Amos thought if his family moved across the street from the Hooker School, he could get his daughter in. He was wrong.
This fall, the family has watched from its porch as out-of-district parents, including high-ranking school officials, drop their kids off at the school every day.
Meanwhile, the school system told them to take their kid across town to the Hill.
The family’s case is complicated — the family missed a deadline for signing up their child, and didn’t fully move in-district until a month before school started. The lengths to which the family went to try to land a spot at Hooker reflect the frustration of many public school parents over what they perceive as limited viable choices for their children. The episode also reflects a vein of frustration and despair specific to East Rock families who set their hearts on the top-notch school but don’t always land a spot.
In past years families have scrambled for spots, in some cases to no avail. This year, the family was the only in-district one that couldn’t get its kid into Hooker, according to Reggie Mayo, the superintendent of schools. There were plenty more families out-of-district who would like to get in, too, he said.
Tales of neighbors’ woes have led a local alderman to call for a more transparent process, and for expanding the boundaries of the district to include more neighborhood kids.
“A Rude Awakening”
Amos and his wife, Phoebe, who had lived in Canada, came to New Haven three and a half years ago, when Amos was a student at Yale Law School. They have three daughters, ages 7, 3 and 1.
In November 2006, they started looking for a place to send their oldest daughter, Mikhaela, to kindergarten. Talking to other parents, the couple heard they should really send their kids to only one of two public schools: the Edgewood school in Westville, or the Worthington Hooker elementary school on Livingston and Canner Streets in East Rock.
Hooker is a popular choice among Yale professors and graduate students. It has a strong international community and high-performing kids. When test scores come out, Hooker students routinely blow the rest of the district, and the state, away.
For the family, the choice came easily: All Mikahela’s friends went to Hooker. It was within walking distance. They set their sights on their neighborhood school.
The problem was, they didn’t live in the “neighborhood.”
While many see Hooker as an East Rock school, its district is confined to about half of what is considered East Rock. The boundaries are contained mostly in Ward 10: Click here to view a map of the boundaries. Click here for a list of in-district addresses.The boundaries weren’t easily accessible on a public web site. When the family called the school system, they found out that the house they were renting on Cottage Street, below Livingston, was out of the district — by about half a block.
“It was a rude awakening for us,” said Amos. Seeing that they were out of district, they didn’t register Mikhaela for kindergarten. They sent her to private school, Cold Spring, and crafted a new plan.
A New Strategy
Showing just how far parents will go to get a kid into Hooker, the couple decided to pick up the family and move house. They found a rental property in Hooker district, across the street from the school. They signed a two-year lease in June. From the front porch at their new house, they could see the newly renovated school.
By moving so close, they thought they’d snagged a place in what the school board president has called a close-knit “family” of involved parents.
“We thought it was automatic,” said Phoebe. They found out it was not.
After spending the spring making phone calls, the couple missed the July 1 registration for new students. They showed up on July 3 to try to register. They applied under their new address, which they planned to fully occupy in August. They were told there was no room for Mikhaela.
“By the time they moved into the district,” explained Superintendent Mayo, “the classes were filled.” By teacher contract, first-grade classes are capped at 26 kids, he said.
The spots were all reserved by students who were enrolled in kindergarten at Hooker the year before, according to Will Clark, the chief operating officer of the school system. Those students either began the 07 – 08 school year in kindergarten at Hooker, or transferred there during the academic year when a space opened up, he said.
Of the class of 52 first-graders, 15 were “out-of-district” students, the rest “in-district,” Clark said. The “in-district” group may include students in the English as a Second Language program who come from out of district, he said.
In an unusually tight year for first-grade enrollment, no new students were admitted, Clark said.
All grades except kindergarten have a significant number of out-of-district kids: Click here for a grade-by-grade breakdown of Hooker School enrollment as of Oct. 1.
Hooker has two sites comprising grades K‑8. A total 155 of the 405 students, or about 38 percent, are “out-of-district” kids. The percentage is on the lower end for city schools — Click here for a break-down of enrollment, school-by-school.
The East Rock family had not, as the school system recommends, made back-up plans at magnet schools. They put all their eggs in the Hooker basket. When their choice didn’t work out, they panicked.
