Markeshia Ricks Photos
Crowd at St. Rose of Lima Thursday night.
Harries.
“The challenge is these are not yes or no questions,” schools Superintendent Garth Harries told a crowd of parishioners, parents and supporters from other faith communities gathered at St. Rose of Lima Church to demand more security and transparency at Fair Haven School.
“Yes,” a voice from the crowd yelled out. “They are.”
The parents gathered in the basement of the church Thursday night as part of the spring assembly of CONECT, or the Congregations Organized for a New Connecticut, an activist group that has taken on issues ranging from gun policy to conditions at local schools.
The crowd of 200 put the “yes/no” screws to Harries and Fair Haven School Principal Heriberto Cordero on four specific demands: hiring more school security, providing translators for parent teacher conferences, addressing overly harsh student discipline and sharing the struggling school’s turnaround plans.
When pressed to commit to hiring more security for the K‑8 school, which currently has one full time security guard for a student body of about 800, Harries answered: No — but let me explain.
He was answering the question on the same day that the city learned that it will probably take a last-minute $8 million hit in state funding for the coming year’s budget, and after Harries had already unsuccessfully advocated for an increase in a districtwide school security force that is down from a high of 120 to nearly half that number now.
Parents Yolanda and Felix Pablo have five children at Fair Haven School. They said one of their daughter has come home multiple times crying.
“When I ask her what’s wrong, she said the teacher punishes us and yells a lot,” Yolanda Felix said. “She doesn’t want to go to school anymore.”
Parents from the church tell their story.
Pablo said when she finally got a chance to speak with the teacher, the teacher seemed to have no interest in getting to the bottom of the problem or acknowledging that the teacher’s own classroom behavior might be to blame.
“I asked the teacher, ‘Are you a parent?’” she recalled. The teacher said no. “Then you don’t know the pain of a parent.”
Felix Pablo directed his questions at Cordero: Will you commit to fewer teachers using overly harsh methods of discipline? Yes or no?
Cordero’s response: “Yes and no.”
Felix Pablo asked Cordero to commit to respond to requests from parents within 24 hours?
Cordero said he couldn’t.
Cordero later was given the opportunity to explain his answers.
He said he has an open door policy with parents, teachers and students, but Thursday night’s forum is the first he’d heard of some of the concerns that parents had raised. He also encouraged parents to engage in the school’s SPMT, or school planning and management team, as well as the parent teacher organization.
“I’m committed to addressing these issues,” he said. “I’m willing to make time to deal with every issue raised by the families here and also the 800 families not here tonight.”
But he reminded the parents that his school is big and he needs the support of parents and the church to address problems.
Jose Ostroba, a co-chair of CONECT and one of the forum’s moderators, wasn’t ready to let the security guard issue go. He told Harries that the issue is important to the parents and the community.
“I cannot responsibly say I’m going to hire three security guards,” Harries said. “I don’t have the resources.”
“Can you not commit to finding resources for two security guards?” Ostroba pressed.
Cordero and Harries ask for commitments from the parents.
“Now we’re negotiating,” Harries said. The superintendent said that Fair Haven School is on his priority list for hiring at least one more full-time security guard, but it is unlikely that it is going to happen any time soon.
“I cannot mislead you,” Harries said. “We’ve been cut by $8 million — more than Hartford, more than Bridgeport.”
The parents and school officials found consensus in access to the school’s turnaround plan. The parents want a copy that they can look over and weigh in on. Cordero said he could have it in their hands by the end of the month. He agreed to meet with them this summer and make sure they have access to the school management meetings, which he pointed out are always open to parents.
Father David Blanchfield of St. Jerome Catholic Church in Norwalk, also a co-chair and moderator for the evening, had one more yes/no question for the school officials: Can we build a relationship with the members and parents of St. Rose of Lima?
“If it is a relationship,” Harries answered with a hesitant smile, “then yes.”