Search Begins For One Hillhouse Principal

Bring Mr Carolina back!!!!!

This is a great start to paring down the board of education budget by several hundred thousand dollars. The only way the money should remain in the school's budget is if it is needed for the students. Also, this business of not having permanent, certified teachers in the classrooms is a joke. Then they wonder why test scores etc. are the way they are. All classrooms in every school should be filled with certified teachers Who are at their jobs and in the classrooms every day.

This leaves me wondering...will the 3 current principals be reshuffled and placed at other schools or perhaps at Central Office (or the 2 remaining principals if 1 of them winds up being the principal at Hillhouse)? This decision is probably good for the Hillhouse community and a step in the right direction in terms of morale and organizational structure.
However, when discussing the budget and cuts that need to be made, this will only save money if these principals' salaries are no longer paid. If it's just a re-shuffling game (which it so often is in NHPS) there will be no real savings to the district even if there is more money allocated to Hillhouse's budget. With Ms. Generette and the 3 Hillhouse principals, we now have 4 principals (4 salaries that total around $500,000) whose appointments by Mr. Harries haven't worked out. Where in the NHPS organization are these principals going to land? We, taxpayers deserve to know the plan.

So this experiment can be labeled as a failure. Can the students — those who have been greatly impacted — get a public apology? That should have happened at the Alders' hearing about Hillhouse, but the superintendent couldn't even show up.

I agree to one principal, no one currently in that building qualify for that position. Some individuals where given jobs/positions because of who they know and favors they have given. I'm tired of the BOE & this school play Russia roulette with my child's education. Our children already have it hard based on the color of their skin and where they come from, please pick someone that will put them first and give then a fair chance at being all the can be. Our school is falling apart don't you see that? Our kids are begging for the opportunity to achieve, listen....just listen to them. Their voices matters and I will not stop until someone listen to them and put a leader that CAN LEAD.

There will be no Hillhouse if parents start pulling there children out of that school. I appreciate that parents and students will be part of the review process for a new principal. To those individuals, pick a leader not someone that people with a political agenda wants you to pick. Education is the one thing that no one can take from you, so pick someone that will give you an opportunity to accomplish your educational goals. Thank you and God bless🙏🏾

YES!!!!! Does Harries really want people to believe that this change would not occurred without the pressure from Caraballo, Torre, Joyner and Goldson. Goldson, as chair of the Finance Committee, announced last week that the budget would not include funding for 3 principals. Harries didn't make a decision, it was made for him.

And he keeps referencing HIS vision for Hillhouse. It is his vision that put Hillhouse in this mess in the first place.

Now, the BOE has to ensure that there is a clean sweep at the House, all of the principals have to go and they need to bring an experienced educator to that building who will resist the non educators Harries and De LA Paz experiments.

Hurrah to the elected members Joyner and Goldson who are committed to real change, and the 2 newly freed Torre and Caraballo.

Who is on this committee ?
History tell me they already have that person. The three could still apply ? This is all a joke. Time for a new leader who knows the history of the school with experience. New vision is need .

After 2 years of public advocacy, letter writing, public hearings, investigations, parental, student, teacher, aldermanic, alumni, and two Board of Education members protests, a portion of the long nightmare at Hillhouse will end. The superintendent's foolish, fiscally irresponsible and confusing tripartite principal leadership experiment at Hillhouse will be abandoned and replaced with one principal.
Power concedes nothing without a struggle. It never has and never will. (Fred. Douglass)
This is a great win for the students and staff and the New Haven public who overwhelming opposed this wasteful, nonsensical plan from its inception. No argument, no hyperbole, no questionable statistics can ever make something illogical logical.
Some of the funds utilized for superfluous administrators at Hillhouse must now be used to hire needed teachers, paraprofessionals, and counselors and purchase resources and the computer technology necessary to bring staff and students 16 years into the 20th century.
BOE has a decades long practice of trying new educational fads/ experiments with our students, expending millions of dollars in the process, only to abandon them after a couple of years only to try something else.
Education need not be as complicated and convoluted as some educational "experts'' try to make it. Listen to the views of the REAL experts: THE HILLHOUSE TEACHERS! This Hillhouse fiasco did not have to happen.
Hillhouse needs totally new leadership. The current leadership should be transferred to other schools. Either find an experienced administrator from within the district or hire an experienced administrator from another location. Past principals need not apply!
The academy system must be reassessed. If it remains, it must be reorganized for the school to function effectively. The academies divided the school, separated staff and students, prevented teacher collaboration and limited student access to certain electives. Many staff and students left as a result.

This was written before it was announced that the superintendent planned to put Hillhouse on the road toward normalcy with a single principal.
"If Polly McCabe is shut down, Dr. Belinda Carberry should be appointed principal of James Hillhouse High School. If this had been done 5 years ago, the various scandals that tarnished the school's reputation and the failed tripartite principalship and academy system probably would not have taken place.
Dr. Belinda Carberry, PhD, has been a teacher, department head, assistant principal, and a principal of THREE different schools, yet despite her credentials, years of experience, character, and dedication to this community and its students, and previous promises of appointment, when the Hillhouse position was opened, the highly qualified Dr. Carberry was overlooked and Dr. Mayo appointed a novice with no advanced degree or comparable experience.
Dr. Carberry may chose to retire. But if she wants the job, the Board of Education should appoint Dr. Belinda Carberry the next sole chief executive principal of a united James Hillhouse HIgh School."
It would be a wise decision to consider Dr. Carberry or someone else of her caliber and character, if she does not want this position. This would be the common sense thing to do.
It has often been observed that the practice of many top administrators has been to think of the most logical, common sense policy and then DO just the OPPOSITE!
The lives, the futures of nearly 1,000 Hillhouse students are on the line here. If the words KIDS FIRST have any meaning at all to the Mayor-Board of Education President Toni Harp, the BOE members and the superintendent of schools, Mr. Garth Harries, then the right choice of the next principal and the organizational structure of James Hillhouse High School should be of utmost importance. In this decision,participation from parents, teachers, students and the community, especially the community of Hillhouse alumni is critical.
Our eyes are on the BOE!

