New Haven Independent

On Monday night, Cicarella, who heads New Haven Federation of Teachers (NHFT) Union Local 933, was among those who failed to receive word that the regularly scheduled Board of Education meeting was cancelled. Cicarella, who regularly attends the meetings, showed up, found out there was no meeting, then took some time to reflect on the status of NHPS’s vital teaching corps and its perspective on the city’s schools.

NHI: Tell me first a little about yourself and the union if you would.
DC: Well, I became president in 2007 after having taught at the Fair Haven Middle School for 29 years. I had many roles, as a math teacher, my last being as a kind of instructional math coach. I’ve loved it. My position, as head of the union, is the only teaching position in the system that does not require me to be in the classroom. I think I miss it!
NHI: And the union local? How big is it? How’s the contract status? What’s the morale?
DC: We have 1,600 NHPS teachers plus about another 100 people in the union, making a total of 1,700. This latter group of 100 consists of substitutes, the teachers at St. Francis School on Ferry Street, yes, a Catholic school, and a handful of school nurses in New Haven and in North Haven as well. The contract in effect now was ratified in 2006 and goes through 2010. It’s something of an odd position for me, since I came in before ratification, and I’ll go out, unless I’m re-elected, before we renegotiate.
NHI: And the morale?
DC: Well I would say it’s mixed.
NHI: Because?

DC: Well, the best way to answer that is to tell you what I would focus on if were re-negotiating. The first thing is class size. Now it’s about 27 kids per class. I think we need to get it down to 23 to 21. That sounds like it’s asking a lot, but our kids have an awful lot of needs, not just educational. They come, many of them, from economically deprived backgrounds. Often there is not a parent at home to follow through on the homework, or on emotional issues. There’s an awful lot to do. And in the early grades, kids, say in a fifth grade class, can be reading on four or five different grade levels. The teacher does as well as she can dividing the kids into groups, but there is no classroom help, no paraprofessionals — we lost them all four grades beyond the first — and the smaller class size will enable an awful lot more progress to occur.
NHI: What’s the next priority you’d address?
DC: Well, it’s retention. I don’t have the percentage at my finger tips, but we lose an awful lot of people after they’ve put in three, four, five, years. That’s really a crime. They’ve been trained, they’re flourishing, they’re young, energetic, have established confidence, classroom management skill, and then they are lured away because they can do the same thing in the suburbs and get paid $50,000 for what we pay them $43,000.
NHI:You’re talking about a lot of money.
DC: That’s true. But if it’s important, if people attach value to the work, they will find the money. The district understands this, but at some point, talking needs to be replaced with action.
NHI: Why are you still with us?
DC: Look, I have a math degree and a degree in administration, and, believe me, I could. But I love the experience I’ve had at Fair Haven Middle School — in that old building and in the new — and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
NHI: Can you characterize that experience?
DC: Well, at bottom it has to do with feeling that you are really needed by the kids. As I said before, many of our kids bring a lot of problems to the classroom. They count on you. As their teacher, you are often the “one.” When there’s a problem in learning or whatever and through your intercession, good things happen, and the kid can overcome this or that, and advance, the kids are immensely grateful. And so are the parents. That cliché about making a difference… believe me, it’s a real challenge, but NHPS teachers make a difference. They just need a helping hand themselves in these areas I’ve pointed out. But I’m a glass-half-full guy. The profession and the circumstances we have now may not be for everybody, but believe me, but when you’re “it” for the kids, when you work hard and there’s progress, I go to bed at night with an immense sense of satisfaction, and I sleep very well.