New Haven Independent

The event Friday morning with Mayor John DeStefano at the bilingual K-8 school on Congress Avenue was the next in a series of school pride events designed to put into action the tenets of a school reform initiative.

The focus, in the words of schools chief Reggie Mayo: “There’s no other option but college.”

To send that message home, teachers dressed in the clothes of their college alma maters. The school’s 56 kindergarten students got star treatment akin to a graduation ceremony, with applause from older students as they walked to a courtyard auditorium. The young ones wore clapboard hats that read “Class of 2026” and T-shirts reading “future college graduate.”

Mayo jumped on a stage in front of a crowd of parents and students and held up a book, Two Mice In A Boat. (“That’s my favorite book,” the mayor said.) Mayo laid out his expectations.

“Boys and girls, we want you to be successful,” Mayo said. “The way that you do that, is … you have to read, read, and continue reading if you want to be — what? — successful.”

“You need to turn the TV off and — what? — read, read, read,” he said. “If you read, you will go to college, and you will be successful.”

College graduates live longer and earn more, DeStefano noted.

Many of the kindergarten students are off to a good start: 95 percent are arriving at school this year with preparation from pre-kindergarten classes, officials said.

Mayo urged parents to set up a “corridor of excellence” for their young ones, to continue these expectations at home.

With that, the kindergarteners walked off to their first day of what officials hoped would be a 17-year journey to a college degree.

Some previous stories about New Haven’s school reform drive:

• Principal Keeps School On The Move
• With National Push, Reform Talks Advance
• Nice New School! Now Do Your Homework
• Mayo Unveils Discipline Plan
• Mayor Launches “School Change” Campaign
• Reform Drive Snags “New Teacher” Team
• Can He Work School Reform Magic?
• Some Parental Non-Involvement Is OK, Too
• Mayor: Close Failing Schools
• Union Chief: Don’t Blame The Teachers
• 3-Tiered School Reform Comes Into Focus
• At NAACP, Mayo Outlines School Reform
• Post Created To Bring In School Reform
• Board of Ed Assembles Legal Team