Clinton, Creed Principal Hirings Stalled

This teacher sounds disrespectful. Let me ask this: Does she live in New Haven? She wants to stand up and self-righteously claim her support of students, but does she live up to that or is she one of 80 percent of New Haven teachers who flees to the suburbs every afternoon?

This New Haven teacher was not disrespectful at all. She spoke truthfully and brought public attention to the failure of leadership in the New Haven schools to adequately address problems that were known far in advance of the beginning of the school year. As a resident of New haven, I commend this teacher for her honesty, courage and boldness to let the public know about this pressing problem.
As far as her residency is concerned, a teacher by city charter or teacher contract does not have to reside in New Haven to teach in New Haven. Teacher care and concern for students does not cease if one does not live here. That premise is an insult and highly disrespectful to all the hard-working teachers in New haven who choose to live elsewhere.
I would think that the only parties that would consider this teacher's remarks rude or disrespectful would be the pathetic leadership of this teacher's own teachers' union, which lately appears to be the mouthpiece and apologist for the superintendent and his administration.
If BoydJones is seriously concerned about residency issues, the charter and tradition has required the superintendent of New Haven public schools to be a resident of this city, but for the first time in history an exception was made to allow Garth Harries to maintain a home and residence outside of the city of New Haven. Is that a concern, Mr. Boyd?

@boydJones..I have to say I am very dismayed at your attitude towards teachers who may not live within the city limits. To insinuate that they are not invested in our children is ludicrous. Most, not all, but most who teach ARE INVESTED.. Many may be OVERWHELMED maybe even burned at both ends from a system that is shoddy, from a significant number of children who need much more from then their teachers then being taught reading writing and arithmetic, burned from a system that doesnt have the resources to allow teachers to be TEACHERS. If you think for a half of a second that thesepeole who spend two thirds more time with our children then the average parent dont care yo are more a part of the problem then solution. NONE comes to work here to get rich! There are many towns and suburbs who not only pay significantly better but dont have half the extened situations and circumstances you run into in inner city schools. so yes they are invested and to say anything different is just WRONG. There is no way to come to new haven and work full time EVERY SINGLE day and not be a part of everything. This goes for law enforcement, teachers, firefighters etc. They want the community safe. They want healthy children. They want careers that dont destroy them physically or psychologically . They want to be able to afford to live too. DON'T be so ignorant to believe that just because someone lives in a particular place that they are INVESTED...that would be like saying that because they pay taxes they are invested.. comparable to saying as long s someone pays child support they are a good parent and we both know that is nonsense. There are many who LIVE in new Haven and choose NOT TO WORK ,socialize etc in the city..

BoydJones, that's a good question.

Jennifer Sarja is a prime example of what's wrong with education in the NHPS. She is listed as an English teacher as Hyde/Creed.

She is quoted as "fuming mad."

Ms. Creed, you should know better, 'dogs get mad, people get angry.'

Yes, I'm being picky, but you should not be paid to teach English when you don't use words properly.

If 80 percent of the teachers — and it appears the superintendent — fail to invest in the city, the city should stop investing in them in such large numbers. Teachers should be incentivized to live in the community with their students. Rings hollow to wail about people not doing right by students when you pack your stuff in the car and flee the city by 3:30 every day.

Also, who is in charge of recruiting minority teachers in this city? Have they ever worked an honest day or looked for ways to perform that important task?

I cannot believe some actually indict this teacher for "daring" to speak out against an obviously dysfunctional and ineffective administration of New Haven Public Schools.

The administration of NHPS should be replaced--not just the superintendent but everyone.

Teachers should rise up en masse, with all the "disrespect" they can muster and revolutionize our school buildings by taking over the implementation of the curriculum.

I'm sorry but those who question this teacher via her residence location sounds more and more like an administrative apologist.

Teachers unite and stop this nonsense.

It is unbelievable that a teacher who clearly cares so much about her students would be attacked so viciously by commenters here. And Boyd's comments are based on pure speculation! I love the NHI, but at times the comments section damages and deters public engagement rather than enhancing it.

Ex-Hvn,

Do you consider yourself a nittering nabob of negativism? Suggest that the quote attributed to the teacher violates semantics and also is indicative of what is wrong with NHPS is just lame. And incorrect.

