Hours after federal officials praised New Haven for its school reform plans, Lorena Torres made her first attempt to participate — and burst into tears when she was scolded by Superintendent Reggie Mayo and upbraided by his supporters.
Torres has 5- and 9‑year-old sons in New Haven public schools, She just joined the parent-advocacy group Teach Our Children (TOC).
On Monday night she addressed the Board of Education, inviting Mayo to meet with TOC to discuss the need for more language translation services in city schools.
Mayo refused. He said he was sick of TOC’s “media stunts” and “disrespect” directed at him and his staff. He suggested that non-English-speaking parents take language classes.
By the time Mayo was through, Torres was weeping.
Then she listened to more criticisms from the board president and members of the audience.
The exchange was the latest in a series of emotionally charged confrontations between the superintendent and TOC, which has been advocating for increased language translation in schools. The issue has been a bone of contention for over a year. Matters recently came to a head when Mayo walked out of a meeting after a TOC member accused him of lying.
The latest confrontation came Monday night right after a forum blocks away featuring national and state leaders praising New Haven’s willingness to change old ways in embracing school reform and the ability of traditionally contentious groups to work together.
TOC members have turned out in force for previous Board of Education meetings. Monday night, Torres stood at the podium with only one other TOC member, Claudia Bosch. As TOC staffer Megan Fountain (at left in photo) translated, Torres read in Spanish from a letter written by Nancy Carranza, a parent leader at TOC.
Torres, who is originally from Mexico, said that she speaks only a little English. She later explained that Carranza had a family emergency that prevented her from attending the meeting.
The letter, addressed to Mayo, began by expressing TOC’s “satisfaction” with its collaboration with the Board of Education on the matter of school bullying. “In the same way, we want to be part of the new school reform effort,” Torres read.
“For the new school reform effort to be successful,” she went on, “it is fundamental that all parents, regardless of race or language, have access to information and are included as critical participants in the school system.”
To this end, more translators are needed in the public schools, Torres explained. Carranza’s letter called for translation of documents, at mandatory parent sessions, of the New Haven Public Schools’ webpage, and at Board of Education meetings.
“With the intention of listening to your vision and working together to implement solutions to this urgent problem in order to achieve the goals of the school reform effort, we invite you to meet with us,” stated the letter, which Torres hand-delivered to Mayo after she finished reading it.
Mayo responded by decrying TOC’s “media stunts that they’ve done in the past.” He said that he met with the group in late August and asked members to “please give us time” to work on the translation problem. Then he was called a liar, he said.
“I never said I would provide translators to all schools. I never said I would provide a translator to any schools,” Mayo said. He suggested that TOC find volunteer translators to work in the schools.
Mayo went on to scold Torres for the “disrespect” TOC has shown him. “I’ve taken it and I’ve taken it and I’ve taken it for three years,” he said forcefully. He said that TOC has in the past assembled “100 people in a room to humiliate me and my staff.”
He said that he has tried to designate staff to work with TOC, but the group has refused, saying they will speak only with the superintendent. “Now I wonder what is the agenda there?” he said.
“I refuse to be disrespected by your group anymore,” Mayo said. “I refuse to have my staff disrespected by your group anymore.” Several members of the audience burst into applause.
Mayo promised to have his staff look at the translation issue and address it “as cheaply as we can.”
He reminded Torres that there are adult education classes available for parents who wish to learn English.
“I am sick of the sabotage,” he concluded. “Last month you had children out there! Children!” Among the protestors outside a Board of Education meeting earlier this month were children.
With tears in her eyes, Torres responded softly. She explained that she was a new member of TOC. “We all commit errors. We’re all human. It’s possible that Teach Our Children has committed errors. But Dr. Mayo has too.”
Torres said that she felt humiliated that Mayo “would mention English classes when some people have to work.”
She explained that the only thing she came to do was to see if she could work out an agreement with the board. “I respect your opinion,” she said. “This is my intention coming here tonight.”
“The applause she heard from the back [for Mayo’s attack on her and the group] doesn’t make her feel that parents are welcome here,” translated Fountain.
School board President Carlos Torre picked up the theme of Mayo’s comments.
“I don’t think it’s been difficult to work with [TOC], I just think it’s been useless,” he said.
Torre said that he had personally been disrespected by TOC, which he said invited him to a meeting as an observer and then put him on a panel of speakers. “That is disrespect,” he said.
Torre accused TOC of a lack of collaboration. “That’s not a word that circled in here. It’s simply what you want, when you want it,” he said to Torres.
Torre said that even when the Board of Education meets TOC demands, the confrontations continue. “Sometimes I think I’m in the Twilight Zone,” he said.
“Obviously the agenda is something else,” Mayo said. “Just look at the Independent tomorrow.” He complained about the comments from readers who are critical of him.
“You Cannot Disrespect Our Superintendent”
Several members of the audience stood to speak against TOC and in support of Mayo and the board.
