Michelle Bonora Appointed Interim Troup Principal

It's sad when the only reported reaction from the Board is "Okay, but let's make sure the permanent replacement is not white." Glad to hear that, in a struggling inner-city school district, the quality of education and leadership is really what matters to our Board of Ed.

A job ought to be given to the best candidate independent to which group they belong.

If one implies that only a minority can lead minorities, and consequently this ought to be a deciding factor in obtaining a job when the job position requires one to be primarily working with minorities, then one can also claim that a minority ought not to be leading a social majority, when a job position requires one to be primarily working with the social majority.

Both scenarios are untenable.

Timothy O'Rourke Jr.
The Hill

Wow,..in this day and age, with Police Officers being the front line not only to property crime and crimes against people. Why is that they are still underpaid for "all" of their sacrifices. With more and more threats being made against Officer's lives and being carried out. It's a slap in the face to these men and women who's salary may top out at $70,000.00 and yet a school principal starts at $135,000.00. Our city and country needs to correct this issue in order to secure the safety of our country and way of life.

???? The Superintendent said he will engage with the community to find a permanent replacement for Conner to start next fall. That sounds to me like there will be talks with the teachers, parents and BOE about what qualities would best serve the students at Troup. And 'inner city' as mentioned by Board Member Che Dawson is not a race - it's more of a culture shaped by urban experience. And it is true that inner city students would most likely be better served by a principal who is familiar with the inner city experience. And guess what? We have white people who live in the inner city also. I didn't read anywhere that the BOE said 'let's make sure the replacement is not white'! If the NHI didn't show any pictures, most probably would not even know that Bonora and Conners were of different races. C'mon Powers ... don't make this about something that it's not.

Great points fellow Hill Resident! But the BOE member seem to be limiting her ideal candidate to minorities only, of which European Americans are not members.

Timothy O'Rourke Jr.
The Hill

Also, by the way, my apologies for using a feminine pronoun. I have just learned that the BOE member is male.

Timothy O'Rourke
The Hill

In my Edu classes, my classmates were overwhelmingly white. In my workplace(s), my fellow teachers have always been overwhelmingly white. Doesn't it make sense that the ratio would be similar at the administrative level too. Can we get data on the ratio of white:minority at the classroom level compared to the admin/downtown level? Some of the best administrators I've worked with have been old-school Italians who've lived in New Haven all their lives! Maybe then Che (oh, the irony) can look beyond his own agenda and accept the best candidate.

The overwhelming majority of teachers and administrators in New Haven Public Schools are white females who live outside the City. The actual number of white females enrolled in NHPS is less than 10 percent - probably closer to 6 or 7 percent. This inequity is NOT GOOD for New Haven students, nor is it good for the city. Time to look at who is doing the hiring.

If you don't believe that they all ready have an individual picked out, then I got a bridge to sell you. The BOE will put on their usual dog and pony show and in the end it will be a black male they are grooming for the job.

Congratulations Michelle--you have shown us excellence in everything you do over the years--and the students and families at Troup just hit the jackpot--All the best--Tom

If that is not a Blatantly Racist remark what is? Che Dawson should be removed from the Board of Education and issue a public apology. Shame on him...

Hi Theodora,

Are you stating that it is inequitable for female minority students to be taught by female European Americans, and that as a consequence female minority students are somehow being discriminated against or are you stating that minority teachers are being discriminated against because New Haven is not hiring them?

The standard ought to be that the City should seek the best candidates possible to fill any position it offers--lest we seek to create a segregated city.

It is illegal not to hire someone because of their race--any race.


Thanks,

Timothy O'Rourke
The Hill

Timothy

What Che was rightfully pointing out is that the best qualified person does not come down to solely their ability to perform a task but to inspire the children they are called upon to lead. I don't know Michelle and she is probably a wonderful very capable educator who is sold out for children. But if we can find an equally capable person of color, I think that factors into a school where 69% of children are black and 30% are hispanic. How can we tell children on the one hand that they can be anything that they set their minds to and be leaders in their community and then on the other hand surround them with white men and women in leadership position for most of their formative years? I think in a school district where so many of these children see themselves cast in such poor light, the superintendent along with the school board have a special responsibility to provide a counter-balance that is not just from a history book or murals on the walls.

Thank you for your kind response, Hope for New Haven.

I just cannot wrap my mind around how we are going to instill a competent sense of personal equality in the minds and hearts of minority children by purposely limiting their cultural interactions to their own culture.

We must strive to truly be multicultural by ending the erroneous perception that minorities cannot be anything they want to be in the prevailing culture. We are all lead by an African American President.

I just do not accept employment segregation as a means by which to illustrate for minority children that they too can become leaders but ultimately only in the inner-city. Moreover, I do not accept that the prevailing macro culture is instilling in minorities anything other than the fact that they can be anything they want to be.

This is especially indicated by the heroic witness of many European American teachers working in inner-city schools when they themselves are the only ones being told that they are not wanted.

