Mayor: "State Of The City" Hinges On Schools

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Mayor: “State Of The City” Hinges On Schools

by Paul Bass & Melissa Bailey | Feb 6, 2012 9:46 pm

(9) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: City Hall, Schools, School Reform

Melissa Bailey Photo Another 20 walking cops. A new “one-stop” city-run “jobs pipeline.”

Mayor John DeStefano unveiled those new plans in his annual State of the City address Monday night. But he spent more time reaffirming—and re-selling—an existing top priority: New Haven’s school-reform drive.

The mayor delivered his 45-minute address to an overflow crowd of some 200 people crammed into City Hall’s aldermanic chambers.

Scroll down in the story to read a detailed play-by-play account and analysis of the speech interspersed with comments from Independent readers. (Then feel free to keep the conversation going by posting new comments in the regular comments sections.)

DeStefano focused on four main areas in his speech: school reform, public safety, job creation, and city finances. But from the start he made it clear school reform remains his top priority as he proceeds with his record 10th two-year term in office. It was the first substantive subject of his talk. It was also the coda.

He did unveil a few initiatives, like adding those new walking beats on top of the 20 just instituted in town, and using city government to tie job-seekers and training programs to actual jobs available at existing employers in town. He also officially revealed this plan for a new vo-tech school launched in conjunction with Gateway Community College. (More details are included in the play-by-play account, including how those proposals fit in with efforts by the new Board of Aldermen to take the lead on those same issues.)

But the more striking aspect of DeStefano’s speech was what wasn’t new. He sought to convince people to stick with school reform as it enters its next phase. And to convince people it is the most important civic enterprise of the moment.

“It would be the great failure of our moment and our time if we did not follow through with school reform,” the mayor declared.

“We need to keep doing what we’re doing in school change. This is not quick, easy or cheap. It is like most things in our lives that are worthwhile. It requires persistence ... Showing up and showing up ...”

Aldermanic President Jorge Perez welcomed the message.

“I’m very happy to see the emphasis on education,” Perez said. “If we’re ever truly going to address poverty” on the local, state and federal level, “education is the answer.” He agreed with DeStefano that the city needs to “institutionalize school reform,” so that it isn’t just a temporary effort.

DeStefano’s immediate intended audience consisted of the 30 members of the Board of Aldermen arrayed immediately before him. Nineteen of those aldermen are new to the job. A clear majority ran for office against candidates, and an agenda, linked to DeStefano’s City Hall. He needs them on board.

Hill Alderwoman Jackie James, who was part of the coalition that overthrew DeStefano’s allies on the board in the fall elections, called the mayor’s speech “excellent.”

“The board and the mayor are kind of speaking the same language about what needs to happen in the city,” James said. If that continues to happen, she said, “we’re going to be able to accomplish a lot this year.”

DeStefano challenged aldermen to take part in school reform.

“Visit every elementary school in your district” as well as some citywide high schools, he asked the aldermen.

The mayor recounted his visit last week to a mayors’ school-reform conference at the Gates Foundation in Seattle. He noted that in other cities, school reform seems to consist mainly of starting charter schools. Only in New Haven does it consist of a wide range of experiments, he said, such as turnaround schools, high-stakes teacher evaluations, administrator evaluations, “Promise” college scholarships, detailed school-by-school metrics, some charter involvement, extra money and rule flexibility for high-performing schools, and reconstituting failing schools.

Melissa Bailey Photo To that list the mayor promised to add two new projects this coming year: the vo-tech program formed in partnership with Gateway Community College; and a “Parents University” modeled on a Boston institution.

“One thing that we forget is that many of these parents we want to get involved are the products of the almost 2 decades of failed schools,” community activist Kevin Ewing remarked in the real-time Independent discussion. “It is unlikely that they will come to a school for a ‘Parents University.’”

For the complete discussion and account of the speech, the full play-by-play discussion follows. The Independent hosted it along with Angi Carter of the New Haven Register and Neena Satija of WNPR. West River community activist Kevin Ewing also sat in throughout.

New Haven Independent State Of The City Discussion
Monday February, 6, 2012

6:38 p.m. Paul Bass::
Hi everybody. A crowd’s gathering—this event always seems to generate a buzz of excitement, a sense of new possibilities at the beginning of a new year. (And a break from people attacking each other.) Look for lots of talk tonight about school reform, crime, school reform, jobs, school reform, public finances, and school reform.

