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Larry Conaway: What about Yale’s playing fields?
It may be too late to change his vote, but maybe not too late to start a conversation.
So said Board of Education member Larry Conaway.
In an email to his colleagues on the board, Conaway said he now “regrets” voting against a resolution asking the mayor to reconsider using Career High School as a shelter for homeless people with Covid-19.
He now “wholeheartedly agrees” with “black and brown” New Haveners concerned about the concentration of treatment facilities in neighborhoods like the Hill. He’d like to see a conversation take place about how Yale and other campuses can make sports fields and other facilities available for Covid-19 testing, treatment and housing sites.
Following is the text of Conaway’s email:
To: New Haven Board of Education
From: Larry Conaway
Date: March 27, 2020
Re: Reconsideration of my vote on Monday, March 23, 2020 regarding the use of Career High School
At our March 23rd meeting I voted against Darnell Goldson’s resolution asking Mayor Elicker to reconsider his decision to use Career High School to house homeless people who contracted the COVID-19 virus. Though I understand procedurally I cannot change my vote, I feel an ethical obligation to say that I made a mistake in not supporting Darnell’s resolution.
At the time of my vote, I thought a larger discussion would ensue between Board members about this extremely important and sensitive matter. This larger discussion, I thought, would include dialogue about the use of facilities associated with Yale University, Gateway Community College, and Southern Connecticut State University for testing, treatment and certainly housing for those who contracted the COVID-19 virus.
Where Yale is concerned, I thought that we might even encourage the Mayor to engage in talks with Yale that would encourage them to allow for the use of their sports fields and other open spaces as tented temporary hospitals or COVID-19 testing or treatment sites. I was wrong; that larger discussion never ensued, and I was left holding the bag for a vote that I realize I should not have made.
I wholeheartedly agree with a growing number of black and brown New Haven residents who have articulated concerns about the already high number of treatment facilities in their neighborhood (and in the Hill in particular). Equally important, as a parent of three New Haven Public School alumnae, I am worried about the safety of the building once students return to it; and students will be returning to that building at some point.
Make no mistake about: I regret voting the way I did at the last board meeting. However, I am in favor of having a broader discussion regarding the sharing of resources as we wage this critical battle against the Covid-19 pandemic.