nothin Schools Chief Fields Brainteasers At “Night… | New Haven Independent

Schools Chief Fields Brainteasers At Night Out”

Aliyya Swaby Photo

Quinnipiac parent Laconi praised the school’s high standards.

If a child graduates from a K‑4 school and the only neighborhood middle school with available spots begins in sixth grade, where should that student go?

That was among the brainteasers that Quinnipiac School parents and staff presented to Superintendent Garth Harries at this year’s inaugural Superintendent’s Night Out,” in Fair Haven Heights.

The energy at the event was buzzing but positive, as attendees grabbed stacks of free pizza slices and talked honestly about how to improve the school system. Harries began holding some nights out last school year; he said he plans to do more this year in neighborhoods throughout the city.

In response to the K‑4-to-middle-school puzzle, Harries said that the district had taken steps to be more plan-ful about enrollment” and make sure that schools line up” from elementary to middle school. According to the New Haven Public Schools website, two elementary schools take children from K‑4, one middle school from grades 6 – 8, and two schools from fifth grade.

Students can also search for other magnet schools with open fifth-grade slots, said Sue Weisselberg, the district’s chief of wraparound services, who also made an appearance at the event, which took place Wednesday night.

Harries did not seek to solve all the brainteasers, but instead sought to show he was listening to individual concerns.

I want this to be a discussion,” he said before asking parents and staff to break up into small groups to discuss a few points: what the district is doing well, what it needs to change, and how it can get there. Four sets of Quinnipiac School parents and several staff members showed up at the event, and intermingled with district administrators in the groups.

One parent, Luz Landy, needed a Spanish-language translator throughout the night. Harries went to speak with her afterwards.

Landy (right) and bilingual teacher Ruth Rosa (left).

Luz Landy told the superintendent that she has a son in one school and a daughter at Quinnipiac. She is trying to find a way to keep the siblings together. Her son has special needs, so she would prefer to move her daughter, but was not sure how to do that logistically.

Harries promised to try to help.

In one small group discussion, one parent, who declined to be identified, called the district’s written vision statement (from which Harries read aloud earlier in the event) a lowball goal,” given the realities of what you’re working with.” She said cultural issues” at Quinnipiac make it difficult to get many parents involved in school events. Her son is the only Caucasian kid in his class,” she said.

My husband and I have two engineering degrees between us,” she said. She noted that immigrant parents” had not shown up to the meeting.

She did not bring up the matter up during the subsequent larger discussion.

Quinnipiac School began as an overflow school for K‑2 students who did not win seats at a magnet school and did not get into their neighborhood schools. Now the school is a destination K‑4 STEM magnet school, a place where families want to be,” Harries said.

School parent Larry Laconi was the first to stand up during the larger group discussion and express his satisfaction with the school. After touring three expensive private institutions —Foote School, Cold Spring School and St. Thomas’s Day School — and failing to obtain a seat at the new Elm City Montessori school for his son, Laconi sent him to kindergarten to Quinnipiac School.

The staff I’ve encountered so far is as good as I could find at any elite prep school,” he said. His criticism focused on the exterior of the building — he asked Harries to check in on a proposed playground now stalled in the Board of Alders.

Sweet (front) spoke on high teacher turnover rates.

Literacy coach Robyn Sweet chimed in from a table seating teachers and staff to say that the school needs an incentive to make teachers stay and decrease high turnover.

We don’t always have the staff to support young new teachers with emotional issues,” the school’s Principal Grace Nathman added.

Harries said the district was working weekly on how to increase teacher and specialist support.

It’s comforting to know that the superintendent is aware of this problem,” Sweet said later.

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