City Magnets Attract $11.7M

Four of the city’s magnet schools will split $11.7 million in federal grant money over the next three years to promote school improvement.

City school officials joined New Haven’s Congressional delegation at Roberto Clemente Leadership Academy for Global Awareness in the Hill neighborhood Thursday to celebrate the district’s coup. New Haven in being one of only nine awardees in the entire country to receive such money from the U.S. Department of Education.

Madeline Negron, the school district’s director of instruction, said that the money will be used to improve the four schools by creating ​“interdisciplinary units of study and a robust curriculum for students that include various enrichment activities.” It also will provide funding for teacher development opportunities and improving parent engagement.

The New Haven magnet schools that will receive a piece of the grant include Roberto Clemente, which focuses on global awareness and social justice; John Martinez Sea and Sky STEM School, Bishop Woods Architectural and Design Magnet School, and West Rock STREAM Academy, which are more STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) themed schools. 

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal called competition for the grants ​“fierce and ferocious.”

“This win is like the World Series,” he said. ​“It’s a win for both equity and excellence, academic achievement and basic fairness. What this grant will do goes to the core of what the educational mission is for New Haven Schools: increasing diversity, academic excellence and making success possible in the work place.”

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy said that New Haven’s grant application received a nearly perfect score from the department, which is a rare feat, but he said it is because New Haven schools have a great story to tell about the dedication of its teachers and students. He also noted that the congressional delegation is mindful of who important such federal dollars are as state and local funding gets tighter.

“These grants matter more … as state budgets and local budgets are thinner than ever before,” he said. ​“We feel like it is important to work even harder for those federal dollars to fill in those gaps created by really tight budgets in Hartford.”

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro said because she is the daughter of an Italian immigrant, she is always mindful of the impact such grants can have on students, especially who come from diverse backgrounds like hers.

She told a story of how her father was laughed out of the seventh grade when he confused the English word for ​“janitor” with the Italian word for ​“parent”.

“My dad walked out of school in the seventh grade and never went back,” she said. ​“I look at what you’re doing in order to understand the great cultural diversity that we have and that we stand on. To have that recognized by government today is an important step forward.”