“We have the some of the best teachers and one of the greatest superintendents and mayor of the city,” said one woman. “You cannot come out here and disrespect our superintendent.”
Sabrina Bruno, who introduced herself as a “non-parent taxpayer,” said that although the “best things happen because of collaboration,” TOC is not collaborating with the board.
“I am really upset about this Teach Our Children,” she said. “I don’t believe that they’re representing the children of the city. How about ‘Teach Our Parents’?”
Following up on Mayo’s mention of the Independent and hidden agendas, Bruno said that the news site has received funding from the William Graustein Foundation — a TOC funder — to cover parent involvement in the schools. “I’m sorry, it’s a set up and it’s contrived,” she said. There is no “blog about good practices” involving parents in schools, she said.
(Click here, here, and here for some Independent articles from a 20-part series about best practices involving parents in the schools.)
“I really find it very upsetting that an organization like Teach Our Children could take a lovely lady and take her up here … and make her feel badly,” Bruno said.
Three more women spoke in this vein. They received applause by praising the Board of Education and condemning the actions of TOC. Some turned to address their comments directly to Lorena Torres, who looked on as Fountain translated for her. Board President Torre then attempted to close the discussion.
Bosch, the other TOC member at the meeting, interrupted. “We were nice and polite,” and then other people spoke up and “we’re just hammered,” she said. “It’s not about the issue anymore. It’s about Teach Our Children.”
“You had 20 minutes with no interruption,” Torre countered. The Board of Education has complied with requests for more translators and “you keep calling people liars,” he said, attempting again to close the discussion.
New Board Member Steps In
Alex Johnston (at left in photo), one of the board’s two new members, interrupted. “I’m troubled,” he said. “It’s been an hour now” of talking about translation and TOC. In order to move forward with school reform and have more successes like the recent teachers’ contract agreement, we have to assume “the best of each others’ motivations instead of the worst,” Johnston said.
He said he was disturbed by talk of hidden agendas. “We have to move beyond that kind of conversation,” he said. “I would hope that we could simply start fresh and assume the best of each other.” He asked that Torres be granted “one or two more minutes.”
Torre relented and announced that she had three minutes.
“Thank you to the new members,” Torres said in a measured tone. “You’re new. I’m new. And that’s exactly what I want to do is start anew … Thank you. That’s all we want is respect and clear communication.”
After the meeting adjourned, Torre and Board of Education Chief of Staff Leida Pacini approached Torres and spoke with her in Spanish. Torre encouraged here not to be “a marionette” for TOC.
“Don’t listen to me,” he said. “Look with your eyes” at the actions of TOC.
Mayo declined to comment.
Torre was asked later what TOC’s “agenda” is. “I wish I knew,” he responded.
He said that he hopes the board can collaborate with TOC. He suggested that the two bodies could write a grant together for translator funding.
As she left the building Torres said that she felt “a little humiliated.”
“I didn’t come here to make a drama,” she said.
“They made her feel like an actress for crying,” translated Fountain.
Torres said that she has sometimes been able to find translators to help her when she goes to open houses at her sons’ schools — Amistad Academy and Barnard Magnet School. But sometimes she hasn’t, and has struggled to understand what is happening at her son’s school.
Some previous stories about New Haven’s school reform drive:
• Teacher Pact Applauded; Will $$ Follow?
• Mayor “Not Scared” By $100M
• Useful Applause: Duncan, AFT Praise City
• Reformer Moves Inside
• After Teacher Vote, Mayo Seeks “Grand Slam”
• Will Teacher Contract Bring D.C. Reward?
• What About The Parents?
• Teachers, City Reach Tentative Pact
• Philanthropists Join School Reform Drive
• Wanted: Great Teachers
• “Class of 2026” Gets Started
• Principal Keeps School On The Move
• With National Push, Reform Talks Advance
• Nice New School! Now Do Your Homework
• Mayo Unveils Discipline Plan
• Mayor Launches “School Change” Campaign
• Reform Drive Snags “New Teacher” Team
• Can He Work School Reform Magic?
• Some Parental Non-Involvement Is OK, Too
• Mayor: Close Failing Schools
• Union Chief: Don’t Blame The Teachers
• 3‑Tiered School Reform Comes Into Focus
• At NAACP, Mayo Outlines School Reform
• Post Created To Bring In School Reform
• Board of Ed Assembles Legal Team
Shame on the hacks from TOC who put this woman up to this. They knew that this would happen, and yet they put her in a situation where she had no agency over the outcome. It's a shame that this group is so hellbent on making Reggie Mayo look bad--if they redirected half the energy they spend on the Superintendent to finding a constructive solution to translator shortages, we'd probably have a significant number of volunteer translators in schools.
Has TOC even considered reaching out to organizations like Junta or Yale's Dwight Hall or Latino cultural organizations? Or would that distract from their true intention: making the current school administration look bad. The headline may as well read "TOC's harrassment of the Board of Ed continues."