Thomas MacMillan Photo
Alderwoman Holmes: & how about moving the central office?
Even if you can’t get your kid into the school in your neighborhood, you might still be able to send her to the school in your “quadrant.”
New Haven’s new schools chief offered that idea to aldermen concerned about neighbors who can’t get their kids into their neighborhood schools.
In a briefing with the Board of Aldermen at City Hall Monday evening, Superintendent Garth Harries suggested the “quadrant” idea as a a change to the lottery system for New Haven public schools.
The change would divide the city into four sections and give students priority placement at the schools in the quadrant they live in.
That way, if a kid loses the lottery to get into the school down the street, at least he wouldn’t be sent to a school on the other side of town.
The quadrant plan wouldn’t happen before next fall, Harries said; he said school officials are still looking into it. Read more about it here and here.
Monday’s meeting was an opportunity for Harries (pictured) to introduce himself to the board for the first time as superintendent. He was promoted from assistant superintendent just six weeks ago.
Harries faced questions from several aldermen about the difficulty their constituents have getting their kids into the schools in their neighborhood.
“We have to make the process simpler and easier to navigate,” Harries said.
West Rock Alderman Carlton Staggers said he has an upset constituent whose child was twice denied entry into a magnet school that lets kids from Branford in.
Harries said the funding for New Haven’s interdistrict magnet schools requires that the schools take in about a third of their students from the suburbs. He said it’s a “tough situation.”
“We’ll have to really look at it,” he said.
How “Central” Is Central Office?
East Rock Alderwoman Jessica Holmes brought up a different kind of access: not students into schools, but parents into the central office. She said the Board of Ed headquarters at 54 Meadow St. are impenetrable for parents.
“It functions as a fortress,” she said. “It’s literally hard to get into.”
She suggested that the Board of Ed consider moving the offices to another part of town entirely.
Holmes later said that although the BOE offices are now in a “prime location” in relation to the train station and downtown, for parents of public schools kids, it’s inconvenient. It’s hard to get there by public transportation, and hard to park there if you drive, she said. Inside, a guard asks you to sign in before you can beyond the first floor.
Harries said that moving the location of the central office is not a priority, but making it more accessible is. This year, the school board put out a “welcoming table” in the lobby of the building, staffed with people who handled parent questions during the first four weeks of the year.
“I’ve certainly heard 54 Meadow is unfriendly,” Harries said after the meeting. He said the district is analyzing how the welcoming table worked out, to see what it can do to make the central office more welcoming.
The geographic center of CT is in Berlin but centralizing services there wouldn't make much sense. If "findability" and accessibility are paramount, why aren't they located in city hall?