Laura Glesby Photo
Newly re-confirmed Board of Ed VP Matt Wilcox at Tuesday's alder meeting.
Board of Education Vice President Matthew Wilcox won another four-year term on the city’s school board — after alders debated how to assess his leadership over a school system grappling with low attendance, a reading instruction overhaul, and severe teacher shortages.
In a voice vote, the vast majority of the 24 alders present elected to reappoint Wilcox against a couple of dissenters. That vote took place Tuesday night during the full Board of Alders’ latest in-person meeting in the Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor of City Hall.
Wilcox — a 53-year-old Westville resident, director of Quinnipiac University’s Netter Library, and father of three New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) graduates — serves as the board’s vice president and chairs the Finance and Operations committee. During his tenure, he’s paid particular attention to reviewing the school system’s budget and maintained a perfect attendance record.
On a board that has, in some iterations, seen sharply divided debates, Wilcox has typically voted in alignment with school administrators’ proposals and recommendations. When a protest gathered in 2021 to criticize the board’s 4 – 3 vote in favor of demoting but not firing a teacher who used the n‑word, Wilcox was the sole board member belonging to the contingent that voted yes on that decision to show up and engage with the voters.
He was first appointed to the board by then-Mayor Toni Harp in 2019. Mayor Justin Elicker submitted his name for reappointment after his term expired at the end of 2022.
Education Committee Chair Eli Sabin.
At Tuesday’s Board of Alders meeting, several alders said that they supported Wilcox’s reappointment with some hesitation.
East Rock Alder Anna Festa said she planned to support Wilcox’s reappointment, but wanted to send a message to the Board of Education that “we expect and demand higher standards.” She alluded to the occasionally vitriolic culture among some Board of Education members: “Sometimes our kids act more mature than we do.”
Downtown/East Rock Alder Eli Sabin, who chairs the Board of Alders Education Committee, said he would support the reappointment because Wilcox “works hard, he does a good job, and he cares about our students.”
Sabin said he remains concerned about frequently-empty chairs in New Haven classrooms and students’ low test scores in math and literacy. Still, he said, he has hope in some of the solutions that the school system is piloting, including “an increased focus on chronic absenteeism” and a new reading curriculum rooted in the latest science of literacy learning. “I would like to see how those programs are implemented,” Sabin said.
Fair Haven Heights Alder Rosa Santana reported to her colleagues on Wilcox’s hearing before the Aldermanic Affairs Committee, which she chairs. “Although Mr. Wilcox was not required to attend the meeting, he did so,” she said, speaking in favor of his reappointment.
Fair Haven Alder Sarah Miller.
The sole alder to speak out against Wilcox’s reappointment on Tuesday night was Fair Haven Alder Sarah Miller.
She cited a concern about the general makeup of the board, which does not include any current New Haven Public Schools parents, aside from the mayor.
“Right now, there is no one on the board who feels the urgency that comes when one’s own children are impacted by the decisions that they make,” Miller said. “There is also no one who can speak to what kind of homework their kids come home with, how their kids feel about school, and how responsive teachers, principals, and administrators are or are not to user-level concerns.”
Miller also spoke out against aspects of Wilcox’s tenure in particular.
She criticized his “track record of deference to the superintendent,” including in a 2019 controversy in which then-superintendent Carol Birks sought to involuntarily transfer 53 teachers out of their current schools. This decision generated fierce pushback from many teachers, students, and parents, who said that critical relationships between educators and their students were being jeopardized.
Every board member at the time aside from Wilcox voted to reverse the teacher transfers. “He said very openly that he believes it is not the role of the board to interfere in the superintendent’s management of the district unless there is a technical legal breach,” Miller said.
"In-Person Meetings, Now"
Tom Goldenberg, at the podium, with supporters.
Prior to Tuesday’s aldermanic meeting, Democratic mayoral challenger Tom Goldenberg held a press conference outside City Hall calling for the Board of Alders to hold off on reappointing Wilcox — or any Board of Education member — until the board begins holding in-person meetings and includes parents and teachers on the search committee for a new superintendent.
“In-person meetings, now. Teachers and parents on the search committee, now,” he said.
Rev. Steven Cousin.
Goldenberg was joined by Rev. Steven Cousin of Bethel A.M.E. Church.
“I am calling on the Board of Alders to take a serious look at who we’re appointing to the Board of Education,” Cousin said.
Also at the press conference was Goldenberg’s campaign manager, Westville Alder Darryl Brackeen, who did not attend the alders’ meeting and therefore did not cast a vote on the matter of Wilcox’s appointment.