6:50 Kevin Ewing:
Hey folks, what do you think will NOT be covered in tonight’s address

6:52: Angi Carter:
Hi Kevin and Paul, Angi Carter here. It’s standing room only in the aldermanic chamber at City Hall.

6:52 Paul Bass:
Among the crowd (it’s packed): Police Chief Dean Esserman, police union President Arpad Tolnay, West River organizer Stacey Spell, union organizer Gwen Mills, Fire Chief Michael Grant, economic development official Mike PIscitelli, recently retired LCI neighborhood worker Elaine Braffman, Cedar Hill Resident, former Quinnipiac Meadows Alderman Gerald Antunes, former Alderwoman (and candidate for town chairwoman) Esther Armmand, former East Rock Alderman Dick Lyons, top cops Ray Hassett and Leo Bombalicki ... Also a bevy of top-rated teachers ... (You may be hearing about them later.)

6:53 Marko Pavela:
Thanks for having us, Paul!

6:58 Angi Carter:
Meeting should be starting shortly. Mayor’s address will precede rest of the Board of Aldermen’s agenda.

7:01 Kevin Ewing:
Wonder how many Alders are there for the start of their meeting. It looks pretty full on the video feed.

7:01 Paul Bass:
This speech comes at a time when two groups that competed for votes last fall are now in a friendlier competition—to come up with good ideas for linking New Haven people to jobs. The Board of Aldermen—with a new labor-backed majority—is planning to pass a resolution tonight to draw up a “jobs pipelines” plan within 90 days. Look for the mayor, meanwhile, to address the issue, too, in his address, as his did in his inaugural address last month. There may even be a new idea or two.

7:02 Paul Bass:
They’re taking roll right now Kevin. I don’t see anyone absent.

7:03 Kevin Ewing:
Cool. Couldn’t hear the roll call.

7:04 Paul Bass:
Newhallville Alderwoman Brenda Foskey-Cyrus is doing the “divine guidance.” “We appreciate what people do. We affirm who they are. ... “

7:05 Paul Bass:
Two rows behind the aldermen is a row of blue uniforms and caps: the police department’s district managers, along with the chief and patrol chief Lt. Luiz Casanova. In front of them sits Kathy DeStefano. The mayor is about to get an “escort” of aldermen to usher him to the lectern.

7:05 Angi Carter:
Mayor’s Committee of Escort is leaving the chamber to return with Mayor John DeStefano Jr.

7:05 Comment From Streever
Thanks for doing this, Paul & Kevin—very appreciated!

7:06 Angi Carter:
Voters,contractors, former aldermen, former city workers and DeStefano’s rival in the mayoral race Jeffrey Kerekes packed the chamber

7:06 Paul Bass:
I’m guessing 150 people here, maybe more. Jam packed.

7:06 Neena Satija:
Jeff Kerekes standing at the front of the crowd in the back. (Kerekes garnered 45 percent of the vote in the last mayoral election, running as an independent.)

7:07 Angi Carter:
City school children here, too

7:08 Kevin Ewing:
Is that Jorge joking about the delay?

7:08 Angi Carter:
Mayor heading in, crowd gives him an ovation

7:08 Paul Bass:
MIA: The Governor’s Foot Guard ....

7:08 Neena Satija:
I’d say a lot more than 150—maybe at least 200 here tonight.

7:09 Kevin Ewing:
The Mayor really looks like he enjoys doing these.

7:10 Angi Carter:
DeStefano opens with story about community pulling together during storm Irene

7:10 Comment From Matt
Ugh, I hate seeing kids used as props. Has the text of the speech been released to the media already?

7:10 Paul Bass:
Mayor John DeStefano is starting his remarks now. He’s beginning as usual by recognizing some people as local heroes as well as some institutions: workers and volunteers from Hurricane Irene; firefighters and neighbors who helped families “left homeless from a January fire”; and the new Whalley Stop & Shop and Elm City Market, where most of the employees live here in New Haven.

7:11 Angi Carter:
DeStefano giving shout outs to fire fighters, public works and other responders

7:12 Angi Carter:
crowd applauds

7:12 Neena Satija:
Getting pretty crowded onstage there.

7:12 Paul Bass:
“After spending the better part of winter in the EOC, it was no fun” doing it again “in August,” the mayor says. EOC is the Emergency Operations Center. He’s noting that we had several monster storms this year. I think we’re entering an era where mayors will be focusing more and more on weather emergencies, because of global warming; and governors will become more like mayors, dealing with the technical minute-to-minute details of storm response.

