Schools need public buy-in to make changes

For a district that has historically used the slogan “Kids First,” New Haven education leaders are struggling to do just that.

I’d love to dig under the surface on this topic, but I don’t think it’s necessary because every detail is already being played out in public. It’s clear that New Haveners want to see leadership that doesn’t devolve into what appear to be petty quarrels at Board of Education meetings and protests in front of central office. But what does that kind of leadership look like? Is it materialized through balanced budgets? Is it forged by community engagement? Can it exist through collaboration with key stakeholders? Or does it look like a top-down dissemination of decisions and information with little involvement with the public?

With 53 teachers getting the boot out of the district, a decision handed down by Superintendent Carol Birks, we’re seeing what happens when a community feels as though education decisions are happening to them instead of with them.

My commitment to New Haven is what led me to accept a position to work as the district’s spokesperson in 2016. But my desire to work on behalf of kids and with teachers who taught me during my time enrolled in NHPS was cannibalized by the intensity of political quarrels that felt like they were becoming less and less about students.

Since leaving the district after former Superintendent Garth Harries’ abrupt ouster, I’ve been blissfully tuned out to the education politics of the city — occasionally popping my head into meetings or reading coverage of them from a safe distance. As such, I first caught wind of the transfer of 53 teachers through a student-run Instagram page that generates memes about Hill Regional Career high school, my alma mater. The students posted a petition to stop the transfers of Mr. Osborne, Mr. Brennan and Mr. McCoy, all of whom have been teachers at Career for more than a decade. Mr. McCoy, Career’s only music teacher, has been with the school for nearly 20 years, and rents space in my memory as the maestro credited for pulling off elaborate musicals while I was in drama club.

But the personal stories of the impact particular teachers have had seem to matter less in these conversations than the public feuds amongst leadership. Ultimately, after the adults have finished bickering over the apparent power struggle in central office, students may be the ones to lose out.

In addition to the 53 transfers, there are projected to be about 30 retirements. The transfer shuffle is projected to help the district avoid layoffs, but the student population isn’t drastically shrinking. So with the departure of these teachers, class sizes will increase which means less individualized attention for each student and a higher risk of teacher burnout. It also means a pared down music program for Career, smaller history and math departments throughout the district, and an end to several invaluable teacher-student relationships that cannot be replaced.

The worst part of this story isn’t actually the strategy, it’s the extreme lack of communication, which I think has riddled chaos throughout this district for years. The New Haven Independent’s report that Board President Darnell Goldson wasn’t given the necessary details is just one example of that lack of communication.

It’s easy to see the unrest and upset if you’re watching protests in front of 54 Meadow St. and see that there are more than 1,000 signatures on a petition. But it wouldn’t be the city we all know and love if there weren’t also splintering disagreements within the disagreeing parties.

Birks’ supporters — some members of the black clergy and others — feel as though stability may never be reached in this district if a superintendent isn’t able to count on reliable support and cover from the mayor and board of education. They’re not necessarily wrong since the mayor and board majority supported Birks’ candidacy and shepherded her vote of approval.

But New Haveners have to decide if they want a yes vote to guarantee loyalty even in the face of disagreement.

Superintendent Birks has a $30 million budget deficit that needs to be resolved, and not a lot of options for how to do so. So while teacher transfers aren’t the best way to gain favor in a community that vehemently protested the appointment of this superintendent in 2017, the initial plan outlined may be objectively better than layoffs.

On the other hand, Birks’ critics — teachers, students and some members of the board — feel that deficit resolutions should stay as far from the classroom as possible. The outrage is exacerbated by the feeling that this particular group of people is the last to be informed about major decisions that impact them. This kind of inadequate transparency and lack of intentional community engagement plagues the district and disables effective collaboration.

Gone are the days of Dr. Mayo and Mayor DeStefano operating in lock step and ensuring everyone, especially parents, were happy. We’ve probably not seen paralleled stability since. But we genuinely cannot continue down our current path because we’ll be go broke fighting over what’s best for the classroom.

I don’t have the answers here; I don’t think anyone independently does. But we’ve all seen what this kind of infighting turns into. A fractured community, a contentious election cycle, and ultimately, students whose futures are left hanging in the balance while the adults figure their stuff out.