As a probe into allegations of grade tampering at Hillhouse High continues, parents, students, and alumni stormed the school board to defend their principal and the reputation of their school.
The emotional discussion took place at the Board of Education’s regular meeting Monday night at its headquarters at 54 Meadow St. The meeting drew a crowd, rare in its size, including several aldermen and religious leaders.
Two dozen speakers stood up to support Principal Kermit Carolina and say that the district mistreated him by publicly announcing a probe into grade-changing allegations at his school. Those allegations first surfaced at an unusual emergency meeting of the Board of Education the Friday night before Christmas.
Melissa Bailey Photo
Carolina (pictured speaking to supporters) has denied he did anything wrong and called the investigation a politically motivated witch-hunt. The board hired Milford attorney Floyd Dugas to carry out the probe. When Dugas interviewed him last week, Carolina pointed to a new suspect—the Tenex computer system, which he said had a widespread glitch that was lowering kids’ grades.
The probe has not yet concluded nor reached any findings, said Ferdinand Risco, who served as the school board’s acting chair Monday night.
That didn’t stop supporters from standing up in Carolina’s defense — and at times pleading for the district not to fire their principal.
Mike Jefferson, Carolina’s lawyer and a Hillhouse parent, drew applause with a pointed attack on Mayor John DeStefano and schools Superintendent Reggie Mayo for carrying out a “political lynching.”
“Quite frankly Mr. Mayor, I’m sick and tired of you running this city like a plantation,” he charged, pointing his finger at DeStefano. District staff are afraid to speak out lest they get “wooped” or have a foot cut off, Jefferson charged. “And Dr. Mayo is sitting here running it like your overseer.”
“You want to sit there with that smirk on your face,” he said to the mayor, “but I don’t believe for one second you care about the education of our children — black children in particular.” Click on the play arrow at the top of the story to watch his and others’ remarks.
Jefferson’s heated comments came after a chain of parents and students criticized the way the district handled the case.
Parent Dana Griffin, who sits on the Hillhouse PTO, questioned why this case warranted an “emergency meeting” on Friday evening before a holiday weekend. No such emergency meeting was called, for example, when the state Department of Children and Families investigated a report of a sexual assault on a class trip at Lincoln-Bassett School, he said. (The principal was suspended and later cleared.)
“Dr. Mayo, why didn’t you stop this?” Griffin said of the way the incident was handled. Even Carolina wasn’t told about the meeting; he learned of it from the New Haven Independent. Griffin, the first speaker, read from written remarks that would become a theme for the evening — that the district’s handling of the case has brought shame to the predominantly African-American school and by extension, to the African-American community.
“Many of us sent our kids to Hillhouse because of Kermit Carolina,” said Griffin. “Now we wonder — how do you get this reputation back?”
Hillhouse mom Barbara Vereen echoed Griffin’s outrage. “Think about the repercussions that it has on the African-American community,” she said.
Brenda Barnes-Jones (pictured), the new alderwoman in Fair Haven Heights and a Yale employee, suggested the district should have run an internal probe before airing the allegations in public. She was one of four aldermen who showed up Monday night to support Carolina, including aldermanic President Jorge Perez, Wooster Square Alderman Mike Smart and Hill Alderwoman Dolores Colon.
Several students called Carolina a “father figure” who supported their activities, including youth rallies outside of school. They raised concerns about the school’s reputation. They said students are being taunted that their grades have been “fixed,” not earned.
Gysel Montufar, a Hillhouse senior and member of a group called Youth Unleashed, raised another concern: “How is this issue affecting the students who are applying to colleges?” She was referring to Jefferson’s account, detailed in this story, that a computer glitch has altered many students’ transcripts.
Risco replied that the board can’t comment on the investigation because it is pending.
Meanwhile, Hillhouse senior Shaylah McQueen, the school’s valedictorian, gave an emphatic defense of her principal — and an account of how he has personally explained the case to students.
She said she’s never encountered a principal “so driven, inspired and determined to support, nurture and encourage his children — I mean his students,” she said. “I am devastated because of the fact that my school and principal’s reputation has been damaged and undermined. We Hillhouse students suffer so much because we are bombarded with criticisms and slick remarks.”
She recounted how Carolina came into her government classroom to personally fill in students about the case. She said he asked the teacher to leave, outlined what he could about the case, then took questions from the students.
Carolina told the class that he signed off on an order to change an error in a student’s transcript — because “it was best for the kids.”
Jefferson and Carolina.
In the back of the hearing room, Attorney Jefferson quickly clarified the comment. He said the grade McQueen was referring to had been changed by the faulty Tenex program. Then Carolina signed off on an order to have an administrator change the grade in the computer system to match the grade the teacher had given the student. Carolina does not have access to the Tenex database to change the actual grade, Jefferson said.
Jefferson said the “best for the kids” comment was a general statement about how everything Carolina does is student-centered.
Carolina later said that he personally went to four senior classes last Thursday to talk to students about the probe.
“I gave them the opportunity to ask me any questions they needed to ask about the investigation,” he said. He said he asked teachers to leave the classroom because “I have been directed by Dr. Mayo not to speak to any New Haven Public School employee about the investigation.”
“One thing that is very clear is we have a glitch in our computer system,” Carolina said. When a problem arises, such as with a student’s transcript, “I have to make a determination to fix the problem or not.”
“Everything I’ve done has been within the scope of my duties as principal,” he said.
Carolina hugs a student who spoke up for him.
He said the administrator who blew the whistle on him “took advantage of a problem and told only half the truth.”
“There were other motives at play,” Carolina said. “It’ll come out” when the investigation concludes.
While several supporters urged the district not to fire him, Carolina said he does not have reason to be concerned about his job.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said. “When it’s all said and done, I’ll be cleared of any wrongdoing.”
After his supporters spoke, pastor Scott Marks left the room chanting “No justice? No peace!” while another voice pledged “we’ll be back!”
Asked for comment on the day’s proceedings, Superintendent Mayo (pictured) said only this: “Everybody is innocent — that’s what the presumptions are.”
School board member Alex Johnston said he hoped the crowd would harness the energy exhibited Monday into boosting academic achievement in the schools.
After the meeting, Mayor DeStefano echoed those remarks: “Everyone should put the same effort and energy into the kind of efforts” that improve the schools, he said. Asked to reply to the accusations that he rules by plantation politics and doesn’t care about black children, DeStefano pointed to his record.
“I’m pleased to let people look at spending over a billion dollars” in building new schools; at conducting “one of the nation’s most aggressive school reform efforts,” and a college scholarship program, New Haven Promise, provided to city kids who keep up good grades and behavior.
“I think those are self-evident” initiatives “that contradict the statements” Jefferson made.
Carolina resisted efforts made by officials to get school system personnel to publicly support the mayor’s campaign last years. Carolina said that’s why he’s being retaliated against now. DeStefano has repeatedly denied that allegation. He and Mayo said the school system would have been accused of covering up an important allegation if they hadn’t promptly launched an investigation into the grade-changing allegations, made by an administrator with whom Carolina has clashed at Hillhouse. Mayo also said he worried that school administrators would have learned of the allegations from outside sources if he hadn’t moved to hold a swift, emergency meeting to keep everyone informed.
Related stories:
• New Suspect Named In Grade-Changing Probe
• Jefferson Calls For “Conflict”-Free Investigator
• He Was Where?
• A Standoff In Grade Probe
• Investigation Formally Revealed At “Emergency” School Board Meeting
• Out Of Public View, Schools Rush “Emergency” Pre-Xmas Meeting On Grade-Altering Charges