7:12 Kevin Ewing:
Those folks should be getting standing ovations for their work.

7:13 Paul Bass:
Matt, in past years advance copies of the whole speech were released. This year it was being written in final form toward nightfall. We do have a summary outline.

7:13 Comment From Kathy
no time for standing ovations for anyone else. They were rushed off back to their seats.

7:14 Angi Carter:
“the neighborhood, not the city, not the Red Cross, the neighborhood” raised funds for displaced families and pets, DeStefano says

7:14 Paul Bass:
People think it’s corny to do these clap-for-local-people intros. So what? It’s sweet—worst thing that happens is that someone who saved people in a fire get extra applause and a little honor.

7:15 Comment From Steve
is he using up his time to avoid actual issues?

7:15 Paul Bass:
Steve—there’s not a set amount of time allotted. So he can’t “use it up.”

7:15 Kevin Ewing:
Okay those dog comments weren’t necessary at the end.

7:16 Angi Carter:
mayor moving to commentary on two supermarkets opening in New Haven last year - they made commitments to hire city residents - markets were Stop & Shop and Elm City Market

7:17 Neena Satija:
DeStefano’s talking up the new businesses in New Haven this year. There sure are a lot of them—from the supermarkets to that great new bakery Katalina’s on Whitney, to the smoothie place on Audobon, to Insomnia cookies…

7:17 Angi Carter:
mayor says he will touch on ‘four big things we need to do’: starting with public school change for all our kids

7:18 Paul Bass:
“Our most pressing challenge and opportunity”—school reform. DeStefano is repeating a theme from the past year: Lots of stuff is important. Nothing is more important than dramatic improvement in public education. Tonight he’s looking to get people on board with keeping up the experimentation launched in the past year. He has 19 new aldermen sitting in front of him. He needs them to agree.

7:18 Angi Carter:
Here’s what change looks like as defined by the mayor: each school becomes a ‘high functioning organization’; close the achievement gap; cut the dropout rate; and provide the resources students need to finish college

7:19 Comment From ted
What’s wrong with the American Flag?

7:19 Kevin Ewing:
Isn’t a given that we need good public schools? Is this new?

7:20 Paul Bass:
Mayor cites strivers in India. “We have no reason to fear this competition as long as we prepare for it. In New Haven, preparing for that competition means remaining faithful to” school reform. First part of that: “Portfolio schools.” Each school measured for how it’s doing; we “grow successful schools,” “reconstitute” failing schools.

7:20 Angi Carter:
DeStefano says failing schools should be ‘reconstituted’

7:20 Angi Carter:
The district is in a second year of a new teacher evaluation system

7:21 Comment From Streever
Kevin: Unfortunately, it is a new concept in New Haven.

7:21 Neena Satija:
DeStefano’s urging for school reform comes just a couple weeks after the teacher’s union asked to slow the effort down. That came on the heels of news that none of the schools had gone up a tier since the school board placed all public schools in three tiers to kick off the school reform campaign.

7:21 Angi Carter:
5 of the lowest performing schools have a new staff over the past two years

7:22 Angi Carter:
DeStefano uses this analogy: black cat, white cat - who cares as long as it catches mice

7:22 Paul Bass:
Part 2 of his school reform pitch: Quality teachers and administrators. He’s leading with the teacher evaluation system the teachers union and administration came up with. We got a lot of national ink on that. The state’s about to copy the idea. We’re getting lots of credit for our ideas in New Haven. It’ll be interesting to see whether we can carry out these policies; that’s the big test, and he needs people behind him in that process. It’ll be interesting to see whether a more open environment develops in the schools so teachers and parents and students feel encouraged to add their voices; or whether, if that doesn’t happen, democracy proves essential to successful school change.

7:23 Paul Bass:
Part 3 of the school reform overall approach: Promise to New Haven (college help for local kids who do well in school, in many cases a full tuition ride to state schools). Today UNH added to this by announcing it will give half to full tuition for ESUMS students who do well in school.

7:23 Kevin Ewing:
I actually agree with most of the strategy for school change except that it leans a bit too much on punishment for those perceived not up to “standard” with way too much blame placed on teachers.

