Goldson Resurfaces As School Board Candidate

The latest candidate to enter this year’s first-ever Board of Education elections sends his daughter to private school — which, he said, is a reason he’s running.

The candidate is Darnell Goldson (pictured), an outspoken and independent-minded former alder from the West Hills neighborhood known for, among other issues, advocating on behalf of public-housing families.

Goldson, 54, graduated from New Haven’s public schools, as did his two sons. But when it came time to enroll his daughter, he decided he needed to send her first to Amistad Aacademy charter school, then St. Aedan’s parochial school, and now private Cheshire Academy. He said he’s running in part ​“so that my daughter doesn’t have to send her daughter to a private school.”

This is the first year New Haven will hold elections for Board of Education seats, thanks to a 2013 charter revision referendum. Until now New Haven’s mayor has appointed all school board members. Now two elected voting members (as well as a non-voting student member) will sit on a hybrid board along with four mayoral appointees. The city has been divided into two Board of Education voting districts for the elections.

Goldson filed papers this week to run for the District 2 seat as a Democrat. That means that, if all four (so far) candidates who have filed succeed in making the ballot, New Haven will have a contested Democratic primary for both new seats on Sept. 16. Goldson would face former Alder Angela Russell (who has declined to respond to requests for comment.) Edward Joyner and Anais Nunez are pursuing the District 1 seat.

In an interview Wednesday, Goldson, who works as public relations director for the South WIndsor-based TicketNetwork, expressed skepticism about having government dollars support charter schools. He left open his take on the performance of Superintendent of Schools Garth Harries, while calling for a shake-up of the system along with increased pay for teachers. Starting city schoolteachers now earning between $43,759 (with no advanced degree) and $52,618 (with PhD) a year, according to schools spokeswoman Abbe Smith. The average salary is between $61,385 (no advanced degree) and $70,365 (with PhD) a year. The highest salaries come in at $83,500 (no advanced degree) and $92,717 (with PhD).

Excerpts of the interview follow:

Why are you running?

I wanted to be involved, I wanted to find a way to be involved where I have more focus. On the Board of Aldermen [I dealt with] everything from trash pickup to a [proposed] rainwater authority. I wanted to get a little more focus. I don’t have as much time as I did before because I work out of town. I thought the Board of Education would be a perfect place. It is the next civil rights fight we’re going to have: providing quality education of all children regardless of income is such an important issue. I want to be a part of it.

How are New Haven’s schools doing?

I’ve got to be honest. If the schools were doing well, we wouldn’t have an elected board of ed. People see the system is not working for them. There’s a lot of room for improvement.

Where?

For a long time the school system didn’t have any competition. It was the only game in town unless you can pay $35,000, $40,000 to go to a private school. They didn’t have to worry about getting compared.

It’s different now. People have more choices. Hopefully we’ll give them even more choices. Let’s face it: People are running away form the school system. I know I am. I don’t think it’s educating our children.

How did you run away?

I put my daughter in private school. She was at St. Aedan’s last year. Before that she was in Amistad Academy. Next year she’s going to Cheshire Academy. My sons went to the public system. I decided I needed to do better for my daughter.

How will you respond to criticism for running for a school board seat when you don’t send your daughter to the public schools?

I grew up in the system. My two sons went through the system. My daughter would be in the system if this system serves its kids well. It doesn’t. I’m not going to sacrifice my daughter’s education because somebody else made some mistakes. I’m here so that my daughter doesn’t have to send her daughter to a private school.

I went to the public school system. Mr. [Edward] Joyner was one of my administrators at Hillhouse. He was the adviser to the student council when I was president. We were the Academics!

I think the teachers really try hard. The administrators want to see positive things. But for some reason it’s not working. The numbers speak for themselves. We’re second to last in achievement scores for our kids in the state.

We have to do better by our children. We can’t afford to lose more generations. Certainly people will have an issue with my last child not being in the public school system. But that’s the reason I’m running. I couldn’t put her in the public school system.

What are your ideas for changing the schools?

I have a set of core beliefs and values that are going to guide decisions I make. All children deserve access to quality educational opportunities regardless of their economic status. Teachers are undervalued and underpaid. How many teachers have our kids longer than we have? We have to value them more and give them more tools to teach our kids. I believe that parents deserve a real voice in educational reform.

Do you support creating more charter schools?

I support increased educational opportunities for our kids. The issue with charters is that they are asking for taxpayer money to compete with the school system. I don’t know how comfortable I feel with that. If you want to compete, compete. Don’t try to replace one public system with another public school system.

My daughter from first grade through sixth grade was in Achievement First’s Amistad Academy; I thought it served her well. But here’s the thing: You can’t compare charter schools to public schools. They get to make choices that public schools don’t get to make: Who gets to go to their schools and how long they get to stay in the schools. Kids were moved out of their schools because they were bringing down the level of [achievement]. Special ed kids, kids who were having problems, were being moved out.

Would you have supported the [defeated] deal to have the Board of Education partially fund the new Elm City Imagine charter school?

I would not have have supported that.

How is Superintendent Garth Harries doing?

I don’t know. I don’t think he’s been in office long enough. I also think that what he does should be shaped by the Board of Education. So if Garth Harries is not accomplishing whatever goals are set, I think it’s the board’s fault.

Certainly he came to a system that wasn’t functioning well. I don’t think he’s doing anything to make it better [or] make it worse.

We need a John Dow [a former schools superintendent from the mid-1980s through early 1990s), somebody who’s going to shake things up and get parents involved, force them to come in with their kids the first day of school. Garth may be constrained by the board; I don’t know. I don’t want to [pre-]judge him.

What about [the current] restorative practices and Youth Stat experiments?

What is the sense of making a kid leave a school for two or three days if they misbehave or have a problem? It doesn’t make sense. It’s a vacation for them. We need to educate them. We need to find ways to keep kids in schools. I absolutely I agree with that. It’s too easy to kick them out for a couple of days. It’s more difficult to figure out how to educate them during their detention.

Would you have supported the [defeated] plan to build a new Strong School on the campus of Southern Connecticut State University?

Putting a school on a college campus — I think that’s a great opportunity. I probably would have voted for it. If we’re going to build new schools, those are the kinds of schools we need to build, [schools] that are innovative [and linked to other resources]. It was a missed opportunity. I hope the board gets to look at that again. It’s just too important.

Previous coverage of the Board of Ed elections:

• Joyner Draws A Crowd For Ed Board Campaign
• Pro-Charter Candidate Overcame Hardships
• Child-Development Pioneer Seeks Ed Board Seat
• Sullivan, Ortiz Win Student Ed Board Seats
• Students Make Last Push For Board Of Ed Seats
• Vote For Me — Or At Least Please Vote
• Student Ed Board Candidates Make Their Case
• Students Launch School-Board Campaigns
• Slow Start To Student Race For Ed Board
• Final Rules Set For Hybrid Ed Board Elections
• Rules Set For ​“Hybrid” Ed Board Elections
• Students May Petition Way To School Board
• Grades, Attendance Still On Table As Factors For Student Board Of Education Hopefuls
• Students: Grades Shouldn’t Matter For Board Seat
• Should Board of Ed’s Student Rep Earn Cs?