Does anyone remember that Mayor/President of the Board Harp visited Hillhouse High School and came in front of all of us at the Board of Ed meeting and professed that everything was so great at Hillhouse? Can someone investigate why our mayor/president of the Bd of Ed is protecting Superintendent Garth Harries instead of the children of our community? Can anyone explain what we are waiting for? Our children's future is at stake and Mr. Harries is not an educator so we can't blame him for not doing what he does not know how to do. We cannot blame Mr. Harries for we have only our selves to blame for allowing this to happen in the first place. We are also to blame if we continue to let it happen. Yes, I agree that we need a qualified principal to lead Hillhouse and I agree with Thomas Payne's choice. I also believe STRONGLY that we need a qualified superintendent to lead our system. If Mayor Harp continues to staunchly protect Mr. Harries, I question her motives.
We need to watch closely who is chosen to be on the committee to select a new principal. Ask yourself if Mr. Harries wants it to succeed with one principal which will in fact prove how wrong he was if its successful? Keep a close eye on whether a new principal will be given the support needed for success. We need to stop talking in our little groups and come out to the Board of Ed meetings and voice our opinions if we are given the chance to speak. Also notice how Superintendent Harries pack the meetings with meaningless topic and presentations to take up the allotted time so that the community voice is not heard. It seems that the plan at each meeting is to take up time to frustrate the public into leaving without their voice being heard. We need to speak up New Haven for our children are being harmed while these adults make the big bucks off our tax dollars. The teachers need to stop being afraid and speak up for their students need their support. The Mayor and the Superintendent can't fire all of us.

The teachers of Hillhouse need to be COMMENDED for standing up for Hillhouse and their students at the Aldermanic public hearing on Hillhouse which the Mayor-Board president Toni Harp and superintendent Mr. Garth Harries did not attend.
The teachers presented sound and logical and disturbing evidence at that hearing to clearly prove that not only is the present system extremely problematic and a failure in many ways, but that top school administrators consistently made promises to the staff to facilitate the academy system that were NEVER kept! NEVER!!
Many teachers had been threatened, intimidated, harassed and demoralized by school administrators for speaking up about the problems of this grand fiasco. Their views and opinions as professional educators and adults were so frequently dismissed, demeaned, belittled or ignored that 20 percent of the teaching staff (an unprecedented 20+ teachers) spoke with their feet and transferred to other schools. Outstanding educators of long standing at Hillhouse, the dedicated library media specialist, the journalism teacher, ESL teachers and other great teachers and counselors simply switched schools rather than fight a seemingly futile battle and tolerate the status quo.
Quality teachers cannot be easily replaced. The BOE needs to acknowledge and respect this fact.
So, in response to "truthheals," at some personal risk, many courageous Hillhouse teachers did speak up. To a large degree the current change in policy is a result of their efforts.
The teachers not only sing the school song, they believe in doing what it says,
"Hillhouse, Alma Mater, now we pledge our love anew.
Hillhouse, Alma Mater, to thine honor we''ll be true.
Ever we''ll defend you, we''re loyal through and through.
So Hillhouse, NO ONE CAN STOP US WHEN WE FIGHT FOR YOU!"

It is painfully clear, that at the detriment of the children of New Haven, the Mayor has wrapped her arms around the Superintendent. The problem with that is that there is no evident reason.

That means that there must be some reason the public doesn't know and that is what the NHI should be investigating. Has he given in to her every suggestion when it comes to hiring cronies? Has she handed her responsibilities to Jason Bartlett, who is fully unequipped to fulfill them? Is she simply doing what the teachers' union wants because it knows that this Superintendent is incapable of standing up to them?

The reasons matter less than the result. Both the Mayor and the Superintendent are guided the ship into the iceberg. Everyone is getting a large chunk of the taxpayers' dollars, but all of them are unhappy. And they are clearly passing that down to the students. Can New Haven just hit the reset button?

I think it's time to unite behind replacing the superintendent.

This disaster is by design. No one could screw something up this badly with good intentions. Please go outside the school for a new principal. There are currently two very qualified people who were APs at Hllhouse and are now principals elsewhere.

Who shouldn't be an administrator at Hillhouse? Fallen Daniels because she has crony ties to Dr. Garcia-Blocker and she lies. She does not have tenure in New Haven. Cut her loose. David Diah never taught a day of high school and now he's a high school principal. Nick Perrone, current AP is certified K-6. He has no business being a high school administrator.

Mrs. Baker had her chance and showed she's not quite ready. Let her stay as an AP with Mr. Pillinar. Heck, we'd love to see Mrs. Jones-Generette as an AP also. She'd be better than Daniels, Perrone and Diah.