Melissa Bailey Photo
Harp and Harries leave her office at 5 p.m.
In a matter of hours, the new schools superintendent’s fate turned from imperiled to “looking very good,” as he won over a skeptical mayor.
The superintendent, Garth Harries, Friday morning saw his job prospects shaken by a surprise announcement by Mayor Toni Harp: Harp, who took office on Jan. 1, told news reporters that she would not support renewing Harries’ contract until he gets his budget house in order.
The Board of Education is scheduled to vote by March 1 on whether to renew Harries’ one-year contract, which began in July. Speaking just after an 11 a.m. Friday press conference, Harp declared she could not support renewing his contract in March because of concerns with the schools budget.
Her off-the-cuff remarks sent shock waves through the city, casting doubt not only over the future of Harries’ career but over the future of the school change initiative he has designed and led for the past four years.
By 5 p.m., his future had been resuscitated.
“It’s looking very good for him,” Harp said of Harries’ prospects for renewal. “I enjoy working with him.”
“And I enjoy working with her,” Harries replied.
She did not commit, but hinted that she would likely support granting Harries a new, three-year contract in March.
The reversal took place after a meeting at City Hall Friday afternoon. Harries showed up there at 4 p.m. for a regularly scheduled meeting with Harp. They talked for an hour, mostly about the budget. The pair emerged at 5 p.m., smiling.
Harp announced a change of heart: She said she would not try to block Harries’ renewal in March — indeed, she acknowledged that she may not even be able to do that. The March 1 deadline is encoded in his contract, and Harp has just one vote on the eight-person school board. Her chances of blocking his renewal are slim, and she cannot legally push the vote back to May, as she had initially suggested. She said she would abide by the board’s plan to evaluate Harries, then take a vote in March.
“The board has a process,” she said. “I’m not going to interfere.”
Harp explained her change of tune: She said she previously had become very concerned after reading an audit of last fiscal year’s budget, which showed the school board carrying up a $9 million debt for food services and daycare costs. She said she was concerned that that $9 million hole would carry over into this year’s budget.
Harp said she later learned more about that $9 million hole. It represents past debts for funds that are not part of the operating budget, she said. And she learned that “there was a plan to address it, and I wasn’t aware of that plan.”
As of early December, the school district’s budget deficit stood at $3.5 million. Harries said he shares Harp’s concern about the budget and has been whittling away at that number since then.
“He assured me that he will use everything in his power” to close the gap, Harp said. “I’m convinced that we will end the year in the black” for the schools budget.
A previous version of this story follows.
Paul Bass Photo
Mayor Toni Harp sent a signal to all her department heads Friday by saying she won’t support the reappointment of her schools superintendent until he gets his budget house in order.
The Board of Education is scheduled to vote by March 1 on whether to renew the contract of the superintendent, Garth Harries. He was appointed to a one-year contract last July; the contract, at Harries’ request, called for a renewal decision by March 1.
That’s too early, Harp (pictured) said Friday.
Speaking to reporters outside an unrelated City Hall press conference, Harp said she will not support renewing his contract then because the department has run perpetual deficits.
“I haven’t made a decision about Garth Harries,” Harp said. “Maybe by May.”
Reached Friday, school board President Carlos Torre said the board cannot simply delay the vote on Harries’ contract renewal. At Harries’ request, the board set a March 1, 2014 deadline to vote on whether to renew Harries’ contract.
The board can’t change that date “all of a sudden,” Torre said. “It is in his contract. If there are any changes, it would have to be a mutual negotiation.”
Melissa Bailey File Photo
Harp and Harries at the school board.
The contract also set in place a process for evaluating Harries, beginning in December. The evaluation involves interviewing all sorts of people who interact with the schools, including parents, administrators and teachers. Torre said it would be inappropriate for him to take a stance on whether the board should renew Harries’ contract before that evaluation is complete.
Torre said he spoke with Harp around midday Friday and told him that Harries is not to blame for the district’s budget woes.
“I told the mayor [Harries] inherited what happened,” Torre said. “He has little if anything to do with what’s going on with the financial stuff.”