Humans can be mad, as in angry or livid, and so can dogs. Search "define mad" in Google and you will find:

"informal:
very angry.
"they were mad at each other"
synonyms: angry, furious, infuriated, irate, raging, enraged, fuming, incensed, seeing red, beside oneself; More
informal:
livid, sore;
literary wrathful;
lose one's temper, get in a rage, rant and rave;
informal:
explode, go off the deep end, go ape, flip, flip out, flip one's wig
"I'm still mad at him"
antonyms: unruffled, calm

*nattering. Please forgive the typo

Just remember that many of New Haven schools' students come from 23 feeder districts...places where many of the teachers live. So we DO come from the schools' communities.

Can we get back on the topic of this article? Ms. Sarja's point is that we are closing in on the start of school and there is still no principal at Hyde/Creed. Apparently, the interview and selection process is complete. It's really not fair to teachers or students to leave it until the last minute to fill positions. These students will already be behind the curve when school begins with no leadership. My interpretation of Ms. Sarja's comments is that of a teacher who is frustrated and angry that her students will not be served. I commend her for being honest and putting the blame where it deserves to go.

It is a shame to attend the Board of Education meetings and watch Board members like Mr. Goldson who claimed to care about kids scream and act without self-control. If this new arrangement of having Board members voted in by people is supposed produce better outcomes, it has not. Children's education is at stake. Board Members are suposed to listen, be non-judgemental, and be reflective. Remember that there are children at these meetings watching.
Caring about children is really embracing disagreements without screaming or getting out of control. It is about the kids! It is not about any of the adults, but about them!

Let the Superintendent do his job!
Let the Mayor do her job!

Children watch and wander about the behavior of the people who are supposed to be supporting them. Instead, what they see is a Board with members who scream and seem to have personal agendas
Mr. Goldson before screaming do the research on brain changes and connections to understand the mesage that was being delivered.
Dr. Joyner- research demonstrated that differentiation and instruction need to aligned to the current generation of students.

Another topic:
Is it okay to have Dr. Torre and Ms. Daisy be board members of Achievement first? Are they both for the children or about power?
Research shows that in order to have change people need to step down and allow new minds and faces to participate.
Dr. Torre has been in the board for two decades and the Latino children are still left behind..

To the Board Members:
Ask the students what they want
Ask the families what they want
Dont assume that you know
Talk without fighting and screaming. Kids are watching!
IT IS NOT ABOUT You, but about our students!
If you allow the Superintendent to do his job, then the grant may not be lost. He gave you options based on state recommendations and a couple of Board menbers always stop the process!

Mayor Harp YOU ARE WISE AND AMAZING! YOU HAVE CLEARLY DEMONSTRATED WHAT TRUE LEADERSHIP LOOKS LIKE

Why are we constantly scrutinizing the teachers?? This whole mess is clearly the product of a poorly run system that has not put the children of New Haven at an advantage. The chaotic mess of a BOE meeting would never occur in other school district and be tolerated by tax payers and actual elected officials. Don't blame teachers for leaving.

Not having a building leader in place by this time is ridiculous! Teachers and students have the right to be upset. This board needs to stop micromanaging the Superintendent because students are affected. Everytime you read about the nhps, it is disheartening that certain individuals in this board have an agenda against the Superintendent and our children are paying for it.

This teacher was wholly disrespectful, calling a board of her superiors "dysfunctional kindergarteners." Couple of points:

@ Boydjones -- you are right to complain about someone calling the School Board a "bunch of dysfunctional kindergarteners". To be fair and honest, they are better described as a bunch of dysfunctional seventh-graders.

Certainly they deserve that much respect!

@boyd Wow. You're entire comment has so many stereotypes of people you have no idea about. Ironic isn't it?

Let's make New Haven equal to all the other surrounding towns in New Haven county and then we can tackle the rest. By this, have a board that can overcome the drama and make decisions that are worth millions in state funding just like the other towns and provide New Haven kids with the same opportunities!

Being an educator, I applaud the commentary of Ms. Sarja. She was not being disrespectful. She was voicing her concerns and I must agree, there are several agendas at work within the board of education that do not reflect the desire to put students first. Let's be clear, she did not call anyone on the board a kindergarten student. She stated that their behavior mirrored that of a dysfunctional kindergarten class and to be in the audience of this board meeting, I agree with that evaluation.

For Mr. Goldsen to suggest that a school should be able to run without ANY leadership in place is asinine and shows the level of ignorance he has about education and how things work. A corporation cannot run without a team of leaders or a main leader in place, especially the opening days of this corporation.

