Melissa Bailey Photo
Dawn Gibson-Brehon worries that her son will be too close to recovering drug addicts and sex offenders when the city’s high-performing science and engineering school moves to a swing space this fall.
Gibson-Brehon (at right in photo, with board member Alex Johnston) made those concerns public Monday night at the Board of Education, where over a dozen parents gathered to speak out against the relocation of the Engineering Science University Magnet School (ESUMS).
The school, which serves about 226 students in grades 6 to 8, is moving from State Street to 540 – 560 Ella Grasso Blvd. in September to accommodate its continued expansion. Founded in 2008 as a joint project between New Haven Public Schools and the University of New Haven, the school has quickly emerged as one of the city’s top-performers. Parents have called it a safe haven for “geeky” kids from New Haven and beyond.
On Monday, Gibson-Brehon claimed that some fellow parents are considering withdrawing their kids from the school if the district proceeds with the relocation.
“Parents are reviewing their options,” she told the school board.
The school is moving because it intends to add 88 students in sixth grade next year and another 88 the following year, continuing the school’s expansion into 9th and 10th grade, according to Principal Medria Blue-Ellis. The school aims eventually to serve grades six to 12 in a permanent home to be built near UNH’s campus in West Haven. The current ESUMS site, at the former St. Stanislaus School at 804 State St., is not big enough to fit another grade.
As the city scouts out sites for the long-delayed permanent home in West Haven, the Board of Ed in April approved a lease to move the school to 540 – 560 Ella Grasso Blvd. on Aug. 1.
The proposed building (pictured) sits in a plaza that’s home to the New Haven Adult Education buildin, as well as Riverside Academy. ESUMS’s future building currently holds the Amistad Academy elementary school. Amistad is leaving this summer to occupy a new building being built on Edgewood Avenue.
Gibson-Brehon laid out a series of complaints about the proposed swing space — and the process by which parents were informed of the decision.
She pointed out that the building is adjacent to two drug treatment and mental health clinics run by the APT Foundation. Nearby at 586 Ella Grasso Blvd. sits the Columbus House homeless shelter.
There are 25 registered sex offenders with a home address at the shelter, according to the state sex offender registry, Gibson-Brehon pointed out.
“Given the close proximity to drug treatment clinics and temporary housing,” she said, parents are concerned for the safety of their kids, as well as school staff and parents.
Gibson-Brehon also took issue with the process of selecting the site.
“Many parents are unhappy with the lack of transparency and disclosure” surrounding the move and are “strongly considering withdrawing their children from ESUMS if the school moves to 540/560 Boulevard,” she said.
She said parents are “ready and willing to support our school and the district” in preparing kids for a good education after ESUMS. She cited a pledge for parental involvement from the mayor’s school reform initiative website.
“Parents play a critical role in the School Change initiative,” the statement reads. “School Change must be a community wide effort. For this initiative to succeed, we must all take our place at the table and agree to work together in the best interest of our children.”
“Sadly,” Gibson-Brehon argued, parents weren’t given a seat at the table when the decision took place to move the school. Parents were advised of the move in a letter sent electronically on April 23 and in paper format on April 25. The memo from schools Chief Operating Officer Will Clark announced the district had “found an acceptable location on the Boulevard in New Haven” but did not give the address.
“Where was parent involvement,” asked Gibson-Brehon, when that decision was made?
She asked ESUMS parents at Monday night’s meeting to stand up to signal their similar sentiments. About a dozen adults rose to their feet.
She said parents at the school are asked to play an active role at the school and to volunteer at the school during the day and after hours. The new site would “severely hamper efforts to maintain and increase parent involvement and support for the school,” she argued.
While she had the board’s attention at the podium, Gibson-Brehon added another complaint to the mix: The ESUMS proposed 2011 budget would cut the line item for instructional supplies from $75,000 to $35,000, during the same time that the school is adding 88 students.
If students pull out from the school, she warned, ESUMS will have even less money, because state funding for magnet schools is based on enrollment.
In conclusion, Gibson-Brehon said parents are willing to be part of the solution: She offered three sites in West Haven to relocate the school, as well as the former Vincent Mauro School at 130 Orchard St. And she suggested parents form a West Haven working group to work on finding a better site.
Mayor John DeStefano (at left in photo, talking to Gibson-Brehon and other parents), who sits on the school board and appoints its members, answered first with an apology for the delays in finding a permanent site for the school. He agreed that parents should set up a working group, though with parents from various towns, not just West Haven.
Then Gibson-Brehon raised the question: Has the school district already committed to moving to the Boulevard? After some hesitation, board member Liz Torres noted that the board had already approved the lease.
Schools Superintendent Reggie Mayo agreed to set up a meeting with parents about the topic.
As the meeting closed, board member Alex Johnston gave a last comment: “Thank you.” He said the district welcomes parents to get involved with what’s going on in their kids’ schools, but so few do. Parents seldom speak up at the school board meetings, he noted: Gibson-Brehon was the only parent to speak in the public hearing portion of Monday’s meeting.
“It’s rare that we get that type of engagement” from parents, Johnston said. “It makes me wonder: Where did you get your training?”
Gibson-Brehon, sitting back among her group of parents, stood up to reply.
“My mother,” she said.
Past stories on ESUMS:
• Science Magnet School Relocates Again
• City Looks West For New School Site
• After Layoffs, Schools Reshuffle
• A Rush To Dig
• A New Star School; Warnings About Others
• Science High’s Ready, With An Arabic Twist