Guest-starring in a Truman School classroom, Mayor John DeStefano tried out his school reform ideas on his youngest audience yet.
“Maybe the school year should be a little bit longer, the [school] day should be longer,” the mayor suggested. “It’d be good for you. It’d be great. Don’t you agree?”
“No, no, no,” came the reply from the eighth-graders in Antonio Giaimo’s science class. (Click on the play arrow above to watch.)
DeStefano made the pitch Tuesday, one day before he was due to head to Washington, D.C., to pitch his ideas to an older audience — of lawmakers.
DeStefano showed up at the K‑8 Hill neighborhood school around 11:15 a.m. Tuesday, as students were filing back into school a false fire alarm. As he walked into school, the mayor gently teased the student who had leaned on the fire alarm, unintentionally jarring loose the protective cover. He commented on a student’s slice of pizza — “is that nutritious?” Then he was escorted upstairs by a crew of students wearing bright yellow belts with the words “safety patrol.”
In class, DeStefano took an informal approach. He spoke briefly about the concept of teamwork and opened the floor to questions. The topic quickly turned to his nascent school reform drive, which aims to cut the dropout rate in half and close the achievement gap in five years, and prepare students to succeed in college. The mayor and superintendent aim to do that in part by grading schools into three tiers and managing them differently. Failing schools will be closed and reopened them under new rules, with new management.
Truman was not among the first batch of seven schools chosen to pilot the reforms this fall. But the school’s scores make it a prime candidate for being a so-called “turnaround school,” a low-performing school chosen to be reconstituted, perhaps as a charter. When the district graded the schools in March, Truman fell near the bottom of the district, close to Brennan-Rogers, which will be reconstituted next fall.
Brennan-Rogers and Urban Youth Middle School are the district’s two “turnaround” schools that will be closed and then reopened in the fall under new rules. When they reopen, both will have longer school days, a longer school year, as well as more on-site services for struggling kids.
DeStefano asked the Truman School students how they’d improve their school. When they shyly declined to answer, he said he’d have to offer his own solutions — such as a longer school day.
“You can do it,” he urged the class. “Don’t tell me you don’t have the energy.”
DeStefano needled the students, eliciting grins and groans, about the longer school day throughout his 35 minutes in class.
DeStefano said the district will look at why the kids are doing well in some of the schools, and not in others. To address that question, it will change the rules and change the adults in some low-performing schools — “since we can’t change the kids,” he said.
“Of course, you know what kind of rules I want to change,” he said, referring to the longer school day.
“Don’t you love me?” he said with a smile.
“No,” replied one student, “not on that.”
Because Truman wasn’t chosen as a pilot school, students are safe from such a major change, at least through the 2010-11 school year. In November, the district will grade all the district’s 47 schools, and a few more will be chosen as turnarounds for 2011-12. Teachers at turnaround schools all have to reapply if they’d like to continue working there, but students would remain in the school.
Before heading out, the mayor prodded them one last time on his unpopular proposal.
“Thanks, guys. I’ll be able to come back here at 8 o’clock at night next year, and you’ll still be here,” he said.
Young Blood
The mayor’s appearance Tuesday was part of a national celebrity teaching week run by Teach For America (TFA). TFA recruits recent college graduates to commit to spending two years in urban and rural public schools. For the past four years, New Haven Public Schools has contracted with TFA to lure young energy into the classroom.
TFA recruited 12 new teachers to work in New Haven Public School classrooms this school year. Nine more TFA teachers returned to teach for a second year, and seven more TFA alumni continue to teach in NHPS schools.
TFA invited DeStefano to teach this week to promote the program. DeStefano said he chose to visit Truman because he hadn’t been there in a couple of years. In the hallways, he shook students’ hands, asked their names, and what they plan to do when they grow up. He drilled home the importance of setting goals and sticking with them.
“TFA is an important partner for us,” because recruiting young, talented teachers is an integral part of the school reform effort, he said. Another part of the reform drive is to better evaluate — and weed out — poor-performing teachers. That will be accomplished in part through a new teacher evaluation, due to be finalized Thursday. Significantly, student performance will be a part of that teacher evaluation.
Bigger Audience
On Wednesday, DeStefano plans to head to the nation’s capitol to push for other aspects of the reform drive. He’ll be meeting with U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, and U.S. Sens Joe Lieberman and Chris Dodd, he said.
DeStefano said he and his top staff will meet with national American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and New Haven AFT president Dave Cicarella about New Haven’s pending applications for federal Investing in Innovation (i3) grants.
New Haven is applying for two i3 grants. It’s seeking up to $5 million to build a stronger data system to share information between nonprofits and schools, according to school reform czar Garth Harries. The grant would boost New Haven’s BOOST program.
The city’s also seeking a larger i3 grant, of up to $30 million, to provide more support for teachers, Harries said.
DeStefano said he also aims to talk about federal TIGER grants, an anti-violence program, public health, and money to support the city’s street outreach workers.
“It’s my Spring round of lobbying,” the mayor said.