To suggest that where a teacher lives determines his/her concern about the kids is ridiculous as well. I don't live in the communities where my students live and my students know that I care about them. They don't care about where I live. They care about how I treat them, how I engage with the community and how I teach them. BoydJones, I hope you live in the community where you work. Most of my students don't want to live in their current neighborhoods. They want to get a good education and live in places that don't remind them of the trauma of their youth. Why in the world would I or any teacher want to live where students wish they could move away from? Let's not make this about addresses. Are you okay with Hyde not having a building leader or any leadership in place? Are you okay with there not being any organizational structure coming from the superintendent to direct and move our district forward? Are you okay with the horrible SAT scores? Let's not major in minor things. Focus on what truly impacts students learning and where I or any other educator lives is NOT one of those factors.

I agree with the notion that the school could open and function without a principal or a so-called leader.

How?

Individual teachers prepare their classrooms for the first day, and weeks, of school. They do not need a principal to do their job. They do not need to be managed. They manage themselves.

The only reason administrative jobs exist in education is because it is a jobs program. Connected teachers who put in enough time, and get properly certified, are appointed to high paying administrative positions.

Think about it, do we really need all these principals, assistant principals, coaches, district supervisors, supervisors of instruction, supervisors of recruitment, etc, etc, etc?

I am reminded of Gordon Gekko in the movie "Wall Street" where he stands up in a stockholder meeting of a corporation he is raiding and talks about what do all these vice-presidents do? Same thing here, we do not need all these "vice-presidents."

Teachers are perfectly capable of banding together in their individual school buildings and forming groups to address whatever education issues need to be seen to.

A business manager is probably a good idea for non-education issues that need attention. But only as an adjunct to support the educational effort of the teacher corp.

I realize those whose salaries are threatened by such an idea will not like this idea.

I hope our citizens will realize that this system is not sustainable and a new paradigm is upon us.

@Seriously

I have watched the privileged behavior enough to understand the messaging that comes through. Apparently it hits a little close to home for you, thus the objection.

You keep defending a system that rewards mostly white suburbanites who take tax dollars out of a city of which they are not invested, and I will keep calling out the behavior. You keep acting like that doesn't matter and I will call out your arrogances and ignorance.

As an educator, I understand this teacher's frustration. Her frustration, I believe, is misdirected. The state of affairs of what is happening to our New Haven School System is the direct responsibility of Garth Harries and his incompetence as a superintendent. Since this board is not a rubber stamp board, it is easy to place the blame on them. If Mayor Harp would put her focus on running our city that is in total chaos, maybe the board would be allowed to do the job of what they were tasked to do. Mayor Harp has made this political and everyone seem to be afraid to acknowledge it. This should be about providing our children with the best possible education not on giving jobs to unqualified individuals to fulfill her patronage promises. She sits there each Board meeting and stigma the decisions that members of the Board were tasked to make. Mayor Harp should not have made herself president of the Board of Education. When and if Mayor Harp decides to steps aside and allow this Board to do their due diligence of providing the best education for our CHILDREN, we will see a more together and functioning board. The common denominator of the chaos that you see on the board and the chaos you see in the city is Mayor Toni Harp.

Had the board micromanaged Harries, we would not have had three to four principals at Hillhouse. The schools would have a budget, the central office would not be bloated, and we would have principals and other staff in place in the buildings if we had a competent superintendent.. Alicia Caraballo was the lone voice on the board for a long time who was calling for better management, more transparency, and more accountability. Critics should not blame the board for trying to do things the right way. Both Garth and the mayor are very good at deflecting blame and misleading the public. Eventually this will catch up to them, but a lot of damage can take place before it does. They really are two of a kind.

A 12 month employee would be a principal or other administrator for Hyde/CREED.Without one, funding has been lost.BOE/ Superintendants fault.Moving a failing principal from Clinton Avenue school to central office job?Why reward poor performance?Find a better way to get employees retrained or gone.Work with or around the various unions.Kids First please!Central Office needs to get out into the schools and see what is going on.Set curriculum standards and then split up the schools by grade or neighborhood assign them to central office staff and fix them,like a regional manager in business.Who is evaluating management? Are these records open to public information?There should be enough textbooks for students to use in every class with an online code given out for home use.Username can be student id since kids all have them and password can be something simple like NHPS.Not every student has access to a computer at home, there should be additional copies that can be borrowed/signed out for homework, studying, etc.The same should hold true for technology equipment such as laptops.Too much theft and broken equipment and constant new grants among same schools to replace it resulting in inequitable distribution among schools.Good grant writing principals should be paired up with schools that need help.Teachers who stand out as exemplary should also pair up with teachers that need support(and be paid additional)rather than outside consultants that do not know what our students need.Stop berating caring adults and causing divides due to race.All kids want adults who care.In a perfect world our role models would look like a grown version of ourself as a youngster, but in a more perfect world any kid who worked hard could be or work wherever they want without being judged other than by performance and heart.Support, retraining and working together would be priority.Unions would have high standards and only protect those doing a good job at every level from bottom to the top!

