Christopher Peak Photo
Candidate Jamell Cotto outside the Greek Olive.
A challenger has entered the race for a Board of Education seat, an election that could serve as a referendum on where the school district is headed after the mayor’s controversial chairmanship.
Edward Joyner, Jr., 70, a semiretired education consultant finishing a truncated, two-year term, is up for reelection to a full term. Jamell Cotto, 40, parent of two students at Career High School and director of the Centro San Jose Family Center in Fair Haven, has filed papers to run against Joyner in a Democratic Party primary.
The race has become a proxy battle for opposition to the way Mayor Toni Harp chaired the Board of Education after it transitioned two years ago from a slate of mayoral appointees to a “hybrid” board with two elected members. Harp argued that she served a one-year tenure as board president to advance the board’s work on issues like boosting students’ reading abilities. Others called it a power grab.
The split in the board’s opinions played out in several high-profile disputes last year, as elected members repeatedly overruled the mayor’s decisions: by allowing Alicia Caraballo to stay on the school board after Harp booted her (at least, until an official legal opinion arrived); by ousting Garth Harries, the former superintendent Harp had championed; by downsizing Hillhouse’s administrative team from multiple principals to one; and by denying an application from an all-boys charter school Harp had endorsed. Ed Joyner often led the charge against Harp and her policies.
In January, the board members elected new leaders, picking Joyner to serve as vice-president.
Ed Joyner, at a recent board meeting.
Joyner, an avid Harp supporter in her 2013 mayoral campaign, has already switched allegiances, donating this time to her Democratic Party challenger Marcus Paca. He has clashed openly with her at board meetings. Of Harp, Joyner commented, “The mayor is not the mayor of the board. And I thought it was a major error when Mayor Harp decided to be president,” he said, calling it an “unprecedented” conflict of interest.
Cotto, on the other hand, said he hopes Harp will endorse him in the race. He praised her focus on the Elm City’s young people, particularly through a data-sharing and strategizing program called Youth Stat aimed at helping students in trouble turn around rather than get suspended and incarcerated. (He participates in the the program.) “What mayor runs on youth?” Cotto asked, over cups of coffee at the Greek Olive on Monday morning. “This is not going to make her popular. That’s why youth are so disconnected and disengaged.”
The divide between the candidates was perhaps clearest when the Independent asked both for their opinion on how the board should have handled Hillhouse High School’s split into several independent academies — a policy it reversed last year.
Joyner said paring the high school’s leadership from three principals back down to one principal was among his proudest accomplishments as a school board member. Mayor Harp “said things were fine; parents and kids said no, they’re not. And she turned a deaf ear to that,” Joyner said. “I think it was a major strategic error to take the oldest high school in the state and turn it into a strip mall, because that’s what I think was done. It’s an example of mismanagement to have four captains on one ship.” Harp defended the experiment as offering more focused, smaller, specialized learning environments for students.
Cotto said he supported Harp’s strategy at Hillhouse. “The more support that our kids have, the better,” he argued. “Does it make sense to have that many principals at a school? I’d say yes, if there’s a need.” Cotto said he was unaware that students had complained. He added that if he were on the board at the time, he would have sat down to have a dialogue with students about their concerns.
Aside from being so divided on City Hall, the two candidates laid out similar visions for other major overhauls that the board needs to make: Both called for an end to the political posturing that’s strangled the board’s work and for transparency in budgeting. Both said they want to see New Haven hire a new superintendent who can carry out their vision.
Cotto said his priorities include creating more opportunities to listen to teachers, support staff and parents at district-wide forums; implementing “restorative justice” practices by lessening the use of expulsions and suspensions and adding socio-emotional learning to the curriculum; and finally, partnering with neighborhood centers and other nonprofits to assist in boosting kids’ reading and math scores.
A former foster youth himself, Cotto said he recognizes that “education is the foundation of any community, and I think in New Haven we’ve kind of lost sight of that.” He said he believes he can help right the district’s direction by strengthening the bonds with parents, school staffers and community members. He pointed to his work with Catholic Charities, where he’s started a basketball team and a lifeguard certification and job placement program.
At the top of Joyner’s list are setting out plans for individual school to achieve gains in test scores, grades and attendance that board members will review quarterly, as well as training teachers in the education field’s emerging best practices with more professional development days.
As for Joyner’s qualifications, he said in a phone interview that he regularly travels to each of the district’s schools, so he’s familiar with the needs of faculty and students. And his work as a consultant has kept him up to date on what other school systems (even internationally) are doing to better their instruction.
Before the campaigns ramp up, Cotto asked the Independent to transmit a statement directly to Joyner: “I thank Dr. Joyner for all his hard work and accomplishments, the positive changes he’s made. But I’d ask him to partner with me right now, by passing the baton to new leadership to implement new ideas and new innovations.”
Not so fast, Joyner retorted.
“I have no idea about how Mr. Cotto feels about education, about charter schools, how he feels about three principals in one building,” Joyner said. “It’s really absurd he would [ask] that. Typically, when someone cares about something, they don’t just come to it late. He’s coming to this late, and I see that for what it is.” Asked to expand on what he meant, Joyner added, “If he’s supporting somebody my age for mayor and then labeling me as ‘old blood,’ I know too much about logic and rhetoric for that one.”
Both told the Independent that they’re looking forward to meeting at a public debate.