It seems to me that the prevailing culture has become so paranoid not to offend minorities that it is okay if it is offended by minorities. I thank you again for your thoughts.

Timothy O'Rourke Jr.
The Hill

Timothy

I agree that we must not limit children's cultural interactions, but those conditions currently exist for minority children, as the majority of their educators are white women. I believe what Che is suggesting is that we take affirmative steps when deciding who lead our schools to not just consider a person's competence to perform the task.

As an immigrant of color, I know that in America one can start with nothing, and with hard work and perseverance, can attain one's highest aspirations. But having been in this country long enough, I also know that as a minority, the ceaseless message of the macro culture is that even when you do all the right things, neither you nor your accomplishments are good enough.
As to President Obama…here is a person who, raised by his grandparents, attended Harvard Law and Columbia University, became President, has been a good husband and father. Michelle Obama, who graduated Princeton & Harvard Law, has been a good wife and mother. Yet when a republican aide in reprimanding their girls for their attire and demeanor at a turkey pardoning, suggested that not much can be expected from them as they lack good role models in their parents. Now we can easily dismiss this criticism as bigotry and an outlier, but coupled with well "respected" journalist Mark Halperin on MSNBC (which by no means is Fox News) calling the president a d**k on the air, this speaks the macro culture's attitude towards people of color.

I agree that there are some heroic white teachers who love their children and sacrifice daily for them. I have worked with many over the years. The point is in a school where 99% of students are black and Hispanic, we must be careful not to perpetuate old plantation structures in our hiring policies.

If that is offensive to be said, it should be equally offensive to be done.

I again thank you for your kind response, Hope For New Haven, and I salute you for your achievements!

I agree that while there is still work to be done with European Americans accepting minorities as equals, I firmly believe that there is even more work to be done with minorities accepting that the overwhelming amount of European Americans already accept them as equals.

Moreover, I think that any person should be just as offended for getting a job because of their cultural category as they would be for not getting a job because of their cultural category.

If we tailor employment demographically, we will never attain the goal of multiculturalism, which is nothing other than the realization that we are all to be homogenized as one culture anyway. This is already mostly occurring. The emphasis should be on this fact rather than continually deferring to the judgments of the past.

If the stress is not on this fact, then we seek not multiculturalism but segregation. And this is offensive to those European Americans who have more than atoned for the sins of their fathers.

The judgments of the past are simply not relevant to most European Americans. Thanks be to God!

Minorities must stop defining themselves by limitations that are simply not there. You are the proof of that. Moreover, European Americans should not be continually judged as if they think in the terms of the past simply because there are more of them to fill jobs.

I thank you again.

Timothy O'Rourke Jr.
The Hill

Timothy

Thankfully I am surrounded by friends, family, colleagues and peers who do not perseverate on whether whites view blacks as equal, competent or worthy. Our efforts, rather, are focused on our aspirations for our own lives and our children's future. We spend the majority of our time talking about how to create an environment for our children to be secure, competent and confident. We believe that cannot be achieved in a system predominated by white educators, whether purposefully, accidentally or by default.

We have a right to demand that our school system create an environment where there is diversity of thoughts born out of a diversity of experience, culture and, YES, race. This should not suggest that we don't recognize the contributions made by many white educators nor should it suggest that we would rather an inept person of color over a highly qualified white candidate. Rather, that our school system needs to be responsive to our issues and concerns as parents and tax payers. One of that issue, as you rightfully pointed out, is how do we realize that noble idea "e pluribus unum" – out of many, one. I would suggest one way to do so, is to stop advancing the idea that if we take affirmative actions to hire a person of color, we will be conscripted to hiring an unqualified candidate at the expense of a qualified white one.

I do not share your assessment that the pool of available and qualified candidates to lead our schools are mostly white. If that is the case, Timothy, I fear we have even farther to go than you suggest. In the event that you are correct, then superintendent Harries needs to expand the scope of his search beyond New Haven, CT and the US if need be. Upon observing him, I truly believe that he shares these concerns and these values and will weigh all these factors when making his decision. That does not release us, however, from our solemn duty as parents, and, in Che's case, stakeholders, to holding him accountable.

Thanks Hope For New Haven,

I appreciate your thoughts and, more importantly, your passion. However, I fear that it is highly divisive to publically seek to hire someone based on race when such notions should be entirely suppressed.

Either we are all finally one people under God (which I contend we finally are) or we continually seek to establish the same protective enclaves of groups that have only frustrated that reality from coming to fruition.

Any person has the same basic aspirations, and the same educational opportunities are available in inner-city New Haven as anywhere else in the world. Perhaps, even more. What else are our schools supposed to do?

All other considerations of the success of any student belong to the duty of the family for disorder in society stems from disorder in the family.

I do not purport to have the answers but I do believe that our families are finally more than adequately supported by society to become equally productive contributors in it. Thanks be to God.

I think it is time that we take the responsibility to confect that realty.

In closing, we do not see the same injustice. Let's pray on it. God bless you and Happy Dr. King day.

Timothy O'Rourke Jr.
The Hill