@ Jordan,

I read your comments regarding the behavior on the board. However, what I found interesting was the fact that you just singled out the four board members that continually hold the superintendent accountable.

I wasn't there to attest as to whether or not Darnell raised his voice, but I do know Darnell to be a very passionate person who cares incessantly about the youth in the city. I've known Darnell for over 35 years and have heard the brother yell before, but I never heard him scream. So even if I wanted to agree with you about him screaming, I just can't.

This notion that "If this new arrangement of having Board members voted in by people is supposed produce better outcomes, it has not." Quite the contrary my friend. I applaud the Alders on installing the component of allowing the public to vote on a minimum of two board members. I have been supportive of this idea for at least 15 years. In fact, all the members should be installed the same way in my opinion.

"Let the Superintendent do his job!" This statement suggests that the board is hindering Superintendent Harries from earning his salary. Let me remind you sir, the board members too have a job to do. ... of which you disagree.

I'm extremely proud of both Ed and Darnell for maintaining a level of accountability that apparently your guy is allergic to. Simply put, they were sent there to do exactly what they are doing.

At the last board meeting there were almost thirty teachers that resign which leave the system scrambling to fill positions. Since the system is in this situation of not having enough teachers and administrators to open the schools, it would be a great idea to have members from central office to go into these positions until they are filled. Isn't it reasonable to assume that these experts could do an exceptional job modeling since they are the ones that evaluate and lead the school building staff? This would be a great opportunity for them to showcase their skills and show the community that they are worth their big salaries.

@Brian Jenkins

I am only stating the facts of what people see on Mondays. The Board Members that I mentioned have shown that their actions do not demonstrate that they care about kids. Screaming at Board Meetings is not appropriate. Screaming or yelling( yelling or screaming is still about raising one's voice expressing anger) is not okay in front of the children. Screaming or yelling does not help anyone. It causes more division.

Board members, elected or not should have self-control, be composed and expressed their points in a way that others would want to listen.

This Board is for kids and thus, I ask you:

How are the children benefiting right now when whatever the superintendent proposes is stopped? How is the yelling at Central Office employees benefiting the children? How are the children benefiting without a building leader? How is it being negative all the time without celebrating the strengths and progress made by the district? It is not perfect, but it is making progress?

People need opportunities to demonstrate their performance but being negative and finding everything wrong does not help. Would you perform if people are constantly criticizing you? Would you be okay with that? Again, I am on,y stating facts from what I see or read. People want to see results in one or two years but that does not happen without first doing the research or really allowing for programs to work.
Change theory Suggests that leaders should not stay in the same place for many years. It does not help because there is no innovation.
The problem with the system is that people have good intentions and want to help, but forget to ask families and children about their needs. Sometimes policies are created twith good intentions but produce bad outcomes.
Politics and education should not be mixed. Historically, Boards where people are elected have schools with low performance or inadequate resources. Do the research and find out. There has to be a balance.

@ Jordan,

Allow me begin my retort to your comments by saying that I appreciate the spirit in your response.

For starters, I will never attempt to denounce the awful feelings you acquired upon witnessing yelling by a board member while in attendance. I too would agree that that episode (if illustrated correctly) is akin to a level of unprofessional behavior. However, what I find glaring, is the fact that you can't seem to find any blame on this lethargy to Harries. Moreover, it wasn't long ago when the city's attorney too raised his voice at a board meeting.

Personally, I take issue with the volume of contracts that Harries awards outsiders when local companies can potentially provide commensurable services.

The crux of the problem on the board as I see it is simple, members are now asking probing questions and are demanding that Superintendent Harries adhere to timelines.

Ed, Darnell and others are not stupid. They have watched, listened and learned tthe bifurcated inconsistencies that have emanated from Garth.

The game that Garth is now playing is called "blame the board, not me." The salient hurtle Garth is encumbering are, Ed understands education well and Darnell understands politics well.

