Schools Showdown

The handful of parents who showed up for a parent-involvement meeting watched in suprise as almost 150 teachers, parents and administrators filled the room, shutting down the meeting with a deafening pro-schools rally. The rally, an apparent counter-protest to the one parents staged outside a West Rock elementary school a couple weeks ago, out-roared all attempts at discussion and ended only with the intervention of a peace-seeking preacher.

Members of the Teach Our Children parent group had planned a meeting Friday evening at the LEAP building off Grand Avenue. ​“Are you frustrated with the New Haven Public School System and ready to get together with other parents like you and find a solution?” read a flyer advertising the event. Half a dozen concerned parents showed up.

They quickly realized the evening’s attendees weren’t going to fit in the small conference room: Principals and teachers from schools all over the city flooded in, along with schools chief Reggie Mayo. They came with pro-school signs —‚Äù ​“Reggie’s World Puts Kids First” (in response to this critical article) — and flyers that shifted the blame to the protesting parents. They had fiery speeches in store for the parents who had staged a protest outside the Katherine Brennan School on June 22.

On that day, parents waved signs in front of the school, focusing on a drunken driving arrest of the school’s principal. When speaking to reporters, protesters said school administrators hadn’t been responsive to frustrations they’d had with their children’s education. Several schools were mentioned, including the Wexler/Grant Community School, where a mother said her son kept failing and could not read at grade level.

Hearing their school mentioned, staff from Wexler/Grant showed up to Friday’s meeting in force (pictured at top). They passed out flyers reading: ​“Who will keep kids in line? It should be apparent,” with the pun on parent and a list of ways parents could get involved.

Bewildered organizers had sought to follow an agenda —‚Äù first introductions, then discussion. But the ​“introductions” phase quickly turned into an echoing rally, with the half-dozen parents standing in a corner while school employees took stage in the middle of the gymnasium.

Some who spoke, such as Sound School Principal Steven Pynn, gave level-headed words of praise for New Haven schools. Others gave passionate testimony on their love for their students and jobs. But most speakers’ tone was aggressive, often accompanied by a pointing finger.

Most objected to Teach Our Children’s approach —‚Äù holding a protest outside a school instead of going through more conventional means of complaint. ​“These parents have not gone through the school system and asked for the help that they needed,” said Wexler/Grant parent Corris Smith. ​“We don’t mind people complaining … but we feel we’re being attacked.”

They attacked back.

“Don’t complain about your child if you’re not pushin’ them, if you’re not attending PTOs,” said Essie Barrows (pictured). ​“You cannot beat up every school in the system —‚Äù you gotta work with your child!”

“If you have concerns, why didn’t you come in when your child was failing in school? Why didn’t you come in and pick up your child’s report card?” charged Wexler/Grant Principal Jeffie Frazier. ​“We teach our children not to bash.”

In one of the final speeches, a wild, performative act, this woman (pictured), in apparent mockery of the Katherine Brennan protesters, turned to where Reggie Mayo was standing in a crowd of people and cried, ​“You all drunks!”

Seeing the meeting had spiralled beyond her control, moderator Beverly Chevalier gave in to the schools administration’s suggestion that a preacher intervene.

Reverend Bosie Kimber (pictured) emerged, standing in the middle of the gym. He told everyone to hold hands. ​“No weapon held against us will prosper,” he said, urging ​“togetherness.” He prayed ​“for Dr. Mayo and the burden he carries.” Prayer complete, the crowd filed out of the door.

What about finding solutions to the problems facing our schools? What about the ​“rich discussion” the superintendent had said he’d hoped for?

Mayo (pictured below) lingered a while after the meeting, sharing hugs with supporters. When approached, he refused to comment to the press. Instead, he returned later with a written statement denouncing Teach Our Children’s ​“guerilla tactics” and touting the value of an ​“honest discussion.”

“Let’s not misrepresent situations to parents with a flyer asking people to come to a meeting if they are frustrated with our public schools, without inviting us to be part of the discussion. Guerilla tactics are neither appropriate nor productive,” said Mayo in the statement.

Mayo ​“is advocating for a productive relationship with community organizations like ConnCAN rather than one of acrimony.

“Sitting down together in an honest discussion and working towards the same goal of teaching our children well will produce a productive relationship,” read Mayo’s statement.

None of the parents from Teach Our Children said they’d experienced any ​“honest discussion.”

“Apparently there’s no desire for dialogue at all,” said parent Chris Chevalier. ​“it’s just a little dog and pony show and then you’re all leaving,” he said as schools staff walked out the door. Only a handful, including the principal of the Davis Street Magnet School, stuck around to hear parents out.

“I think what they’re trying to do is obviously to intimidate us,” said Natasha Smith (pictured, during the rally). How did she respond to the finger-pointing? Was she involved in her PTO? ​“I don’t think there is a PTO at Katherine Brennan,” said Smith. ​“I have always been an involved parent.”

Parent Nilda Aponte said she felt the message of the evening was: ​“Shut up, we know what we’re doing.” She said she didn’t have problems with her four kids at the Celentano School. She felt the whole point of the parent involvement meeting had been lost: ​“We’re here to say, how can we work to better the system?”