New Haven Independent

Long-time Hooker School Principal Carol Kennedy (pictured on the dais, second from left) began the festivities this way: “Some said it wouldn’t be done; others said it couldn’t be done; still others said it shouldn’t be done. But today, we are here to start.”

She was alluding to the legal battle between some neighbors of the proposed school on one side and parents, school administrators and elected officials on the other. The fight went all the way to the State Supreme Court, which ruled that the city could build its new school for grades 3-8 on the Whitney Avenue site of a former church sanctuary, a few blocks from the original Hooker School, which has been renovated and reopened as a K-2 school.

Hundreds of people crowded into an unheated tent, about which Mayor John DeStefano joked, “I want to welcome you to the city’s newest sustainable energy project. We have no heat except your body heat.” He was in fine form; click here to hear more.

He praised the diversity of the student body at the school, as exemplified by these two young clarinetists, as well as its high test scores. And he praised the community for “a characteristic I admire, which is that you didn’t give up.”

Later, State Sen. Marty Looney (pictured to the right of Kennedy in photo and to the left of State Rep. Cam Staples) praised Hooker as “the gem of neighborhood schools, with a strong sense of community and fellowship, something that really brings the neighborhood together.”

When his turn came, schools Superintendent Reggie Mayo employed an aviation metaphor. “We’re going to launch this airplane today,” he said. “We’re hoping the turbulence was all up front and we won’t have much turbulence in this plane coming down.”

Guests listened to speeches from adults, and music and poetry from students.

Only the most oblique of references were made to the all the legal troubles and ill will that preceded this day, and of all the people who were thanked for bringing it about, none was mentioned more often than former Ward 10 Alderman Ed Mattison (pictured). At the end of the formal program, DeStefano thanked Mattison for his leadership. “I just remember how ugly this got at times, and Eddie never pandered to it, as we elected officials sometimes do. Eddie, we wouldn’t have done it without you.” He also acknowledged the efforts of two long-time city employees, City Plan Director Karyn Gilvarg and schools construction head Sue Weisselberg, for their roles in the project.

The school is due to open in the fall of 2009 (although, as proof of the delays, the small print on this enormous sign that’s been up on the property for years reads “completion date 2006” in the bottom right-hand corner).

Diane “Cookie” Polan, one of the most outspoken parents pushing for the new school at this location, was in a celebratory mood. She’s pictured on the left with one of her twin daughters’ third grade teacher, Lucia Paolella (who went on to be an assistant principal at Hooker and is now principal of Nathan Hale School). “It’s very nice to finally have this happen,” Polan said. “When my kids finished first grade is when we started saying, we need another building. Now they’re going to be 19” and are in college.

And what about those two young students at the top of the story? Magarvey Josie (on the left) is a fourth grader and Rylee Golding a third grader at the Hooker swing space, a former Catholic school on State Street. Magarvey said things are fine at his school now, but he expects “a lot of things to change” when they move to the new school - mainly “the surroundings, of course.” And budding artist Rylee just said she hopes there’ll be a big, well-equipped art room. There’ll be that and plenty more: an auditorium/stage, a full-size gym, and labs and resource rooms galore.

This school is slated to cost $35.5 million. DeStefano thanked everyone involved in the long battle, including the city’s delegation to the General Assembly, which has succeeded in getting bonding to cover 70 percent of the $850 million cost of the schools built so far. Thirty percent of the money comes from city coffers. “As taxpayers, you’re all paying a little bit more for having done this. But what it’s delivered is, I think, something that’s elevated all our kids.”

An additional 14 schools will be rebuilt/renovated, at a cost of $600 million more.