Melissa Bailey Photo
Mayor Toni Harp pledged to be a conduit between charter advocates and New Haven’s public school district, as she takes a seat on not just New Haven’s school board, but on the board of one of the city’s charter schools.
Harp (pictured) has accepted an invitation to join the board of directors of the charter that oversees Amistad Academy, the flagship school in the Achievement First (AF) network of charter schools.
The 16-person board oversees the state-sanctioned charter that governs Amistad Academy Elementary, Amistad Academy Middle, and part of Amistad High. (In a complicated organizational setup, Amistad High is governed by three charters, each corresponding to one feeder middle school.) The schools accept public school kids from New Haven via lottery; they are operated by an independent, not-for-profit agency through state permission and state funding.
Harp replaces former Mayor John DeStefano, who joined the Amistad board in a new chapter of collaboration that followed years of bitter fighting between the public school district and Achievement First. (As of July 2012, state law requires charter schools to include a designee of the local school board on the governance board of the charter school. DeStefano and Harp fill that requirement because in New Haven, the mayor sits on the school board.)
Harp comes to the post with a record of supporting charter schools. Harp has praised Dacia Toll and Stefan Pryor —who 15 years ago founded Amistad Academy — for defying the popularly held notion that poor and black kids could not be educated. As state senator, Harp was instrumental in passing legislation to enable Achievement First to open Elm City College Prep in 2004 under a second charter. Harp later helped the school expand the maximum student enrollment, which is controlled by the state.
News of Harp’s appointment drew applause at the charter management organization’s board meeting last week. She will begin her duties at the board’s next meeting on March 26, according to board Chair Melinda Hamilton.
Harp, who took office on Jan. 1, attended her second New Haven school district board meeting Monday at Hill Regional Career High School. She remained an active participant: At one point, she said she is “troubled” by the school board’s practice of holding “committee” meetings with only one board member.
Harp said she plans to regularly attend both the Amistad and the district school board meetings.
Harp said her role on the Amistad board will be to “learn,” “observe” — and serve as a conduit between the two boards.
“If there’s anything I can bring back” from AF to the public school district, she pledged to “bring it back.” And “vice versa.”
She was asked if she supports Achievement First’s expansion in New Haven. The organization last week unveiled a plan to hire a high-powered design firm to redesign its K‑8 school model. AF plans to apply for state permission to open two futuristic schools in 2015 in New Haven or Bridgeport, according to AF CEO Dacia Toll.
Harp said she has committed to support the creation of one new charter school, Booker T. Washington, which Rev. Eldren Morrison, pastor of Varick Memorial AME Zion Church, is seeking state permission to open this fall.
She declined to comment on AF’s potential expansion in New Haven; she said she has not seen any proposals for any new AF schools.
“I’ll learn about it when I get on that board,” she said.