Thomas Breen photos
Larry Conaway after alders voted in support of his ed board appointment. Top: Latinx protesters in the Aldermanic Chambers.
Against a backdrop of broader racial tensions in city politics, alders approved Larry Conaway’s Board of Education appointment in a divided decision that saw four Latinx legislators praise the experienced local educator —and then vote no.
The vote took place Thursday night at a Board of Alders meeting in the Aldermanic Chambers on the second floor of City Hall.
Dozens of primarily African American residents, students, teachers, and school administrators filled one half of the chambers’ pews and stood along the room’s back wall to support Conaway, the recently retired former Riverside Academy principal who spent over three decades working in a half a dozen city public schools.
Sitting on the other side of the chambers and standing by the wall closest to the room’s entrance were roughly 20 local Latinx pastors, immigrant rights activists, and former school board members and administrators.
Thursday’s Board of Alders meeting.
Many of the latter group of attendees had packed the Aldermanic Chambers several weeks ago to to protest Conaway’s appointment during his Aldermanic Affairs Committee interview. They expressed no concerns about Conaway’s credentials. Instead they opposed the general proposition of another African-American ed board member who does not speak Spanish, while nearly half of the New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) student population is Latinx, the system’s largest and growing racial group.
Mayor Toni Harp tapped Conaway for the school board in September soon after Joey Rodriguez stepped down from his position because he said he was not able to keep up with the time commitment. The only remaining Latina on the board is Yesenia Rivera, who serves alongside four African-American board members (now five, with Conaway) and one white board member.
The racial and ethnic divide in the audience mirrored almost exactly the floor debate amongst the alders.
Five board members (four black, one white) publicly urged their colleagues to support Conaway, arguing that his experience as an educator is exactly what the school board most needs and that his race will not preclude him from representing all students.
“It doesn’t make a difference what you look like, what your language is,” Dixwell Alder Jeannette Morrison said. “It’s about the kids.”
Four board members (all Latino and Latina) similarly lauded Conaway’s career of public service and, to a person, described him as an excellent candidate for the Board of Education.
Primarily African American students, educators, and residents turn out in support.
But they all ultimately voted against his appointment because, they said, the primarily Hispanic communities they represent on the Board of Alders and that make up an overwhelming plurality of public school students do not have equal representation on the Board of Education, in the NHPS central office, or in the classroom.
“If he wins, I’ll be happy for our city,” Hill Alder Dolores Colon said. However, she continued, “we have to find more Hispanics, more Arabic people with PhDs and teaching qualifications so that they also can join the board and serve our children well with the sensitivity that is unique to bilingual speakers.”
The floor debate and final voice vote, which saw Colon, Hill Alder Dave Reyes, and Fair Haven Alders Jose Crespo and Ernie Santiago cast the sole dissenting “nays” against Conaway’s appointment, seemed to represent more than just the shifting demographics and surging bilingual education needs in city schools.
As Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker-Myers hinted at at the end of the meeting, the vote seemed to embody a bitter, specifically racial division that many New Haveners experienced in the wake of the recently concluded mayoral contest between challenger Justin Elicker and incumbent Mayor Toni Harp.
“Our city is hurting right now,” Walker-Myers said to her colleagues on the board. “I don’t know if you see it. I’m not blind. I see it. There is no reason why we should not be working together on these issues. We need to make a commitment to each other to figure it out and help each group that thinks it needs more representation.”
“This room,” she continued, “was real heavy tonight.”
“I Felt Like I Was In An Alien Nation”
Hill Alder Dolores Colon: “I was a kindergarten dropout because I felt like I was in an alien nation.”
The most impassioned, and personal, testimony of the night came from Colon, who repeatedly praised Conaway during her remarks — and then explained that she would not be voting for him “on principle for the members of my community.”
With tears in her eyes and an audible hesitation in her throat, Colon recalled growing up in Brooklyn in the 1950s, soon after her family had moved to the United States from Puerto Rico, and not knowing a word of English.
Her family spoke entirely in Spanish at home, she said. When she first found herself in a kindergarten classroom where her teacher and fellow students all spoke only English, ” I thought my parents were sending me to another planet.”
“I was a kindergarten dropout,” she continued, “because I felt like I was in an alien nation.” She said that her parents let her stay home for a year, where she learned English by watching television, listening to the radio, and having her siblings read her English-language books.
“I cannot begin to describe how a child feels when you come from one environment where only one language is spoken and then you are dropped off and you cannot communicate with anyone,” she said. “So on principle, even though I think that Mr. Conaway would be wonderful, I see the need in our community to bring more Hispanics to the board and to the school system.”
Her Latino colleagues on the Board of Alders all agreed.
“I acknowledge Mr. Conaway’s resume is very impressive,” said Santiago (pictured). “I’m pretty sure he’s for all kids.” But out of concern for equity on the Board of Education, he said, “I’m going to be voting no.”
Crespo said that he too greatly respects Conaway. In fact, he said, Conaway was an administrator at the very high school that Crespo attended.
“He was phenomenal,” he said. “He went above and beyond. But, at this time, I have to support my community.”
Reyes blamed his pained ambivalence — and frustration at not feeling able to vote for a qualified school board candidate — squarely on the mayor.
“This is a horrible situation to be in,” he said. “The administration did promise the Latino community that it was going to be a Latino to replace a Latino. Unfortunately, that was not something that happened.”
Reyes lamented that he would be voting against a “person of integrity” because the community he represents got waylaid by the mayor.
“It’s not good for the racial division for the city,” he said.
“This Can’t Be About A Race War”
Despite the four alders’ impassioned and pained opposition, an overwhelming majority of their colleagues voted in support of Conaway. Those alders pointed to Conaway’s educational credentials — and not to his race — as the most important criterion to consider when evaluating his appropriateness for the board.
“In looking at Mr. Conaway, in looking at his years and years and years of support of children,” said Morrison (pictured), “he will be able to represent all children.”
Newhallville Alder Kim Edwards also praised his experience in the classroom and as a public school administrator as making him a good fit for the board.
Conaway (right) with son Adham and wife Karen.
“It’s not about race,” Beaver Hills Alder Jill Marks said. “It’s about who can do the job.”
Prospect Hill/Newhallville Alder Steve Winter, the only white board member to speak up on floor Thursday night, also encouraged his colleagues to vote in support of Conaway.
“For years, this board has been asked to appoint someone to the Board of Education with deep experience as an educator,” he said. “And tonight, we have an opportunity do just that.”
Beaver Hills Alder Brian Wingate (pictured) similarly touted Conaway’s well-documented dedication to improving the lives of city school children. He also pleaded with his colleagues — and residents throughout the city — to avoid turning this appointment into something more volatile than it needs to be.
“This can’t be about a race war,” he said. “It’s got to be about the right war. And the right war is for the kids. Educate the kids.”