This idea that the children are losing cannot in any way be blamed on the board members who seek accountability.

Finally, if the emergence of Ed and Darnell are to blame for the bulk of the current stagnation, how was the system functioning prior to their arrival?

Jordan: With your assessment of the Board meetings, I can only assume that you are a fan of our incompetent superintendent who has totally ruined our system since he took over as superintendent. I can agree with you on only one thing in your comment, which is: "Politics and education should not be mixed" – thus Mayor Toni Harp should not be the president of the Board of Education. Garth Harries is a lawyer not an educator. If you had to go into the hospital for a serious medical problem, would you want to be treated by an electrician or a doctor? I really believe that your answer would be a doctor. An educator should run our system, not a lawyer.

Brian Jenkins: Thank you for your assessment of what is happening with this Board of Ed. This superintendent needs to be held accountable. You have educators on this board who know what is best for our CHILDREN, but we have a politician and a lawyer who both are politicizing the process and giving the big salary jobs to their patronage group. I guess Jordan would rather have a bunch of rubber stampers on the Board. The bottom line is that we are in this mess because of an incompetent superintendent in Garth Harries and his protector, Queen/Mayor/President Toni Harp.

Truthheals: I have to disagree with you about New Haven public school system brokeness. This system has ALWAYS been broken under previous leadership and if anything the district is better in terms of graduation,rigor and having students increase their scores. New Haven performs better than other urban districts. Additionally,, if you review the people on the board NOT all of them are educators or have some sort of experience when dealing with school system. If you read about superintendents in the state the majority of their time is dealing with budgets and money, not teaching. They must rely on their staff to evaluate leaders etc. The board needs to provide some sort of trust to their superintendent and their staff and let him do his job. At this point, it is disheartening to see that they are not working together and the kids and teachers suffer. I am glad that mayor is president because she truly cares about the children and is visible to the community. She also knows how to handle these members. Supt Harries is also more visible to the community than previous leaders, and was there as an Asst Supt. No one is perfect and change takes time. I agree with Jordan in what he said.
Jordan: well said! Our children are loosing out because of these adults who sound competent , but their actions speak louder than words.

Dumptrump: You may not agree with me, but I agree with your name. You sound like an "insider"- for you just repeated a statement very similar to the one that President/Mayor Harp made at the last Board meeting when she said: "This system has never had good test scores". I guess that is why she did not send her own children to our system. Is there a reason why you are trying to put a spin on what Garth Harries is responsible for as far as his staff is concern? Why make such a statement?

You mentioned that not all the members on the board are educators. You are right about that. Please know that all of them have had more urban education experience than our superintendent. He is not an educator either. Each one of the members may not be educators, but all of them, except Mayor Harp, attended an urban school; thus more "experience" than Garth Harries just by the mere fact that they know what it is like to be a part of an urban district. When you said that the superintendent must rely on his staff to perform his duties, are you questioning the ability of his administrative staff? Is there a reason you are looking for a reason to substantiate his shortcomings? Do you know something that the rest of us do not know? He does rely on his staff to answer questions that he should know himself. He always refers questions to his staff because he is too incompetent to answer himself.

Mayor Harp might care, but it is not for the children of our district. Her support is in protecting this incompetent superintendent and in placing her patronage group into high paying jobs in our system.

This is all I have to say on this subject.

@Brian Jenkins

Thank you for your response. Let me start by letting you know that I do not believe Harries is a "saint" and does no wrong. I believe that no one is perfect.
I do not know him to claim that he is great. What I do see, is that nothing is ever celebrated about the progress that has been made. Kids should be celebrated.
What I have been trying convey is that having schools without Principals is not "healthy" for the school and more importantly for the students. Students want to go into a school where they feel cared for by the principal and the teachers.

As far as contracts, I do mot believe that Garth is doing something different from what the previous superintendent did. If you go back and read the minutes and count the number of contracts from outsiders, you might find a similar situation.

Board can probe about the contracts, but it does not mean that buildings should be without leaders. It does not mesn that a school should be penalized and not receive money.

How is the stopping the hirings because of contract probe going to help children learn?
How is contract probe help with instructional practices? How is the probe going to help students be successful?

@truthheals
There is no research thst demonstrates that superintendents need to be educators. Having the experience is a great, but is not essential. The districts similar to New Haven have Superintendents who were educators and there has been slower than New Haven.