Schools Forum Targets Diversity, Inclusion

From the hairstyles of African-American girls to the city’s tax rate to guns in schools, candidates for local office in Hamden repeatedly touched on the underlying issues roiling the town – and the nation – ahead of the Sept. 10 Democratic town primary and the Nov. 5 general election at an education forum Wednesday night.

The event was sponsored by special-needs parents, but Hamden’s racial and economic challenges were the hot topics at an education forum featuring three mayoral and three Board of Education candidates at the Keefe Community Center.

Speaking at Wednesday’s forum were current Hamden Mayor Curt Leng, Democratic challenger Lauren Garrett and Republican nominee Jay Kaye, in addition to Board of Ed contenders Chris Daur, Roxana Walker-Canton and Gary Walsh.

Hamden’s Special Education PTA (SEPTA) sponsored the event with the goal of ​“centering education in marginalized populations in our town’s discussion,” said Co-President Megan Goslin.

“I did hear some things that helped inform my voting,” said parent Valen Grandelski (pictured), whose special-needs child had to change schools this year. ​“I think all of the conversations around the restructuring and redistricting have brought a lot of issues into the public spotlight, like racial imbalance and special education. I think all of that is really important.”

Hamden’s plan to desegregate schools by redistricting and its efforts toward cultural inclusivity in hiring and curriculum came up multiple times as candidates debated strategies to meet state mandates. (Part of the restructuring includes moving many special-ed students to what is now Wintergreen Interdistrict Magnet School.)

“We are going to have to move some families around a little bit because this is going to improve the district as a whole,” said Garrett, citing studies that show that diverse schools improve test scores. All of the candidates stressed that incorporating special-ed students into all classrooms as a priority.

But ​“inclusion” policies and desegregation efforts won’t magically solve issues around race, ability and culture, warned Walker-Canton, an endorsed Democratic candidate for Board of Ed. She cited statistics on stark disparities in school discipline by race and lingering issues of implicit bias which hold back students of color in Hamden schools.

“There is a history of perceptions of who black students are, who Asian students are, who Latino students are, who LGBTQ students are, who special-needs students are. We all come in with baggage whether we want to admit it or not,” Walker-Canton said.

Students of color also suffer from an ​“opportunity gap” when it comes to advanced classes and activities like study abroad programs. ​“We need to do the work to ask why,” she said.

Hamden educators also need more training in cultural sensitivity, Walker-Canton said, citing a recent incident in which high school coaches singled out the hair choices of African-American girls for criticism in an email to kids. ​“We have to continue to remember that these are our children and that we should be supporting them,” she said. 

“What is the proper diversity? That’s really the question,” said Leng, citing pushback on redistricting plans from some parents at Helen Street School.

​“Our school’s wonderfully diverse, and it works. We don’t need more white people here to make it work better,” Leng quoted the Helen Street parents as saying on the topic of desegregation. ​“You can’t put on a piece of paper a formula that’s going to work for every building.”

2 Views On Magnets

Magnet schools can help motivate parents to opt out of their neighborhood school, Leng said.

“It’s a positive thing for the town, it’s a selling point for the town,” he said of proposed magnet programs in STEM and the arts. ​“It allows families to have a little more choice in their education.”

“If we’re expecting magnets to solve racial imbalance, that’s a short-term horizon,” countered Garrett, who currently services on Hamden’s Legislative Council. ​“Easing into it would be a better thing to do.”

Large social trends need to be addressed to truly make desegregation work, said Kaye, the Republican mayoral candidate. ​“Trying to racially diversify a school is one thing; I think the bigger question is how do we racially diversify our town?”

Specter Of Debt

It was nearly three-quarters of the way through the forum before the elephant lumbered into the room: Hamden’s record-setting debt and budget shortfalls that threaten any new facility plans or expansions in educational offerings.

​“We can’t shortchange our kids’ education,” said Garrett, speaking to concerns about adding to Hamden school budget while the town is facing $1.1 billion in liabilities. ​“We can have better outcomes for less money,” she said, citing efforts to trim special-ed costs.

“There’s a lot of doom and gloom about the town’s finances… but we’re doing it and we’re holding our own,” countered Leng, who said that Hamden’s debt situation isn’t as dire as people think and the bulk of liabilities were long-term.

Discussion continued on how Hamden can diversify its district curriculum, attract teachers of color and help students get ready for college.

Overall, Hamden and its schools need to reflect the world as it is, not as it was 50 years ago, Kaye said.

​“The most important thing is having a strategy set up that recognizes the way the entire nation is changing, the way Hamden is changing,” Kaye said. ​“We need to embrace that.”