Brennan-Rogers Teachers: ​“Show Me The Money!”

When Brennan-Rogers sixth-grade teacher Charlene Neal-Palmer graduated from the AFL-CIO Labor Leadership Academy and saw U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, she walked right up to him. Before she could even give him her name, she said, ​“Brennan-Rogers needs money.”

She clarified quickly: ​“The whole NHPS needs money.”

Neal-Palmer recounted that moment at a Monday morning rally outside the Wilmot Road elementary school where some 30 educators and local labor allies called on the state to increase school funding. It was an overcast, chilly morning, an hour before students would trickle into the building from their school buses. 

The Brennan-Rogers demonstration was one of three Monday morning rallies outside New Haven schools: the other two were held at Metropolitan Business Academy and Fair Haven School. Read about the latter, which also featured city officials in attendance, and more about why educators are protesting here. Similar public education-funding demonstrations occurred across the state.

The message from Brennan-Rogers educators was clear — there has not been a more urgent time for increased funding, with Monday also being the deadline for school systems across the country to contractually obligate funds from the third round of federal pandemic school aid (known as ESSER III).

According to the New Haven Federation of Teachers (NHFT), if that money isn’t obligated, New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) is at risk of losing some of its $127 million due to the end of ESSER funds, money that was spent for expanded student programming and staff support during the pandemic. For Brennan-Rogers students, that meant activities like ​“academically based” weekend field trips and access to technological services.

The rallies were organized by labor coalition Connecticut for All. They kickstart a campaign to urge New Haven’s Board of Education to adopt a resolution called ​“Fund Our Schools,” which calls for the Board of Ed to support federal passage of the ​“Keep Our Promise to America’s Children and Teachers Act” (PACT). The passage of PACT would expand funding for Title I and Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), both of which provide financial aid to schools with high percentages of students from low-income families. 

As pandemic relief funds through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) run out, the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools coalition intends to plan more local actions concurrently with Connecticut for All, including one in Hartford.

“With these funds set to expire, the future feels uncertain,” NHFT Vice President Jenny Graves said. ​“Our schools are still in crisis.”

“We believe that it shouldn’t take a pandemic to ensure that the federal government invests more in our schools and communities,” Neal-Palmer said, referring to ESSER funds. ​“Our students need the funding. More importantly, they need to have access to all the things that other children have.”

Behind Neal-Palmer, fellow educators stood on the steps to the front entrance of the school. Many held signs reading: ​“FUND OUR SCHOOLS,” ​“EVERY CHILD DESERVES FULLY STAFFED SCHOOLS,” and ​“NEW HAVEN SCHOOLS THRIVE WITH FULL-TIME LIBRARIANS,” among others. Standing beside the educators stood representatives from the Connecticut State University American Association of University Professors, Connecticut for All, and the NHFT. West Hills Alder Honda Smith also joined the teachers towards the end of the rally.

The group advocated for increased wages, better contracts for substitute teachers and cafeteria workers, and for the district to stop privatizing work for custodians. The issue of staffing, though, came up at numerous points during the rally as not only a problem pervasive in NHPS, but especially prevalent at Brennan-Rogers. In 2023, NHPS administrators recommended that seventh and eighth grade students at the school transfer to other city public schools due to vacancies in core teaching positions.

Brennan-Rogers Principal Kimberly Daniley specified on Monday the school’s needs in staffing — identifying science educators, behavioral interventionists, and especially substitute teachers to aid teachers when they need breaks. Daniley also noted that increased partnerships with community organizations would help, citing Common Ground, the Boy Scouts, and Clifford Beers as potential groups she’d welcome to the school.

She emphasized that the school still appreciates the support the district has shown them. In August, the Board of Education allocated $170,185.57 to repair the school’s playground.

Alongside staff shortages, student enrollment proves to be an ongoing issue at Brennan-Rogers. According to first grade teacher Janita Frost, the school currently has one class per grade. Frost has been teaching at Brennan-Rogers for over 10 years and has seen the staff and student population dwindle. Currently, Frost is teaching 23 first graders, just four students shy of the 27 maximum. In previous years, Frost remembered teaching class sizes as low as sixteen, which she noted was still not ideal but definitely ​“manageable.”

“We deal with a lot of kids who deal with trauma. Some kids haven’t slept much the night before. So some of the day is spent taking care of those kids,” Frost said. ​“We have to be parents, teachers, therapists.”

Without the ESSER funds, Frost said that it will be like ​“swimming up a river upstream with our students against the current.”

Connecticut for All Director Norma Martinez-HoSang placed the blame of a suffering state budget for education on the ​“billionaires and corporations that don’t pay their fair share of taxes.” Martinez-HoSang pointed to Connecticut’s large rainy day fund, which currently sits at $4.1 billion and she thinks could be used to support public education.

“If our leaders have the courage to tax the very, very wealthy who are making money while our communities are suffering, while our students are suffering,” Martinez-HoSang said. ​“And we are done.”

With NHPS’ 2024 – 25 budget deficit, the district has faced pressure from the city and the Board of Alders to consolidate a number of schools within the district. Twelve of these schools have ​“problematic” systems, reaching an ​“end to a useful life” and requiring ​“major capital investments to repair or replace building infrastructure,” according to a report conducted by Svigals and Partners in January. The report identified a surplus of 3,300 seats at the K‑8 level, and schools like Brennan-Rogers had the lowest enrollment in the district last year. This year, the school has 210 students, with 40 staff to oversee them.

“There has been nothing said to me,” Daniley said, in response to concerns about the school’s potential consolidation. ​“We’re moving forward and hope that we will continue to have a great future.”

The rally ended with the instructors marching inside the school building, donned with their signs and morning coffee. In a line following a TikTok trend, the teachers crouched over and held their hands up, rubbing their fingers together as if holding imaginary dollar bills.

“Show me the money!” they shouted.