The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
NHPS administrators form Latino advocacy group
NEW HAVEN >> Advocating for Latino students and school district employees has always been a priority for Abie Benitez, a director of instruction in the New Haven Public Schools, and other Latino colleagues within the city.
“Too many times, Latinos work hard but they don’t always have access to the decision-making people,” Benitez said.
Benitez said when she looked into the types of support networks for Latino students and educators in Connecticut she found several at the district level, but no organized effort to represent Latinos in public schools at the state level, like what the Connecticut Association of Latinos in Higher Education represents for higher education. In concert with fellow Latino administrators within NHPS, Benitez formed the Connecticut Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents, a state chapter of the national Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents. She said the group has aligned itself with the Connecticut Association of Schools to amplify its message.
Although its first meeting was in 2014, CALAS was officially recognized by the national group in October 2016. The challenge for CALAS leadership now is to establish membership and a direction for the group.
Benitez said the group meets approximately three times a year with state Commissioner of Education Dianna Wentzell to advise her of concerns for Latino school administrators and superintendents.
“CALAS is one of our most important voices,” Wentzell said. “We’re now able to bring their voices to our regular meetings.”
Wentzell said the group has the support of her department and in the group’s first year she’s found it to be a valuable resource in framing the state’s Every Student Succeeds Act plan when soliciting feedback from Latino educators and students.
Madeline Negron, a director of instruction and CALAS president-elect, said Latino administrators can function as advocates and mentors for Latino students.
“We know what it’s like,” she said.
Negron said that as CALAS leadership began to reach out to leaders in other districts doing similar work in major cities such as Hartford and Bridgeport, but also in smaller municipalities like Middletown They were met with enthusiasm. Latino administrators in Connecticut wanted to belong to a statewide coalition, she said.
Miguel Cardona, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning in Meriden Public Schools, said he believes CALAS is both “empowering” and “supportive” to the work he does.
“It fosters ongoing conversations about important issues,” he said. “I just recently had a meeting with another member of the group, and we were discussing bilingual education and the success that it’s had and how we are monitoring it to ensure students are getting programming that is research-based and effective.”
Not only has the nascent CALAS helped to place onto the same page the state’s Latino administrators and superintendents on some of the biggest issues concerning Latinos in schools, but it has also become a forum for sharing best practices, Cardona said.
In conjunction with Southern Connecticut State University, CALAS has begun a pilot program meant to attract more Latinos into leadership roles in education.
Lillian Fontan, principal of Hill Central School and CALAS secretary, said she sees the group as a crucial step forward in closing the achievement gap.
“We must make sure we are preparing the leaders we need to make an impact on students,” she said.
Currently, two students at the university are paired with school-level administrators in CALAS through a scholarship program.
“We want administrators that are Latino or understand the plight of Latino students,” Benitez said.
Stephen Hegedus, the SCSU dean of education, said he sees CALAS as an important partner in a coalition of groups and stakeholders who want to increase diverse representation within Connecticut’s public education workforce.
Alongside Benitez, Negron and Fontan, the organization’s executive team is rounded out by Worthington Hooker principal Evelyn Robles-Rivas. The fact that all four members of the CALAS leadership team are NHPS employees is a feature of the organization’s infancy and roots in the Elm City, as the intention is for CALAS to be a resource for administrators across the state, Benitez said.
Despite the ethnic composition of CALAS’s membership, Negron believes the individual needs of Latino students and administrators are part of the larger needs of the state’s students and education workforce.
“Our goal is for everybody to talk about the needs of Hispanic and Latino students,” she said.