Caraballo Endorses Paca

Marcus Paca Friday picked up the first endorsement of his campaign to unseat Toni Harp in September’s Democratic mayoral primary.

The endorsement comes from Alicia Caraballo, a retired principal of New Haven’s Adult Education program who served on the Board of Education until September 2016. Caraballo lives in Fair Haven and serves on the board of the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.

In a statement released Friday, Caraballo praised Paca for having ​“extensive experience in leadership roles in multiple sectors,” a ​“clear, comprehensive and cost-effective vision” for the city, and ​“listening, communication, motivational and engagement skills New Haven desperately needs in a chief executive.”

Caraballo criticized Harp’s tenure as president of the Board of Education, saying the mayor shouldn’t have filled that role. She said she and other board members were ​“discredited” for raising questions about a lack of accountability in the spending of Teacher Incentive Fund grants and the filling of more than 100 positions.

Following is Caraballo’s full statement:

My name is Alicia Caraballo and I endorse Marcus Paca for Mayor of the City of New Haven.

I love New Haven – the diversity of people, neighborhoods, community organizations and the vibrancy of living in a college town. I have lived in the Hill, Beaver Hills and East Rock and now from my window in Fair Haven I can see the Quinnipiac River.

I grew up many, many years ago on Orchard Street, across the street from Bowen Peters dance studio. I remember roller-skating and going to the movie theater on Davenport Ave. I remember frequent walks to Georgia Boys on Congress Avenue to get my fix of dirty rice with ribs or to Chico’s market to get vianda (Caribbean root vegetables) so mom could prepare my favorite Puerto Rican dish.

Recently political leadership has been on my mind given the movements that are happening in cities and states across the country. As I think about political leadership in New Haven I inevitably focus on the role of our city’s mayor, who I view as our Chief Executive Officer. I believe there is currently a lack of important leadership qualities – chief among them integrity, loyalty to the people represented, sharp communication and interpersonal skills, focus on coalition-building, and most importantly ​‘strong character with both conscience and charisma’ – emanating from New Haven’s City Hall.

My personal experiences frame my views on leadership in New Haven. When I retired in 2014 from New Haven Public Schools, where I’d served as a school social worker, Principal of Hill Central School and Adult Education, and Special Education Supervisor and Career & Technical Education Supervisor over a nearly three-decade career, Mayor Harp asked me to serve on the Board of Education. Although it was not in my plans to enter the political arena, I accepted the request because community involvement is in my DNA. I have served on multiple boards over the years, including Casa Otonal, Neighborhood Music School and Literacy Volunteers. I am currently a member of the Board of Directors of The Community Foundation of Greater New Haven and Read to Grow.

During my tenure as a member of the Board of Education and over the course of 16 months under the leadership of Mayor Harp as President of the Board and the previous Superintendent, New Haven Public Schools faced significant leadership challenges. We had the Teacher Incentive Fund Grant where stipends were generously given out, some in excess of $15,000, yet there was no real accountability. More than 100 new positions were created with no involvement from members of the board. As board members pushed for greater staff accountability and more focus on schools to provide the greatest amount of resources to students, we were accused by City Hall of having hidden agendas, whining, complaining and were generally discredited. There were ongoing efforts to stifle any voices of dissent or questioning of the Mayor/Superintendent’s agenda.

For me, the icing on the cake in terms of dysfunctional leadership was the decision by Mayor Harp to serve as Board of Education President. Board members were summoned to the mayor’s office one by one and asked to support Mayor Harp’s bid to become president of the board. I viewed the mayor-president role as a conflict of interest. As a city resident I wanted my mayor to focus on all city departments to ensure that taxpayers were getting the very best city services. I voted against Mayor Harp becoming president of the board. My vote proved to be fortuitous; the 16 months during which Mayor Harp served as president of the school board were chaotic and plagued by consistent roadblocks to progress.

The leadership problems in the City of New Haven have not been limited to the Board of Education. Mayor Harp consistently demonstrated a reluctance to address leadership deficiencies in the Police Department. She ignored a no confidence vote from the police union against former Police Chief Dean Esserman. She did not take any action until there was community outrage. In a similar act of defiance against reason, Mayor Harp ignored the advice of many counselors and most members of her own leadership team who’d encouraged her not to assume presidency of the school board. I found this last fact especially enlightening because I believe that one of the most important leadership skills is the ability to listen and follow sound advice. Among her own staff, whom she’s charged to supervise, lead, and set an example for, it has been similarly evident that Mayor Harp has provided little supervision or guidance and limited communication.

Based on what I’ve learned in my own leadership career and what I’ve witnessed and experienced from our city’s current chief executive officer, I believe it is clear that New Haven needs a change at the top. I am supporting Mr. Marcus Paca to become our next mayor.

I am not however supporting Marcus simply because he’s a much needed alternative to Toni Harp. I am supporting Marcus because he has extensive experience in leadership roles in multiple sectors, including government. I am supporting Marcus because he has effectively and responsibly managed hundreds of employees and multimillion-dollar budgets. I am supporting Marcus because he has a clear, comprehensive and cost-effective vision about how to move our city forward (see marcuspaca2017.com). I am supporting Marcus because he has the listening, communication, motivational and engagement skills New Haven desperately needs in its chief executive.

I want a leader like Marcus, who not only loves our city, but who also believes in teamwork, values diversity and inclusivity, respects peoples opinions, builds relationships, and offers fresh perspective. I also want a leader like Marcus, who has demonstrated he will seek expert opinions; understand the importance of transparency; stand up for what is right; be comfortable in his own skin; and own up to his mistakes, which we all make.

My experiences as a parent, grandparent, and educator for 26 years have shown me that age does not always guarantee maturity or wisdom. New Haven’s own Board of Education, where our student members: Kimberly Sullivan, Coral Ortiz and Jacob Spell have taught us so much, is just one example of the power of youthful leadership. I support Marcus Paca for Mayor of New Haven because I believe he represents the next generation of energetic, enthusiastic and thoughtful voices we need in politics today.