“It was a shock to learn that,” after moving house just to be closer to the school, “we weren’t going to get in anyway,” said Amos. “We were devastated.”
Finding no space at Hooker, the school system registered their child across town at Hill Central Music Academy. The school has been on the federal list of failing schools for the past eight years. The school is K to 8. Phoebe said she would absolutely not send her child there.
“She might have been raped,” Phoebe said.
[Note: After the article was published, Phoebe posted a note, below in the comments section, stressing that she was not referring to her child being in danger in the school, but rather that she didn’t think it safe for her to walk miles to school.]
Superintendent Mayo said his staff offered several other options for their daughter, but the couple refused. Phoebe suggested Mikhaela skip into second grade, where there was space. The school system said no.
“How Did He Get His Kid In?”
When school started, Phoebe still hadn’t given up. She set out on a campaign to get Mikhaela into Hooker. When school started, she marched down to the school each morning, waited until the first-graders lined up in the playground for gym class, and counted heads. She said the classes were not full.
From a seat in the principal’s office, she watched kids from out of district come and go. She had been told that two of the kids at Hooker belong to Clark, the school’s chief administrative officer. Others were international students.
“How did he get his kid in, and I’m around the corner and I can’t get my daughter in?” Phoebe asked with indignation, noting a new arrival one day.
Mayo: It’s Not Political
The question of preferential admission caused a stir in 2004, when out-of-district kids, including the daughters of State Rep. Cam Staples and school board President Brian Perkins, snagged early spots ahead in an over-enrolled kindergarten class.
“That was the year we had problems,” recalled Mayo this week. First came an uproar when six parents who lived in-district found out there was no room for their kids. Luckily, there were some last-minute vacancies and all in-district students ended up getting in.
This year, Mayo said, he was able to find spots for all in-district kids except the East Rock family, which hadn’t fully moved into their new house at the time of registration.
“We have a lot of interest in Hooker,” Mayo said. “It’s a popular school.”
Perkins, who lives in the Beaver Hill area, has enrolled three daughters in the school. He told the Independent last year that he sent his kids across town for the international student body, quality teachers and close-knit “family” of involved parents.
Mayo denied the process is political: Perkins “went through the process like any other parent” — as did Will Clark, he said.
Clark has two boys at Hooker, in the second and fourth grades. He spent his whole life in East Rock, just eight blocks away from the school. His home on Humphrey Street falls about two blocks outside of the Hooker boundary.
Clark said he got his kids in through the standard process: Finding no space at Hooker, he enrolled his kids in a different public school and waited for a transfer. Back when the Hooker School was temporarily housed at Goffe Street, a couple spaces opened up. Clark’s kids were transferred at that time and have remained in the school ever since.
“I certainly followed the process,” he said. He was not chief administrative officer for the school system at the time of the transfer. (He worked downtown at City Hall until 2003.)
Asked how the Hooker admissions process works, the school system gave this explanation:
The first spots go to students who were already enrolled in the school the year before. If any spaces open up, they are given to new students. Factors that enhance a student’s chances of getting in are: If a student lives in-district, has ESL needs, or has a sibling already at the school.
Mayo noted that New Haven’s is a school system of choice, where students are encouraged to cross town for class if they find a better fit at a school in another neighborhood.
If a student doesn’t get into his or her school of choice, parents can apply for a transfer to any non-magnet school, including Hooker. There’s no waiting list at Hooker, said Mayo. He personally monitors for vacancies, then reviews applications from interested students and offers one the spot.
The Stakeout
Back in East Rock, Phoebe was coming to her own conclusion:
“I guess we’re nobodies, so we get the shaft.”
She heard that if she wanted to get into Hooker, she needed to take her case to the top: “You need to talk to Dr. Mayo,” someone told her. “It’s highly political who gets into Hooker.”
A few days into school, with her daughter still not enrolled at any school, she grabbed two of her kids, a bottle of milk, and four crackers, and went to Mayo’s office. She didn’t have an appointment. She waited six and a half hours, Phoebe said — until Mayo came out and spoke with her.
He told her the classes were full.
