Maya McFadden Photo
LeQuire (right) and students at Tuesday's "goodbye picnic."
Hillhouse rising senior David Coardes discovered his love for painting thanks to high school art teacher Rebecca LeQuire.
On a sunny afternoon at Lighthouse Point, he gathered with a handful of classmates to say goodbye to LeQuire — not because Coardes is graduating, but because LeQuire is leaving the district after what she says have been years of complaints insufficiently addressed by central office.
LeQuire, a Cross alumna and Hillhouse educator for the past three years, gathered with four of her art students for an end-of-school-year celebratory picnic at Lighthouse Point Park Tuesday afternoon, the day after the last day of the school year.
The group reminisced on the strides they’ve made in the arts all over the city in recent years. The students also got a chance to unwind and explore the Morris Cove beach, which some had never been to before, for four hours.
LeQuire had told those students a few days before the end of the school year that she planned to resign from her Hillhouse art teacher position. She will next head back to work for the local charter school Achievement First Amistad High School, where she had worked for 10 years before heading to Hillhouse. In her new job, starting July 1, she’ll work at Amistad as an art teacher and secondary school art content lead and curriculum builder.
While at Hillhouse, LeQuire established partnerships with small business owners, community leaders, and city officials to bring more art to the city and more creative opportunities for her students.
Some projects completed by LeQuire and local high schoolers have included painting Coogan Pavilion, The Shack, East Rock Park picnic tables, and at Lighthouse Point Park. Last year, the city’s Youth and Rec Department hired students through Youth @ Work to join LeQuire in traveling around the city and cleaning up graffiti tags. This summer she plans to work with students on a mural at a Whalley Avenue barbershop.
All the while, LeQuire told the Independent on Tuesday, she’s struggled to get the city’s public school district to provide her with necessary classroom materials, support, and respect.
She said she rarely gets answers to emails and calls when she speaks out about concerns at Hillhouse. And when she does get answers, she’s not satisfied with those responses.
Her concerns include problems with the district’s newly installed water bottle fillers with expired filters, classrooms and hallways not being cleaned consistently, unsanitary staff bathrooms, and a lack of accountability from central office staffers for staff who are disciplined.
“They don’t do regular maintenance but are blaming the kids for everything falling apart,” she said. “The kids aren’t the problem. It’s the grown adults.”
LeQuire passed along several recent email exchanges between herself and school district administrators where she said the responses were unsatisfactory.
For example, in a May 30 email sent by LeQuire to several school and community leaders with the subject line “Hillhouse plea for help,” LeQuire described concerns with building safety, unmaintained facilities, and staff disciplinary action processes. She received a response back that same day by NHPS Assistant Superintendent Kristina DeNegre. DeNegre said she would work with the school’s principal and chief of security to address LeQuire’s concerns. DeNegre’s respond also said all building work orders are being addressed by the facilities team, that incidents involving staff have been dealt with but disciplinary outcomes cannot be shared due to confidentiality, and that concerns about substitutes must be reported to school admin.
LeQuire said she feels like these responses were inaccurate and lacked detail. “I’m not trying to attack New Haven,” she said. “I’m just trying to say what’s right” because of her care for her students.
While talking with this reporter Tuesday, the group of Hillhouse students enjoyed a picnic of crackers, chips, sandwiches, and cookies. They gathered with LeQuire and her dog Faith in hammocks to say a final farewell to their beloved art teacher.
The afternoon, LeQuire said, was geared at “giving these kids the chance to adventure. That’s what they deserve.”
As the students skipped rocks on the ocean and played fetch with Faith, LeQuire said she doesn’t want to leave but can no longer stand to be in a district that doesn’t truly show its care for its employees or students.
For example, she said for her new job, Amistad has already allowed her to place orders for her classroom materials and given her a schedule for next year. Over the past three years, she said, she hasn’t been able to place classroom material orders until school begins.
“It’s just not fair. The problem with the system is the higher ups. I’ve reached out to them so many times and nothing changes. There’s no accountability,” she said.
The students recalled the fun art projects and jobs they each worked on with LeQuire while also taking occasional breaks to stay cool in the park’s splash pad.
“I want them to know that I still have their back,” LeQuire concluded at the end of the afternoon gathering as she packed her car with her cooler and hammock.
Contributed by David Coardes
Coardes: I'd "rather go to her class and talk it out than do something I regret and get suspended."
A Hillhouse mural made by David Coardes this year.
Coardes, 18, told this reporter that he was not surprised about LeQuire’s departure because of the lack of respect she’s gotten at Hillhouse when raising concerns. He joined his friends and LeQuire Tuesday to celebrate a final “goodbye trip,” he said. He described LeQuire’s classroom as a safe place to go to when trying to stay out of trouble at school.
Coardes first met LeQuire his freshman year in his Art 1 class. He noticed immediately that she was a trusted teacher for students who struggled with mental health or social issues. LeQuire has spent years taking her students’ families shopping for groceries, helping to store homeless students’ belongings, and supporting students’ journeys through the Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF) system.
He immediately saw her as a mentor, as she had a strong passion for the arts and helping students.
Soon LeQuire’s classroom became his safe place as well. He said he often decided he’d “rather go to her class and talk it out than do something I regret and get suspended.”
He said making art helped to calm him down while also talking through his frustrations with LeQuire. “I could just talk and not hold on like I use to,” he said.
He concluded that he believed LeQuire was helping Hillhouse to be a school known for more than just its athletics. She provided students like him with opportunities to work in the community and see the power of the arts, he said. “Hillhouse gets a bad rep and people only look at us for one actual reason, athletics,” he said. “It sucks that she’s leaving. The opportunities she brought were ongoing.”
Coardes plans to pursue a career in professional interior painting and design and said that his decision was “95 percent” inspired by LeQuire and what she’s taught him over the years.
His favorite paid job LeQuire recommended him for was painting several wall murals at the Valley Street community center known as The Shack. He also was given the chance to paint Hillhouse to “make it look less sad and depressing,” he said.