Now in its third year, Inspire Hartford has become a destination and a journey into 21^st century learning and what’s possible for Hartford students.

But this year marks the beginning of what we hope will become a deeply engaged, thoughtful community of collaborators, willing to use their time, talent, and resources to seeing nothing less than each and every Hartford student reach their highest potential.

Our new vision of how change happens in education is the underpinning narrative that led us to our featured speaker, Liz Dozier, who shares our passion for using social innovations to drive change. Liz is the managing director of Chicago Beyond, a philanthropic venture fund designed to improve life outcomes for young people in Chicago and beyond.

In an interview with Chicago Sun Times about the new venture philanthropy startup, she describes her organization’s impact as addressing youth safety and educational attainment as “flip sides of the same coin”.

As former principal of Fenger High School in Chicago, Liz knows all too well how violence and other obstacles can shatter a student’s future.  Her daily challenges and passionate advocacy were highlighted in CNN documentary “Chicago Land”.  Carrying the stories of her students with her, she sees Chicago Beyond as a vehicle to make a broader impact and actual “investments” in others doing the personal and direct work with Chicago’s youth.

Creative and innovative solutions were keys to her success at turning around Fenger High and it’s those same great ideas that Liz says she’s looking for in the proposals from non-profits seeking funding from the foundation.

For as long as people have worked to drive change, transformational ideas have been the cornerstone of their efforts, brought new people in, and inspired others.

When Hartford’s best and brightest thinkers, artists, business people, teachers, non-profits – and other leaders from across the city– gather for a single night in March, ready to interact around the accomplishments of Hartford students, change is on the horizon.

Please join us

Wednesday March, 28, 2018

5:30pm VIP 6:00pm-9:00pm program

Downtown Hartford Hilton

For sponsorship opportunities and tickets visit: www.inspirehartford.com

Superintendent Leslie Torres-Rodriguez’s school consolidation plan reflects a comprehensive, research -based recommendation reflecting input from teachers, parents and guardians, students, faith leaders and community leaders, say school board leaders.

Unlike an earlier plan proposed by the prior superintendent, Dr. Torres-Rodriguez’s approach is comprehensive and based on multiple factors, notes parent Tiffany Glanville, vice chair of the Harford School Board. As someone who served on the former Equity 2020 committee that had studied school consolidation in the hopes of making a recommendation, Board VP Glanville remarked that, “This plan is better because it isn’t just about facilities and enrollment; it’s about an entire restructuring of the District.”

The process looked at programs, facilities and how to maximize resources to create a district of excellence, adds parent and Board Chair Craig Stallings.

“The superintendent isn’t outlining three possible scenarios like her predecessor. She’s recommending one that she stands by based on public input and help from outside consultants, Educational Resources Strategies”, Glanville said. “I think that’s bold, I’m pleased with that leadership approach.”

Educational Resources Strategies (ERS), a national nonprofit consulting firm hired to assist with the process, helped ensure a comprehensive reorganization, not the facilities-based approach that was a hallmark of Equity 2020. While Torres-Rodriguez owns this recommendation, Glanville says, ERS seems “to have been a valuable technical support provider to this whole process.”

The District Model for Excellence reportedly involved a comprehensive mining of data, looking at the entire district, at programming, facilities, community needs and what works best from an educational standpoint, she says.

The superintendent met with people in groups large and small to hear their concerns, fears and suggestions. Dr. Torres-Rodriguez’s extensive community outreach included presenting preliminary findings. She proactively sought to engage every aspect of the community by attending parent forums, visiting schools, attending neighborhood revitalization zone meetings, town committee meetings, and meeting with city council members and state legislators representing Hartford, both Stallings and Granville said. She talked about the need for consolidation and listened to what residents said they wanted to see as part of that effort.

Dr. Torres-Rodriguez’s plan, unveiled Tuesday night at the Board of Education’s monthly public meeting, attempts to ensure that every school serves as a community school. Glanville says the plan strives to simultaneously create educational equity and fiscal sustainability by closing low-occupancy, high-cost schools. This consolidation plan seeks to create quality schools in every neighborhood, says Stallings, “making our schools community hubs and gathering places for intergenerational and extra-curricular learning.”

While he learned about the plan along with the community Tuesday night, he said he appreciated the decision to notify stakeholders all at once at a public meeting.

“There were no leaks. Most people got the information at the same time. We’re all digesting it together,” Stallings says. While it was riskier to inform everyone at once, “It’s fair.”

He was initially surprised to hear what schools are slated for closing, but he was pleased to learn that the school names representing community leaders will be transferred to schools that will remain open under the restructuring plan. He says it makes sense that the plan calls for relinquishing older buildings costing the district more money to run, holding onto names that mean something to the community and using the savings to strengthen the remaining schools.

“I’m not as concerned that all of our neighborhood schools are going to be decimated,” he says. “I’m a little more relaxed than I was before.”

While it’s difficult to see schools close and for families to have to change their routines, the process ultimately reflects parents’ desire to see a quality educational system for their children.

“We see that reflected very much in this approach,” Glanville says.

Going forward, Stallings says, he expects board members to accompany the superintendent as she meets with community groups to talk about the consolidation plan.

“We will be in the schools that are going to be affected directly. No one’s going to run from this. This is real. It’s going to happen,” he says.

Dr. Torres-Rodriguez projects savings could reach $15 million. Stallings says this plan may not be enough. “We still may have to do more.”

While closing buildings that are only half full is the fiscally responsible choice, the superintendent wrote in an op-ed in The Hartford Courant, persistently low student achievement demands the change proposed.  “The yardstick that measures our school district is student performance – and we have fallen short for too long,” she wrote.