Reached Thursday, teachers union President Dave Cicarella said he supports keeping Harries as superintendent. He said the city just completed a national search that was “as thorough as you can get.” He said Harries is the architect of the city’s nationally watched school change initiative.
“We remain at the center of national attention,” Cicarella said. “Everyone is still talking about replicating what we do. If that’s not reason to keep him, I don’t see what is.”
Harp’s stated reason for not renewing Harries’ contract on March 1: He has yet to prove he can close deficits. She cited specifically a projected $4 million deficit in the school-meals budget. She said as a state legislator in Hartford, she watched year after year as other cities reported signing up more low-income students to qualify for federal meal reimbursements. New Haven fails to sign up as many, therefore failing to receiving needed federal reimbursements, she said.
Harp called her comments a wake-up call for all her department heads as the administration prepares its first proposed budget, due in March.
“I want to make sure he can balance a budget,” Harp said. “I have sat through two [Board of Education] meetings. I’ve never once seen them bring a spending report” or audit.
“He’s got to show me that he can live within that budget,” she continued. “I don’t want to say I’m going to support him, and we’ve got a $9 million deficit.” (At the latest count, the school board reported having a $3.5 million deficit for this school year.)
“I’m meeting with Mr. Harries today. I will get to the bottom of it. I’m saying that to all my department heads. We can’t afford to have another bond rating downgrade. Not on my watch,” she said.
“All these department heads have got to know they’ve got to balance their budget,” Harp said.
Harp said her stance has “nothing to do with the letter” that a black clergy association allied with the Rev. Boise Kimber released Thursday blasting Harries as unqualified for the job. Te group released that letter after a private meeting with Harries. Meanwhile, another prominent African-American preacher, the Rev. Eldren Morrison of Varick AME Zion Church, came out Thursday in support of Harries. Those positions reflect a possible changing power dynamic in New Haven: In the DeStefano administration years, Kimber was considered the preeminent black powerbroker. That began changing two years ago when a labor-backed candidate knocked his candidate out of power in an aldermanic race; and continued in negotiations with a charter organization over the sale of a Newhallville school building. (Read about that here.) Rev. Morrison, on the other hand, has the backing of charter school advocates; his church, which sometimes has three overflow seatings on a single Sunday of services, has become a must-visit for politicians like Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. The church also hosted a major mayoral campaign debate.
Appointments, Budget In Progress
Mendi Blue, currently serving as acting labor relations director, would move to a new position running a grants office if the Board of Alders says OK.
Mayor Harp has submitted a request to the Board of Alders to create some new positions in her administration — including a new grants office (read about that here); a new minority business chief; a new director of legislative relations, Rebecca Bombero (who’s currently serving as acting parks chief) to work on federal government dealings while also overseeing a Board of Alders liaison (Michael Harries), a state legislative liaison (Phyllis Silverman). She also intends to fill a vacant position, labor relations director; she said the city every day needs someone to deal with union issues that arise that are separate from contract negotiations (which an outside lawyer, Floyd Dugas, handles for the city).
All those positions will be paid for through approved money in the budget that the administration is not currently spending, Harp said.
Harp plans to meet next week with a childhood education specialist from Georgia whom she wants to lure to town as the new community services administration, the top City Hall social services job. She met Wednesday in her office with a a candidate from D.C. for another open top spot, chief administrative officer.
Harp’s comments Friday came after a press conference formally announcing the appointment of Migdalia Castro (pictured) as the new head of elderly services for the city. (Read about that here.) Castro vowed to help seniors go on more trips, find more activities at their centers with the help of local agencies, possibly get food (in an era of cuts in federal food stamps) from new pantries opened in their neighborhoods. She also spoke of working with the housing authority, Bella Vista in Fair Haven Heights, and Casa Otonal in the Hill to bring more services to seniors in their complexes to supplement the activities at the city’s last remaining centers, in Fair Haven, Morris Cove, and Dixwell. Castro’s boss, Acting Community Services Administrator Ron Manning, spoke of Castro’s long history as a community organizer in her neighborhood, among the elderly, among the power, and at schools. She said those skills will serve her well in her new job.