nothin In Town-Gown Farewell, A School Reform Plea | New Haven Independent

In Town-Gown Farewell, A School Reform Plea

Nick Defiesta Photo

In a nostalgic final joint appearance in office, Mayor John DeStefano Jr. and Yale President Richard Levin pressed their successors and their audience to look forward — and keep pushing — for reform in New Haven’s public schools.

At an Arts & Ideas Festival forum entitled New Haven and Yale: Dreaming New Worlds Together,” Levin and DeStefano discussed their heralded two-decade relationship, in a discussion moderated by Yale professor and former city official Doug Rae. Levin steps down from his job this week; DeStefano, in December.

And so we come to an end of the Levin-DeStefano era in New Haven,” Will Ginsberg, president of one of the event’s sponsors, the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, said in his introduction. During that time, things have fundamentally changed… we’ve seen a profound shift in public attitudes.”

The event, held at the Yale University Art Gallery covered a wide range of subjects the pair tackled together, from development to labor. (Click here to read a full account by the Register’s Jim Shelton.) Inevitably the conversation would return to school reform, which DeStefano made his top priority in his last years in office, and which Levin helped boost through Yale’s cosponsorship (with the Community Foundation) of the New Haven Promise college scholarship program.

When asked to judge DeStefano’s tenure as mayor, Levin cited school reform as one of the major accomplishments of the past 20 years. DeStefano, for his part, added that the university’s willingness to collaborate in a way that is not just transactional” created an environment in which school change could flourish.

In a question submitted by a member of the audience, Rae asked the pair if they thought New Haven Promise — perhaps the most visible aspect of Yale’s contribution to city education — is scalable” to other cities. Levin pointed out that the idea for the program was originally taken from larger cities, like Pittsburgh.

DeStefano followed, answering that while programs like Promise may be scalable, New Haven school change consists of much more.” There is no other place,” he said, where the school district and teachers union cooperate so closely or where schools are graded in such a comprehensive manner. He said he is not concerned with school change’s scalability, only whether it achieved meaningful change in New Haven.

He turned to address the audience directly: with his and Levin’s terms ending on Jan. 1 and July 1, respectively — Levin said he turned the keys to his office in before the event began — the city must the momentum on education reform, he said. That’s a challenge, DeStefano added, that the city and university will have to address for years to come, as it will take years to fully realize the benefits of school-change policies just now being put in place.

This is about the kids. [School reform is] whether we can live up to their promise,” DeStefano said. This is really big stuff.”

Levin added that maintaining continuity” should be on the top of Yale President-elect Peter Salovey’s agenda — on schools, as well as on a relationship with City Hall and on crime, by keeping Police Chief Dean Esserman in town.

They’ll See Each Other Another Day”

Police escorted the laughing protester from the event.

Early in the event, a man sitting among a group activists started laughing loudly form the back of the room, interrupting Levin from answering a question. Rae asked the protester why he was laughing.

Yale is a parasite! It’s a joke so we’re laughing,” he responded. Why does Yale pay no taxes?”

Audience members booed the protester; DeStefano and Rae asked the man to stop interrupting. He kept going. Yale police removed the protester from the art gallery. As he was carried away, the rest of the row he was sitting in stood up and left, chanting Fuck Yale, New Haven’s not for sale!”

Later in the talk, Levin addressed the protesters’ concerns. He said the university funnels money to the city and state directly through commercial taxes, indirectly through the state’s payment-in-lieu-of-taxes program for tax-exempt property, and in the form of voluntary payments.

An audience member asked how the leaders view the recent university purchase of High and Wall streets from the city for $3 million. Both Levin and DeStefano argued that the deal was less contentious than some make it out to be.

I never saw it as big deal, never had a resident who cared about High and Wall street. They care about crime and education,” DeStefano said.

Think about what’s on those streets: Berkeley College, Woodbridge Hall … Those buildings are there’ we’re not going to tear them down,” Levin said, adding that he does not foresee usage to change dramatically anytime soon.

The street sale issue boils down to whether Yale paid a fair price, DeStefano said. He allowed that Yale probably could have paid slightly more than the final price of $3 million, but alluded to the give and take of town-gown relations as similar to those with his wife.

We’re going to see each other another day,” he said. If you make every issue the issue, then you’re never going to have a relationship. Right, Kathy?”

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