“Fewer schools will mean fewer dollars spent on maintaining buildings and more dollars spent on learning. Closing under-capacity schools will allow for reinvestment in our remaining schools to make them better,” she wrote. “As the redesign moves forward, the transition may result in some discomfort and a lot of hard work over the next several years. But there is no alternative. If we do not make these changes, we will doom another generation of students to an underperforming system.”

Achieve Hartford! is excited to see bold – and unified – leadership willing to make tough choices and back it up with engagement of and in the community.

On the surface nothing in particular stands out for those arriving at a recent meeting in the atrium of Journalism & Media Academy. Walking into the building, one would have found a typical meeting space—rows of chairs and tables assembled in circles.

The 20-people assembled on this cold December evening are taking part in a process most never get to experience—designing a high school—and not just any school, but Weaver High School, one of Hartford’s great institutions.  Although a visit to the current Weaver school resembles a demolition zone, the Weaver Steering Committee sees something much greater in the piles of rubble. With the ability to look at the school with fresh eyes, they know the Weaver project is about much more than constructing a building.

The Weaver High School Redesign steering committee, involving community leaders, Weaver alumnae, parents, corporate leaders, university leaders, and school district staff, is daring to imagine a truly student-centered high school: fully resourced, fully trained, fully connected, and fully accountable to the community.

“Even back in the day, with school turn arounds either forced via threat of state takeover or incentivized via federal Race-to-the-Top money, you still didn’t see the kind of community engagement that you’re seeing right now,” says Paul Diego Holzer, executive director of Achieve Hartford!. “There’s power in the school district, the private sector, and the grassroots community coming together without a mandate by the state and without a huge carrot from the federal government to imagine something new.”

It all started two years ago when the Blue Hills Civic Association led a series of community meetings and visioning sessions to define what kind of graduate the new Weaver High School must produce.  After that, volunteers broke into working groups to make recommendations on family and community engagement, school culture and climate, the student learning experience and the building design.

Then, when community leaders approached former school superintendent Dr. Beth Schiavino-Narvaez to co-lead the redesign process, she responded favorably. She knew she would have to engage with the community at some point, and here was Blue Hills Civic Association and residents already taking responsibility.

The new superintendent, Dr. Leslie Torres-Rodriguez, “has not just embraced the idea of a co-led process; she’s embraced the implementation of a co-led process, where Blue Hills Deputy Director Vicki Gallon-Clark is co-chair of the steering committee with the Hartford Public Schools chief of staff,” Paul says.

The $100,000 million fully renovated school is intended to open in 2019 and house 900 students from three schools being brought together under one roof – the Journalism and Media Academy, High School Inc., and Kinsella Magnet High School of Performing Arts.

This process doesn’t feel like the window dressing exercise of the past. “There is a very, very different feel this time around with both the community members and the private sector feeling like they can have their voice heard and can influence decisions at the highest level,” he says. “With so many educators, advocates and community leaders realizing that education issues can’t be solved without the community and without coming together, sharing power is the goal in this process. And it is a sign of strength for our city. Education leaders at Hartford Public Schools probably feel a sense of risk, but courageous leadership is what is called for right now.”

Despite looking like a prison because of its lack of windows, Weaver High School had at one time a reputation for providing a rigorous curriculum and graduating students well-prepared for the demands of high quality colleges. The school had relationships with area colleges and universities where students could enroll in educational summer programs that gave them a taste of medicine, engineering and other disciplines.

But in recent years, students with “A” averages at Weaver found themselves unprepared for college, often forced to begin with remedial classes, says Vicki Gallon-Clark, deputy director of the Blue Hills Civic Association and Weaver steering committee co-chair.

The long-time school volunteer says she agreed to co-lead the committee because she wanted to save future Weaver students from attending a school with a curriculum that lacks rigor, with teachers who don’t look like them.

In the past, Ms. Vicki says, Hartford Public Schools didn’t feel the need to be accountable to the community, and the community members didn’t feel they had the power to influence their children’s education.

“It’s a whole new story now,” she says. “We expect a rigorous academic curriculum. We want a voice in how that looks. There’s been some growing pains on both sides. There’s been some resistance. Conflict is good; it means the old norms are being challenged. It’s making room for creative ideas.”

The community members feel that their voice is being heard. For example, community representatives told the district representatives they want Weaver to have one leader, she says, bringing documentation to back up their recommendation.

Members of the Student Learning Experience work group have discussed details about the vetting and hiring of teachers, characteristics they want to see in the school leader and what core classes should be required for students, says Jason Farquharson, a BHCA board member, Weaver alumnus and steering committee member.

Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Karraine Moody, a Weaver graduate and a Trinity College graduate, says she’s optimistic.

“Some people may say it’s been almost a year and we’re just getting into it,” but these things take time, says Karraine, who serves on the School Culture and Climate work group.  “So many people have different experiences with how they relate to the school.”

She’s appreciated the strong, in-depth, detailed conversations about testing, rigor and standards, she says, and feels people representing different perspectives have the chance to be heard. Each work group has been charged with establishing at least two or three measurable goals and recommendations within the next two months.

Another work group member, Kyra Brown, founder of Keys to the Gate, LLC, says as a parent and an active volunteer in the schools, she wanted to make sure the school would provide students with opportunities and prepare them for life after high school.

“We’re all working together,” she says. “We’re doing great work.”

So far, there are no high school students on the committee, but Ms. Vicki hopes they’ll be able to fill that gap and get at least one student on each of the work groups.

This story is the first in a series bringing you many of the innovative ways community members, educators, parents, students, higher education and business leaders are rethinking ways to do high school.