West Rock

Post-Pandemic Woes Grind Common Ground

by | Jan 29, 2024 3:17 pm | Comments (34)

Seeking higher ground: former staffer Victor Rios, student Kiana Camacho and friend, and former staffer Nicole Mackin.

Students, staff, and parents at Common Ground High School say the school is going downhill because of high teacher turnover and distrust for administration. The environmental-themed charter school’s board and leaders say they are working to get to the bottom of these concerns. 

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Student Absences Rise At Common Ground

by | Nov 29, 2023 2:55 pm | Comments (16)

Common Ground data

Common Ground's recent attendance report.

Nearly half of high schoolers attending a West Rock environmental charter school were chronically absent” during the first two months of the school year — an uptick that school leaders are working to address through everything from perfect-attendance recognitions to home visits and family meetings to recommended withdrawals. 

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What To Do With 2 Closed School Buildings?

by | Jul 25, 2023 3:02 pm | Comments (12)

Thomas Breen file photo

Closed school, future black box theater, on Valley St?

Maya McFadden photo

Smith dreams of black box theatre and second community center for Ward 30.

If it was up to West Rock/West Hills Alder Honda Smith, her ward would put two now-vacant former public school buildings — including the recently shuttered ex-Clarence Rogers School on Wilmot Road — back to use by creating a black box theater for family-friendly programming, a rental space, a second community center, and an all-boys charter school.

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Public Housing Evictions On The Rise

by | Jul 7, 2023 2:37 pm | Comments (38)

Laura Glesby photo

Ronisha Baskin and her four-year-old, crashing with grandma in Waterbury.

Ronisha Baskin didn’t know how to tell her 14-year-old daughter that the Housing Authority of New Haven had evicted them. I didn’t even know what to say.” She could not find the words to explain that a lack of housing options would force them to split up across different cities.

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Common Ground Mural Reaches For The Sun

by | Jun 14, 2023 8:58 am | Comments (3)

Allan Appel photo

Artist Adae with Common Ground student Leon Armstrong.

Kids with hands upraised half way between shouting hallelujah and playing volleyball with an immense sun. A green plant as imposing as Jack’s beanstalk growing out of the palm of one girl’s outstretched hand while goats, cats and two hens, notably a Buff Orpington and a Polish chicken, dash happily underfoot.

Those joyous images are at the heart of Class of 2025,” a lush and engaging mural executed by long-time New Haven muralist Kwadwo Adae and the entire sophomore class (thus the title) at Common Ground High School.

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Pre-Father's Day Fest Fetes The Dads

by | May 31, 2023 3:38 pm | Comments (1)

Maya McFadden Photo

Chad Hutchinson with sons: "You see a difference in them when you're around."

Four-year-old Carter watched as the strongest man he knows — his dad, Chad Hutchinson — helped his older brother Damarion conquer the monkey bars.

Carter beamed with confidence as he knew that, with his father by his side, he wouldn’t fail now or in the future. 

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Middle-School GSA Finds Its Way

by | Jan 20, 2023 5:24 pm | Comments (3)

Maya McFadden Photo

Elm City Montessori's GSA students and staff, with local artist Kwadwo Adae, at a recent Friday meetup.

Contributed photo

Finishing up Elm City Montessori's new GSA-backed school mural.

Gender-neutral bathrooms. Thoughtful and caring educators. A Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) for middle schoolers. And a school mission statement that loudly and proudly supports LGBTQ students.

Those were just a handful of ideas that came to mind for the members of Elm City Montessori’s GSA when asked to dream up their ideal school.

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New Havener Of The Year

by | Dec 23, 2022 11:01 am | Comments (10)

Maya McFadden photo

Honda Smith at the Shack: Banking on trust and community.

Honda Smith made a promise to herself and to her West Hills neighbors that, after retiring from three decades of working for the city, she would find a way to keep serving her neighborhood.

As a reborn westside community center thrives under her watch and neighbors keep busy and fed, that promise has been well kept.

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Christmas Comes Early At The Shack With $, Toy, & Food Donations

by | Dec 14, 2022 5:21 pm | Comments (6)

Maya McFadden photos

Sarah Wall, Catherine Thigpen, Honda Smith, Rev. D’Hati T. Burgess, Richard Furlow, Carolyn Kinder, and Jalmar De Dios at The Shack.

EastCoastin's Sal Fusco drops off Winter Wonderland toy donation.

Three community-boosting miracles — including an oversized check from a power company and a truck full of toys from a bike life group — showed up at The Shack to help the West Rock community center get in the holiday spirit.

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Shack Sets "Our Table" For Thanksgiving Feast

by | Nov 28, 2022 3:11 pm | Comments (8)

Maya McFadden photos

Sabrina Gibbs with daughters Xora and Nova.

Alder Smith greets Stetson Librarian Diane Brown.

Sabrina Gibbs and her two daughters Xora and Nova got a slice of their new neighborhood — and a slice or two of pumpkin pie — at a reborn West Hills community center’s inaugural Our Table” Thanksgiving dinner. 

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Common Ground Plants Signs For Safer Streets

by | Nov 28, 2022 8:56 am | Comments (9)

Allan Appel photo

Aubrey Bido and Aaliyah Jones trying to calm speeders.

We have to worry so much about the cars going fast, we can’t learn how to spell!”

The remark by Common Ground High School freshman Aubrey Bido and her classmate Aaliyah Jones was jokey about the misspelled word on Bido’s sign,“Yeild” for Yield,” but the occasion was anything but.

In fact, the message — and the West Rock safe streets sign-making workshop it sprang from — pointed to a matter of life and potential vehicular death.

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Teacher Vacancies Spark Student Transfers

by | Nov 21, 2022 6:17 pm | Comments (33)

Thomas Breen file photo

Board of Ed member Darnell Goldson: "First, one of our schools was shut down due to a lack of proper maintenance of the HVAC system, now our seventh and eighth grade classes are being dismantled. What's next?"

A shortage of teachers at Brennan-Rogers School has led the city’s public school district to recommend that families transfer 7th and 8th graders out of the West Rock magnet school and to another New Haven public school that has more educators on staff.

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Philly Moms Find Brotherly Love By West Rock

by | Nov 11, 2022 2:14 pm | Comments (6)

Maya McFadden Photos

Philadelphia and New Haven moms walk together along the Valley St. memorial.

Philly's Johndell Gredic sketching a vision for a similar garden in her home city.

A group of moms from Philadelphia walked a brick pathway lined with the names of hundreds of New Haven victims of gun violence — to take solace in the tranquil Valley Street garden, and to find inspiration in how to build a similar memorial in their own home city.

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