With Dr. José Colón-Rivas moving to become chief operating officer of the Hartford Public Schools and Dr. Beth Taylor changing residency, the Hartford Board of Education is again two members short of a full deck.  A previous vacancy, filled by Parent Julio Flores, an impressive leader on two schools’ School Governance Councils, does not diminish the need for a full Board complement on ready alert.

In our recent open letter to Hartford education leaders, we spoke directly to the need for stability, as superintendent and board member turnover does have an impact on the dysfunctionality of districts.

The transition by Dr. Taylor, always a thoughtful and probing questioner and data-oriented leader, is a significant loss to the Board, as was that of Dr. Colon-Rivas, although he remains a leader in the game.

The Bottom Line.  We need more leaders.  Hartford, and in particular Mayor Luke Bronin, need to bring this Board to its full, nine-member group – and to do so with a resident who, like Mr. Flores, has valuable expertise, an intense sense of urgency to ensure Hartford does right by every single student, family, and teacher, and also can have flexible time so as to attend meetings and do Board homework.  On one hand, the Democratic Town Committee must make a selection to replace elected member, Dr. Beth Taylor.  On the other hand, we advocate for the business community to help the Mayor identify a resident with an eye towards ensuring K-12 education and higher education lead to a robust student talent pipeline for city and regional employers.

When Superintendent Beth Schiavino-Narvaez announced September 8^th that she was leaving the District this fall to take another job, it was a resignation … about which Hartford cannot afford any further resignation.  Instead, several imperatives come to mind.

While Hartford Public Schools have had revolving-door departures by superintendents for at least the past two decades, the sudden announcement from Dr. Narvaez nonetheless was startling; she had two years left on a contract just extended.

This latest shake-up should, however, only galvanize the community in its resolve to addres educational inequity.

In a news release following the announcement, Achieve Hartford! advised, “While the tendency right now would be to let the resignation of our city’s education leader lead to a resignation in our own hearts, our children demand the exact opposite from us right now.”  Our full statement is online here.

History tells us no messianic figure is going to suddenly appear – or necessarily stay – in the superintendent’s office in Hartford.

So it is incumbent on us as a community, therefore, to continue the efforts toward student success plans, mastery-based learning, teacher training, and college readiness to reduce the achievement gap so wide, still.

With families, community leaders, and dedicated partners, our community has to save itself.

Here are the superintendent’s September 8th announcement of her departure and the Hartford Couranteditorial assessing it.

Achieve Hartford!’s annual open letter to local education leaders found a silver lining amidst all the fiscal and political strain: “We can be the one city in America that taps every asset, engages every option, and ensures every child receives a high-quality education.”  Hartford may not have a sufficient tax base within its small 17-square mile footprint – but it does sport enviable corporate, higher education, and passionate parent assets.

It’s time to use them.  The open letter, online here, suggests rejecting further defeatism, even as further budget deficits loom and leadership once again is going to change.  “The only way we can produce success stories for all students – not just some – is to fundamentally alter the disproportionately high concentration of need in our neighborhood schools,” the letter emphasizes.

Here are the main points we have urged the mayor and Board of Education to pursue right now:

• Make the Right Decision.  Select not an interim, but a permanent successor to outgoing Superintendent Beth Schiavino-Narvaez – one who is equipped to fulfill the District’s strategic operating plan and focus attention on the 25 lowest-performing schools.
• Explore All Possible Solutions.  Find ways of maximizing the number of children who gain access to high-performing schools, regardless of who manages them, utilizing the Equity 2020 process to not just consolidate but comprehensively improve schools.
• Revolutionize Negotiations.  Reignite the civil rights flame of the Sheff v. O’Neill case – and assert City leadership over a Hartford agenda.  Our key argument?  “To not pull more Hartford children off the magnet waitlist is completely unacceptable from our perspective, because by adding an additional 35 more Hartford students across all existing magnet schools, we can help approximately 1,000 kids immediately get into stronger learning environments without significantly throwing off racial balance in those schools.”
• Enhance Board Leadership.  Given the inevitable ebb and flow of Board of Education members, find more champions to serve, appointing leaders who have proven ability to build strong relationships and consensus around an agenda.  Board training could be more robust, too.
• Listen.  Set policies that adhere to the mandate of the CCJEF v. Rell ruling (see our commentary here) to heighten the quality of high school diplomas, the rewards and evaluations of educators as professionals, and special education services.

The Bottom Line.  Hartford was once the wealthiest city in the country; now it is among the poorest.  Rather than re-litigate all the negative forces at work in that 180-degree turn, we have chosen instead to focus on the tremendous assets in this community.  If they are brought to bear, Hartford can be a turnaround city once again.  The time to act on this is now.