Birks Survives Another Day In New Haven

Superintendent Carol Birks’s supporters turned out to defend the embattled schools chief at a lively Board of Education meeting that ended with Birks still at the helm of the city’s public school system.

That was the outcome of Monday’s regular biweekly Board of Education meeting in the cafetorium of the Celentano School at 400 Canner St.

Dozens of parents and teachers filled the room to make their voices heard in the citywide debate over the school chief’s 15-month tenure, which began with a hotly contested search process and has drawn intense scrutiny as of late over proposed involuntary teacher transfers and a persistent yawning budget deficit.

The Board of Ed asked its lawyer at its last meeting to begin negotiating the terms of Birks’s exit from the district. There was word that Monday night’s meeting could end with the board either firing her or reaching terms on her departure.

Then meeting began with an hour and a half of public testimony that leaned mostly, though by no means entirely, in favor of Birks. Though around nine people spoke out in opposition to the superintendent, the roughly 14 who called on her to stay far surpassed the two lone voices of support that Birks received during last month’s Board of Ed meeting.

That was a contrast to recent meetings where parents and teachers showed up en masse and spent hours calling for her departure.

Wearing T‑shirts and pins and holding signs that read ​“Politics First? Or Kids 1st? Without Sacrificing Dr. Birks,” the superintendent’s supporters said that Birks has simply not had enough time to realize her vision for the school system, particularly considering the multi-million dollar deficit she inherited when she stepped into the position in March 2018.

Unless if she has done something thoroughly egregious as yet kept hidden from the public, they argued, she should be allowed to finish her three-year contract, and the board should not waste any more public dollars trying to buy her out early. Mayor Toni Harp argued earlier in the day, her Monday morning appearance on WNHH’s ​“Dateline New Haven,” that the board should hold off for now on efforts to push out Birks.

“Dr. Birks is qualified,” said Dottie Green. ​“She is intelligent. She’s passionate about our children. Whether you like her or not is not the issue. The issue is, if you give her the support, the backing that she needs, the job can be done.”

Birks’s critics, on the other hand, accused her of running a hierarchical operation that puts too much power and too many resources in the hands of top administrators and consultants and pays little heed to the needs of teachers, parents, and students. They argued that her thwarted attempt to involuntarily transfer 53 teachers in order to save money is indicative of a top-down approach that foments distrust and confusion to the detriment of stability and education.

“I’m concerned that you’re not doing your job and I’m concerned that you’re maybe not the right person for the job,” said Daniel Juarez.

The board’s spent a half-hour executive session discussing Birks’s performance review. Afterwards, Board of Education President Darnell Goldson said that the board did not act on any issues talked about during the private portion of the meeting. He declined to comment on whether or not the board’s lawyer is still negotiating Birks’s exit terms. He did say that he believes that 15 months is ​“more than enough time” to judge the effectiveness of a superintendent.

“I Stand Today Because I’m Appalled”

Robin Miller Godwin, a former president of New Haven’s chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority and executive office manager at the Housing Authority of New Haven, used a word that many of Birks’s supporters dropped throughout the night as they advocated for Birks’s retention: ​“appalled.”

“As a member of the New Haven community I am saddened,” she said, ​“with every thing that should have been deliberated behind closed doors or in committee meetings has taken place in the media.”

“I stand today because I’m appalled,” she continued. ​“To squander the taxpayer dollars needs to be a consideration of this board.”

Krystal Augustine, the mother of two public-school students, said the board should be focusing on providing Birks with her contractually-mandated performance evaluation, and not with rushing her out the door.

“We have failed not only her but our district and our dollars,” she said. ​“Let’s wake up. If you’re so hurried and talking about her in such a way from the clothes that she wears to the shoes on her feet, than you’ve got a problem.”

Green, a former teacher and principal, pointed out that Birks came to a district already mired in a multi-million dollar deficit. She needs more than 15 months to mitigate it, she said.

Furthermore, she argued that Birks was well within her authority as superintendent to order the transfer of teachers within the district. ​“It is no reason to fire a superintendent because some teachers don’t want to leave their comfort zone,” she said.

And Hazel Pappas, sharing her testimony from her seat in the second-row of the audience, took a more realpolitik approach to Birks’s remaining time at the head of the district.

“She should stay here until her contract is completely gone,” she said. ​“We’re gonna have to pay her anyway.” Might as well let her finish her term and take advantage of the dollars invested in the contract, rather than push her out early, buy out her contract, and pay for a new interim superintendent to come in at the same time.

“That Work Isn’t Being Done”

Birks’s critics took the microphone Monday night to declare enough is enough. Not just with the superintendent, but with a school system they argued has let themselves, their parents, and their teachers down.

“I don’t care about hiring, dismissing, separating, or firing,” Sonya-Marie Atkinson said. ​“I care about getting a plan in place to have a sufficient number of qualified, certified teachers with supplies in clean functioning buildings. If that means eliminating 12 administrators to save $2 million, that’s less damage to children than removing teachers.”

“Everyone has to make sacrifices,” she continued. ​“But it starts farthest from the class room.”

Juarez, the father of two public school students and a member of a school reform committee, said he is dismayed by how Birks has not convened one meeting of that committee since she took office.

“That work isn’t being done. It’s been 15 months, and we haven’t met once.”

Kirsten Hopes-McFadden, an 8th grade history teacher at Engineering and Science University Magnet School (ESUMS), criticized the Birks administration and her supporters on the board as engaging in histrionic fights, ​“unholy alliances,” and political grandstanding when they should be crafting better strategies for educating New Haven’s public school students.

“When schools are spoken about in a corporate, top-down model,” she said, ​“then it’s not about the kids.”

Even though the superintendent has the right to transfer teachers, she said, that move should have taken place in collaboration with the affected instructors, and with an emphasis put on voluntary rather than involuntary transfers.

“Our contract is one off collaboration,” she said about the teachers union contract with the school system.

“A Lot Of Great Things Are Happening”

When Birks finally had a chance to speak from the podium nearly two hours into the meeting, she defended her record to date and said she has no intention of stepping down from her post in New Haven anytime soon.

This year, she said, 1,244 students graduated from NHPS. She said her administration has focused on ​“top management development” in order to build leadership capacity, on youth and family empowerment through town hall meetings and budget forums and planning and management gatherings designed to engage students and parents, and on ​“culture and climate” by adding social and emotional learning support to schools and by developing ​“You Are The Light” program that celebrates student academic accomplishments.

On her first day as superintendent, she said, she found out the system had a $6.7 million deficit with a projected $20 million deficit for the subsequent year. ​“We worked tirelessly to address that budget deficit,” she said.

The fiscal year that ended June 30 had a schools deficit of $5.8 million, she said, and the fiscal year that began July 1 now has a projected deficit of $13 million, down from nearly $30 million.

“A lot of great things are happening in the New Haven Public Schools,” she said.

“I have devoted my life and my career to the betterment of children in this community and in many urban communities,” she added, ​“and I am committed to New Haven, and I want to continue the work that I’ve already begun.”