Respect, Support Sought From Next Supt

Troup School reading instructor Pamela J. Tonge needs the next superintendent’s help in bridging the divide separating administrators and parents from teachers like herself, who work daily to help young students catch up to grade-level literacy despite a lack of classroom resources and respect. 

Tonge raised those concerns and hopes Wednesday night at Barack H. Obama Magnet University School (BOMUS). That’s where the New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) district held its first public community meeting in the ongoing search for a replacement for Iline Tracey, who plans to retire at the end of the current school year in June.

The meeting was hosted by the search firm McPherson and Jacobson, which the Board of Education has hired to help with the superintendent search.

Tawana Grover, who recently resigned from her role as the superintendent of the Grand Island Public Schools in Nebraska in order to lead the Cedar Rapids Community School District in Iowa, facilitated Wednesday’s conversation with the public. Due to a broken foot and recent case of Covid, McPherson and Jacobson search consultant Judy Sclair-Stein attended Wednesday’s meeting via Zoom. 

Grover and Sclair-Stein reported that they spent the early half of Wednesday, starting at 9 a.m, conducting seven additional stakeholder meetings, and the public meeting Wednesday night was their eighth gathering of the day.

Members of the New Haven Board of Education were asked not to attend any of this week’s three public stakeholder meetings. About two weeks ago, school board members met publicly with the search firm to share their ideal qualities for the next superintendent. (Read more about that meeting here.)

Asked on Thursday about who exactly is on the superintendent search committee, ​“The Board of Ed comprise the search committee. Student board members will be part of the discussion of candidates but don’t actually vote on personnel decisions. Groups of teachers, parents and others will participate in candidate interviews and provide feedback but they are not formally on the committee and will not vote on candidates.”

About 15 community members attended the first stakeholder meeting Wednesday evening.

The next two meetings will take place on Thursday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the Barack Obama School Auditorium at 69 Farnum Avve., and Friday from 10:15 to 11:15 a.m. at the Betsy Ross School Parish Hall at 150 Kimberly Ave.

After all stakeholder meetings and focus groups are completed, the search firm will combine all of the notes and feedback they’ve gathered into one report for the school board, said Sclair-Stein.

Grover asked Wednesday’s attendees four questions to gather what the community sees that works, doesn’t work, and needs improvement in the city school district today.

One of her questions for the group was: What are top issues the next superintendent should be aware of?

Tonge, a New Haven native who has been teaching in NHPS for more than 30 years, said her job has become more than teaching her Read 180 students over the years and now includes helping her students with everything from mental health to food to housing challenges.

“We need a superintendent, in my opinion, to support all teachers at all cost,” she said. ​“Every day I look at them [the students] and tell them, ​‘My job is to protect you, to serve you and do what I can to the best of my ability,’ so give us as educators support to do what we can for our children, because sometimes parents aren’t always there.” 

While teaching fifth and sixth grade Read 180, Tonge said, she has seen an increase in students needing more mental health and literacy supports. She has to address such concerns creatively and on her own due to a lack of resources in her classroom. Everyday she works with fifth- and sixth-grade students who are not reading on grade level. She said many are reading at a second – grade level. She said she is not given second-grade reading materials to help her students, only fifth- and sixth-grade resources they cannot understand. ​“I make it work for the sake of the kids,” she said. 

She added that she believes there is a disconnect in administrators and parents seeing educators like herself as professionals. ​“Everyone has to give us the respect we deserve,” she said. ​“I have four degrees and the training I need already, so don’t make me feel like I’m less than.” 

Tonge said she feels teachers are not brought to the decision-making table enough by administrators and are not respected by parents. ​“I call home to let a parent know how a student is doing and I get called names,” she said. 

Others in attendance Wednesday included Sean Reeves, who is the outreach & community engagement coordinator for Connecticut Against Gun Violence. He shared that NHPS also struggles with a lack of teacher resources, not enough school staff, students not being proficient in core subjects like math and reading, that there is ​“so much untapped potential,” and inactive parents.

