Thomas MacMIllan Photo
In the wake of a blistering state audit revealing deep troubles and a divided faculty at Lincoln-Bassett School, the Board of Education removed Principal Yolanda Jones-Generette from her post Monday night.
The board transferred Jones-Generette (pictured), who had overseen Lincoln-Bassett for one year, to become the new principal at Barnard Magnet School, where she worked previously. She’ll replace outgoing Barnard Principal Michael Crocco.
Janet Brown-Clayton will take over as principal at Lincoln-Bassett, the pre‑K to sixth-grade school in Newhallville that is becoming part of a statewide “commissioner’s network” of struggling schools undergoing a hoped-for transformation. Brown-Clayton served as assistant principal at the school during the 2012 – 13 school year.
Edgewood School and an “academy” at Hillhouse High also got new principals at Monday evening’s school board meeting.
In remarks at the meeting, Jones-Generette made it clear that it was not her decision to leave the school. Newhallville Alder Delphine Clyburn criticized Superintendent Garth Harries for not communicating with the local community about his decision to transfer Jones-Generette. Harries, who attended the Board of Ed meeting via speakerphone, defended his choice in an email statement after the meeting.
Jones-Generette was appointed last year to lead Lincoln-Bassett last year. She replaced retiring principal Ramona Gatison to lead one of the lowest-performing schools in the district.
A state audit earlier this year revealed the school faces significant problems. Those include student behavior, a low level of “rigor” in classes, teacher absenteeism, and safety issues. The audit found the staff was divided on whether Jones-Generette was solving the problems or making them worse.
Earlier this month, the state Board of Education voted to approve a turnaround plan. Lincoln-Bassett was one of five schools to join the state Commissioner’s Network of failing schools to receive extra state money, support and oversight in exchange for agreeing to an overhaul. The plan includes a test run of Mayor Toni Harp’s idea of opening schools early in the morning and keeping them open into the evening.
“Yolanda Jones-Generette has performed as well as she could in the circumstances,” Deputy Superintendent Imma Canneli said at Monday’s meeting.
Addressing the board, Jones-Generette delivered a long list of her efforts and accomplishments at the school. She got choked up as she recalled “hearing the voices of my beautiful students singing our new school song every morning.”
“The superintendent’s vision is for me not to lead the next phase of Lincoln-Bassett,” she said.
After the meeting Jones-Generette, who throughout recent controversy over the school regularly chose not to answer public questions, declined to comment on whether she felt she had finished her work at Lincoln-Bassett. “I’m just looking forward to going over to Barnard and leading from there,” she said.
“I feel very strongly that our superintendent should have spoken with me and the community” about his decision to transfer Jones-Generette, Alder Clyburn (at right in photo, with Ward 20 Democratic committee Co-Chair Barbara Vereen) told the board. “I think that we should have been respected. We didn’t know that our principal was being pulled. He kept that from us.”
“Alder Clyburn is a strong advocate for Lincoln-Bassett and I have been very clear on her support of Yolanda Jones Generette as the principal,” Harries said in an email statement. “That said, I made the decision to transfer Ms Jones Generette based on what I think is in the best interest of students at both Lincoln-Bassett and Barnard.
“The timing of tonight’s appointments was strategic to allow new principals to begin planning for next year and to let turnaround work at Lincoln-Bassett continue in earnest with new leadership.
“Alder Clyburn and the other alders in the city are important partners for the school and the district as a whole. I respect the work that Alder Clyburn has done to the support Lincoln Bassett to this point, her perspective on the future of the school, and what I hope is her ongoing partnership to support the students of Newhallville.”
Brown-Clayton (pictured), the new principal at Lincoln-Bassett, told the board she’s ready to build on the “tenuous” work Jones-Generette began. She said she plans to focus on “rigor, relevance, and relationships.”
Brown-Clayton, who was raised in the old Elm Haven public-housing high-rises on Ashmun Street, said she started her relationship with New Haven public schools as a kindergartener in 1961.
Brown-Clayton has served as principal in a Georgia school and this year worked at Brennan-Rogers, another of New Haven’s turnaround schools. She’ll earn $138,725 per year at Lincoln-Bassett.