have resulted in increased attendance yet no comparative data has been provided to support these claims,” she said. ​“At a 2019 event with city teachers, then mayoral candidate Elicker stated, ​‘The Mayor has a lot of power over this system.’ If elected mayor, he said he would ​‘encourage meaningful parent involvement with the school board so parents don’t have to rely on Facebook live videos posted by parent education activists in order to know what is being said and decided upon at a Board of Ed meeting.’ ”

She also quoted a part of Elicker’s response in this Independent story about Democratic mayoral challenger Shafiq Abdussabur’s call for resuming in-person ed board meetings, in which the mayor spoke about how ​“in-person communication is always helpful and important” and how he has made himself available as mayor for in-person meetups in other contexts. (Fellow Democratic mayoral challenger Tom Goldenberg has also called for the school board to return in-person.) 

“So which is it? Should the public have to rely on videos of meetings or not?” Stockton asked on Monday. ​“Personally I want to attend the public meetings in the city where I live and pay taxes, not have a beer with the mayor in order to engage civically.” 

In the conclusion to her remarks Monday, Stockton shared her concerns about the possible implications of keeping school board meetings remote, including when it comes time to select a new schools superintendent. She warned the exclusion of the public during the process and general meetings ​“will most likely create unnecessary obstacles for our new superintendent.”

“Due to the isolated remote functioning of this Board it is inevitable that there will be mistrust. How can there not be? Members of this Board will not even sit in the same room with engaged members of the public,” Stockton said. ​“Please don’t be surprised if down the line that the new superintendent chosen by you finds some self-facing issues with parents, students, and employees that could’ve been prevented had this board welcomed members of the community you represent into the room where decisions about our children and schools are being made. It’s not too late to change course.”

ESUMS teacher Kirsten Hopes-McFadden also testified Monday regarding remote meetings. She offered another possible option to getting board meetings to return in person. 

First, she paid her respects to Pappas, who she worked with at the start of her teaching career at Clemente School. Pappas also knew Hopes-McFadden’s mother from attending past Board of Ed meetings. 

“She was wonderful. I loved seeing her at every Board meeting and I do regret that in the past couple of years we were not able to see her because the board meetings were remote,” Hopes-McFadden said. 

Hopes-McFadden, who is also an attorney, said she did research on why the board is still allowed to host its full board meetings online rather than in-person. She cited a state law passed that allows public agencies like the Board of Education to operate completely remote or hybrid until April 30, 2022. She also noted that last year Gov. Ned Lamont signed an amended version of the law, House Bill 5269, which which removed the April 30, 2022 ​“sunset date” and that allows public agencies to continue to hold remote-only or hybrid meetings. (Click here to read the write-up referred to by Hopes-McFadden Monday.)

“If you’re upset about this and because the Board of Education is not listening to us, we might need to contact our state legislature and Governor Ned Lamont and have them repeal House Bill 5269,” she said. 

Board of Education member Darnell Goldson said on Monday that he had known Pappas since he was a ​“young tyke running around Newhallville with a runny nose and ripped up sneakers” and even then she was always involved in the schools he said.

Goldson implored his fellow board members to take up the public’s demands for in-person or hybrid meetings. ​“We should have a public-facing meeting,” he said. 

He also shared that 15 minutes into Monday’s meeting, its participants included 22 panelists and 36 attendees. ​“And the reason why the public’s not attending anymore is because they can’t actually sit and talk to each other and organize and discuss amongst themselves as well as us these issues around these Board of Ed issues,” he said. 

Board Secretary Ed Joyner added to Monday’s conversation that we are not in a ​“post-Covid period.” 

Joyner and Supt. Iline Tracey also shared mutual respect for Pappas and described her as an inspiration for their own decades of work in public education in New Haven.