The Hartford Public Schools are working to build parent understanding of the federal Title 1 supports for community outreach by visiting every School Governance Council (SGC) and collaborating with Hartford Parent University on budget briefings.  It’s about time.
Hartford Board of Education Member Julio Flores pointed out Tuesday that a central office team has met with every School Governance Council (SGC).  Moreover, SGC representatives now will be invited to meetings of the Board’s Parent and Community Engagement Committee, which he chairs, Board Member Flores said.

Voicing concerns about poor communications regarding the Title 1 resource and the spotty SGC implementation, Hartford Parent University Executive Director Milly Arciniegas has gone blue in the face for years.  Now, HPU is a partner in the effort to address those issues.

At a committee meeting last week, HPS Chief Operating Officer Dr. José Colón-Rivas discussed a draft fact sheet to encourage building-level SGC and Parent Teacher Organization applications for Title 1 Parent Involvement funds.  Activities eligible for funding range from trainings relevant to a child’s developmental stages to filling out college applications – and also could include school-family-community action teams to develop public information initiatives.

Briefing parents on the nuances of District operations – and the budget – also is crucial, Board Member Flores emphasized.  “You can’t have a business meeting where no one understands.”  When he was SGC chair at Burns Latino Studies Academy, he recalled, parent leaders were feeling unsupported – and were unaware of the federal grant resources.  “Title 1 funding comes up at the schools all the time,” he said, “and no one really understands it.”

Dr. Colón-Rivas also called for focused SGC training on the budget and noted that a February meeting with Hartford Parent University is planned on that topic.

District compliance with State law requiring School Governance Councils also should be a priority, Board Member Tiffany Glanville told the committee.

Here are the State’s frequently asked questions regarding SGCs.

The Bottom Line

The desire to get more SGCs up and running at every school has been expressed – and unrealized – for seven years now.  One reason we don’t have high-functioning SGCs is that HPS has not made effective family engagement practices a priority.

The District knows where the SGCs are weak; Achieve Hartford! reported on this five years ago and District data updates annually tell the tale.  Without strong PTOs and feeder pipelines – and principals dedicated to cultivating them as a means to help close the achievement gap – this “family engagement gap” will persist.

Thankfully, the District is partnering with Hartford Parent University on this.  Past exasperation regarding lackluster Title 1 and SGC support is shifting … toward higher expectations.  The Title 1 training under way – plus enhancement of SGCs – is all about empowering parents.  That’s a huge positive.

As made clear by educators, parents, and community members in attendance, the District’s involvement in Hartford Partnership for Student Success (HPSS) is working well as a solid investment with significant returns for students and families in seven under-resourced community schools.  But if you attended the last Board meeting (or watched the video online), you might not know whether the Board understands how HPSS works in HPS’ favor. 

Despite ultimately unanimously backing continued funding for community schools through HPSS, such an outcome was not clear during what was at times a heated and confusing conversation.  That discussion centered on payment approval for the already appropriated $95,000 in Title 1 funds for HPSS, which opens HPS up to nearly half a million dollars and many times more through in-kind partner support.  So the question remains: does the Board buy in to this strategy meant to address challenges created by poverty?

Vice Chair Tiffany Glanville opened up with the series of questions about the District’s support of HPSS.  Board Member Michael Brescia challenged the salaries and benefits of the Hartford Partnership for Student Success (HPSS).  He questioned the “independent evaluation” cost of $101,000, but HPSS Partnership Director Tauheedah Jackson explained that only 17 percent of those evaluation costs are paid by Hartford.  The seven schools receive some $458,000 in partnership funds, which are leveraged by some $95,000 in federal Title 1 funds coming to Hartford, she said.

Board Member Craig Stallings questioned how the surrounding community has benefited from community schools, looking toward churches and community organizations.  With the community wanting to provide perspective, he said, something is amiss, in terms of reaching “that other layer” of community involvement.  HPSS Partnership Director Jackson recommended a Board workshop with full disclosure as to every school budget.  Lead agency partners in the presently seven community schools do understand the value of scaling up to even more schools, but that will be up to the District, a founding partner of HPSS.

Board Member Julio Flores asked whether the value of the HPSS services could be quantified.  Given the scope of the wraparound services provided families across dental, health, mental health, and other services, he asked, “Do we have a way of showing how much money we’re saving?”

For community residents, parents, and educators in attendance, the answer was clear.  After seven years of community schools work, the impact of their wraparound services is hardly a mystery.  When designed and supported well, it works.

A staff member from Asian Studies at Belizzi spoke Tuesday in support of the dental and mental health services his students receive.  Their time-saving access to medical appointments right at the school, he explained, buttresses both their health and educational progress.  Confusion over the value of community schools Tuesday was surprising, he said in a follow-up interview.  “Tonight seemed like an information traffic jam.  The questions were kind of strange.”