Not taking no for an answer, Phoebe didn’t leave. In an outburst of frustration, she yelled at Mayo, lobbing an accusation — that the process was “political.” She was escorted by security to the door.
The couple said they don’t want to give up on New Haven public schools.
“If you give up on your public schools, you are sunk as a nation,” said Phoebe (pictured at the top of this story with Amos and their three kids, Alexandra, Mikhaela and Zo√´, left to right).
But when she couldn’t get her kid into Hooker, she sent Mikhaela to private school at Cold Spring. They’re happy with the school, she said, but they can’t afford sending three kids to private school while keeping up with East Rock rent.
“It’s an unfortunate situation,” said Mayo this week, “but I offered other schools until we got a vacancy at Hooker, and they refused.” He promised her first dibs on a seat in the class.
“She will be the first to get in if a spot at Hooker in first grade as soon as we get a vacancy,” he said.
A Call For Reform
Meanwhile, parents across the neighborhood and city have their eye on those same spots — especially first-grade and kindergarten, where a seat just opened up.
East Rock Alderman Roland Lemar said this year, four separate East Rock families came up to him who couldn’t get their kids into Hooker. Some lived just blocks away from the Hooker boundaries. A couple were lifelong East Rockers.
The parents were struggling to find out basic answers on what the process was, Lemar said. They were befuddled, frustrated and enraged by inconsistent messages from the school board.
The parents were told numerous versions of how the process really worked. They were told that kids who were enrolled at the Leila Day Nursery could apply for in-neighborhood spots, even if they lived elsewhere. Mayo replied that no special privileges are given to Leila Day kids. Other factors that do count, such as ESL needs and sibling preference, weren’t clearly spelled out.
The absence of a waiting list left parents in the dark on their children’s chances for admission.
“The process needs to be clarified and transparent. It should be really easy for parents to come in and see exactly where they stand,” Lemar said. He suggested the school system offer a website where parents can type in their name and address and find out all the information they need: Which neighborhood school they’re eligible for, what the application process and deadlines are for all city schools, and where they stand on any waiting lists.
As these parents stood in limbo, they, like the East Rock family, watched kids from other parts of town starting the year at the school.
“It infuriates people to know that there’s a neighborhood school they can get their kids into, yet when they apply they’re told there isn’t room,” Lemar said. “They watch parents from across the city drop their kids off and head back to Westville, to East Shore or wherever, while they’re stuck bringing their kids to a school that’s their third or fourth choice.”
The school system should stop guaranteeing spots to people who move out of the district, Lemar said.
“There are kids who are in Worthington Hooker, who are from out of district, who are allowed to stay in for the rest of their career,” he noted.
Out-of-district kids should have to reapply each year, he said: “It goes against the merits of a neighborhood-based school when kids can get in in kindergarten, but spend the next seven years living in Westville.”
Lemar said he’s asked the school system to expand the boundaries of the Hooker district to include more of East Rock.
“If we really are a neighborhood school,” he said, the boundaries should include more of what is considered the East Rock neighborhood.
Mayo had no comment on Lemar’s suggestion to redraw the Hooker map.
One former Hooker parent, Yale economics professor Chris Udry, defended the process, even after being the victim of an admissions scare. He and his wife live on Livingston Street. A decade ago, they tried to get their kindergartener into Hooker, only to find the school was full.
“We were of course quite worried,” he said. “Hooker school was one of the reasons we moved to New Haven.” But, as usually happens, a spot opened up for his child.
Reserving spots for kids who are already enrolled in the school “strikes me as totally reasonable, but leads you to an enormous amount of panic,” he said. “It would be ridiculous to kick a kid who’s already been in the school out just because you have a kid who just moved to the neighborhood.”
Lemar, another survivor of a Hooker rejection, said for his family, the search for the right school had a happy ending. When he tried to send his daughter to kindergarten at Hooker, all the spots were full. He sent her to Nathan Hale in the East Shore, where she’s now thriving as a third-grader.
“We love our school,” said Lemar. “It’s unfortunate that everyone thinks that Hooker is the only good school to go to. There really are other schools with tremendous teachers.”
The mom lost me with the rape comment. Real nice.