“Our children are not engaged in school because school has not decided to engage our students,” he said. 

Southern Connecticut State University Associate VP of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Kelvin Rutledge added that the district needs to start using the data it collects proactively and in innovative ways to improve schools’ climates. 

One parent shared that she recently moved to New Haven from Puerto Rico with her son and loves the city. She said she hopes for a superintendent ​“who can understand us” and will take the large Hispanic community into consideration for all decisions. 

Robert Gibson, a retired former Hillhouse High School history teacher who taught for 35 years, added that ​“we should not for one minute think that we can bring in a superintendent who’s going to work miracles.”

He continued that one issue within the school district is low staff morale. ​“It takes a community working collectively to bring about the changes that we need,” he said. 

“It’s more than pay. When you have a comfortable supportive working environment you get a better product, you get better service, you get better dedication,” he said. ​“That is something that is vitally important with any superintendent coming into our district that they need to understand, that they need to consult with the teachers. Matter fact, the teachers should be the premier consultant of the Board and the administration. We the teachers. They are the processionals and so they should be at the table discussing, negotiating whatever’s going to be taught. Talk to them, don’t go and pay someone $200,000 or more to get their opinion about what should be done.” 

Democratic mayoral challenger Shafiq Abdussabur also shared that another major issue in the district is that teachers cannot afford to live in New Haven and many are often paying out of pocket to buy classroom materials. 

"The Spirit In New Haven Is Second To None"

Another question that Grover asked to attendees Wednesday: ​“What are the great things about the New Haven community?” 

That prompted responses like diversity; lots of student potential; it’s a K‑20 district with elementary, middle, high school and colleges and universities; its balance between a city and small community; it has New Haven educators that are city natives; vibrant cultures; and traditions rooted in radical change and strong activism. 

“I would hope that the next superintendent would not see that as a liability but see that bravery and that radical history and that strength as something that they would want to partner and join arms with us and continue this good work that we know we need to do because our students need support and our students need the adults to know that we’re going to prioritize their needs moving forward,” teachers union president Leslie Blatteau said.

Grover then asked: ​“What do you love about New Haven Public Schools?” 

NHPS parent Nikole Allen pointed to the district’s pre‑K programming and free and reduced lunch. 

Others added that the district has great teachers and students, inspiring educators and dedicated staff, and dozens of programs that meet a variety of students’ needs. 

“I am a product of the New Haven public schools, all 13 years,” Gibson said. ​“The teachers that I had during that time period from kindergarten to twelfth grade impressed me to become a teacher.” 

Worthington Hooker School Principal Margaret Mary Gethings also shared Wednesday that ​“I couldn’t think of a better place to educate a child.” 

Gethings has worked as an educator for 32 years and worked in two previous school districts before coming to New Haven. She repeated that New Haven’s students have ​“boundless potential” and that the school district is something ​“special” she hasn’t experienced in any of the previous districts she worked in.

“The sprit in New Haven is second to none,” she said. 

When asked the final question of what qualities and skill sets the community wants to see in the next superintendent, the community listed off: a resilient advocate, emphatic, creative, fearless, be willing to foster and rebuild family relationships, committed, be willing to push back against a long-standing system, and work with city resources like the Youth and Recreation department. 

“We have to get this search right. We have to,” said Sara Armstrong who currently has a son at Hillhouse High School. ​“Prior to Dr. Tracey we saw two superintendents that we had to buy out and this is in a district that we cannot afford to do that.”

Armstrong continued, ​“We need a superintendent who really wants to be here. And isn’t punching the clock to step up to another bigger district.”

The search firm has also created an anonymous survey for the community to submit input for the superintendent search process. The survey results will go directly to McPherson and Jacobson and included in its final report to the Board. The survey will remain open until Feb. 22. 

Survey in English: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NewHavenEnglish

Survey in Spanish: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NewHavenSpanish

Survey in Pashto: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NewHavenPashto