The Bottom Line

It is good that Hartford is grappling with how the Hartford Partnership for Student Success might be restructured to better take on poverty challenges.  Parents, community members, and educators in attendance at the Board meeting all appeared to get this.  They don’t see schools as just classrooms, but as havens where vision, health, and other obstacles to learning can be addressed.  Board Member Tiffany Glanville even called for consideration of how the community school model might be “fully actualized” including attention to gaps in services such as before- and after-school care.  The services are, however, customized to each school’s needs.

Does the model need to spread to additional buildings or should we double down on this strategy at fewer schools?  We, for one, remain a steadfast supporter of the community schools strategy and think we need to double down at current schools.  We want to see the strategy expand to include teacher training regarding adverse childhood experiences and youth development.  Deepening the connections to family engagement strategies at the school also is a continuous improvement goal, as is providing the services characteristic of full service community schools.

In the coming months, Hartford Public Schools will face two major decisions that will have a huge impact on student learning and the direction of HPS: (1) choosing a new permanent superintendent (reflecting on the past revolving door) and (2) finalizing a new budget (during one of the worst budget crises the city has faced … ever).  Is there a vision to guide these and other decisions board members need to make?

Another Year, Another Search for HPS Superintendent

Hartford has had a bunch of superintendents over the past 25 years (so many that only the scholars can name them).  Today, every Hartford child, parent, and educator knows the importance of stability, whether at breakfast at home or by a conversation in the classroom or principal’s office.

City leaders like Mayor Bronin have publicly emphasized the need to find a replacement superintendent who is either already local or with a clear long-term commitment to HPS.

At this point, six candidates reportedly are under serious consideration for the position.  Local candidates include HPS Chief Operating Officer José Colón-Rivas, former Classical Magnet School Principal and CREC’s current assistant superintendent for Operations Tim Sullivan, and Acting Superintendent Leslie Torres-Rodriguez (in alpha order), who all have deep city roots.

Each of the half-dozen candidates now seeking to be the next permanent superintendent of the Hartford Public Schools will be interviewed by the first week of February.  And, according to Search Committee Co-Chair John Motley, the time frame for final selection will depend on whether the process results in a clear choice … or a need for further deliberations.  In any case, it appears that two finalist candidates ultimately will emerge from the interviews for further public vetting this winter, or in the early spring.  Here is the Courant coverage of the process.

Having a clear process, we posit, is not enough.  Having a clear plan for what this leader must do is required.  And this plan must move away from the persistent and troubling neglect of Hartford’s North End.  Absent a plan being presented by existing HPS leadership, the onus appears to rest on the current candidates for HPS superintendent to articulate their visions for the school district.  We look forward to helping our leaders articulate a vision.

A Search of a Different Kind: Budget Priorities (and Cuts) for the 2017-18 School Year

Coming into the new year, we all know that hard budget decisions will have to made.  Hartford’s uniqueness, in teetering on the edge of insolvency, also warrants close consideration, as discussed in the Courant today.

The Fiscal 2018 budget process is just beginning, but a projected $20 million gap clearly will entail extremely tough decisions at all levels – and will require robust participation from all segments of the school community, Acting Superintendent Torres-Rodriguez reported Tuesday (at the 55:08 mark of this video).  A special public meeting on the budget is slated for January 23^rd at Bulkeley High School, she announced, and four follow-up community meetings are planned.

Concerns about priorities and possible cuts are causing anxiety across the city.  This worry was only magnified by recent news reports of anywhere from 60 to 200 teacher cuts as a possible outcome of the budget process.  Layoffs will be a measure of last resort, the acting superintendent said, referring to media coverage of recent “illustrations” discussing the possibilities.

Echoing Dr. Torres, Board Member Craig Stallings said his Finance Committee merely received a presentation on layoff possibilities last week, but is just beginning the process.  In addition to the District’s enhanced outreach regarding the budget, the Finance Committee of the Board will be more intensively involved in the development of the budget this year and looks to hear from every School Governance Council and every union, Committee Chair Stallings emphasized.

The Bottom Line

The City and Board budget woes need answers – plans, not just processes – that will significantly change the way money is spent.  If Hartford continues to spend money and choose leaders the same way, all we will do is continue to come up short.

As the process for making those two decisions moves forward, we believe that the next superintendent must have a strong relationship to the North Hartford community, as school consolidation will happen there.  In addition, the next superintendent will have to WANT to do this (not try and avoid it or do it begrudgingly) and will have to WANT to stay here in Hartford to see his/her vision and plan through to completion.