7:23 Angi Carter:
Change will not be quick and easy to achieve, mayor says

7:23 Paul Bass:
“We need to keep doing what we’re doing in school change. This is not quick, easy or cheap. It is like most things in our lives that are worthwhile It requires persistence ... Showing up and showing up ...”

7:23 Neena Satija:
He just mentioned improvement in school climate—that is one of the few data points we have just a couple years into school reform that shows a significant gain, possibly as a result of the reform efforts.

7:24 Comment From scotto
As much as people hated No child left behind..the Mayor would not be talking about teacher evaluations without it

7:24 Comment From Matt
Neena—you say no school has moved up a tier. Do you have the criteria for moving up or down a tier?

7:24 Streever:
What is the Mayor going to say in 5 years if the lowest performing schools—after multiple staff changes—still have the lowest performance? He is simplifying the complex issues around education, reform, and income inequality to a dangerously low level.

7:24 Paul Bass:
The mayor’s citing a plan Melissa Bailey wrote about recently—a joint trades program with Gateway.

7:25 Paul Bass:
Mayor asks the aldermen to do this: “Visit every elementary school in your district” and some high schools.

7:25 Neena Satija:
Matt—you’d have to ask school reform czar Garth Harries that. The Board of Ed uses a variety of different criteria to tier the schools, from test scores to climate surveys to evaluations, I believe. It appears to be a pretty complex formula.

7:25 Angi Carter:
Good point Kevin, reform has to target more players than teachers

7:26 Streever:
While he points out the connection between the income gap and higher education, he gets the causal relationship completely wrong. While you could look at it from the end—as he does—and see that people with higher education earn more, it is far more illuminating to look at it from the other end, and see that people from higher income backgrounds tend to pursue higher degrees.

7:26 Neena Satija:
Mayor seems to really be responding to teachers’ union president Dave Cicarella’s pleas that the reform effort slow down this year.

7:26 Kevin Ewing:
One thing that we forget is that many of these parents we want to get involved are the products of the almost 2 decades of failed schools. It is unlikely that they will come to a school for a “Parent’s University.”

7:26 Angi Carter:
mayor about to introduce best performing teachers and encourages the crowd to visit schools and get to know them by name

7:27 Paul Bass:
DeStefano mentions the school reform conference with mayors that he just attended at the Gates Foundation in Seattle. he came back struck by how in other cities school reform meant just opening up charter schools; while policy-wise in New Haven it means a wide variety of ideas (turnaround schools, teacher evaluations, administrator evaluations, Promise, school-by-school metrics, some charter involvement, extra money and rule flexibility for high-performing schools, reconstitute failing schools). “It would be the great failure of our moment and our time if we did not follow through with school reform.”

7:27 Angi Carter
about 23 teachers lined up at front of the chamber for recognition

7:28 Angi Carter:
2nd of four big jobs will be public safety

7:28 Kevin Ewing:
So it looks like over half the folks in attendance are gonna be paraded up front. When I’m able to suppress my cynicism I think it’s pretty cool that they get recognition.

7:28 Angi Carter:
referencing violence, DeStefano said we must never think it’s normal or that someone deserved it

7:29 Angi Carter:
DeStefano points to two missions: focus on guns and violence behavior; and reinvigorate community partnerships

7:29 Paul Bass:
Now DeStefano is moving to public safety. In this case, he is talking about moves he made in response to a bruising campaign season, where almost all his aldermanic candidates lost to labor-backed challengers in contested races. He picked up that people thought his policing strategy was failing. So he brought in a new chief, Dean Esserman, with a charge to bring back the community policing that has withered under DeStefano’s watch the past 18 years. Right now he’s saying that while he is a big supporter of Esserman, the more important issue is developing a broad strategy that will work, rather than relying on any one person.

7:30 Comment From CITYSAVIOR
What happens to students who don’t go on to higher education. any votec training?

7:30 Comment From Kathy
Why only first names of the best teachers.

7:30 Neena Satija:
Moving on to crime: Mayor stresses transparency. That’s important after the sudden departure of former chief Frank Limon several months ago. The mayor insisted he was staying on—but the Independent reported that he’d emptied his office. Major point of controversy during the campaign.

7:30 Kevin Ewing:
I’ve not done the research but I’m betting that most of the folks committing violence on our streets attended the NH public schools identified as failing in years past.

7:30 Comment From Kathy
Ugh. Okay teachers, you’re done. So dismissing.

7:30 Angi Carter:
133 shootings last year, only 27 solved

7:31 Angi Carter:
The police department is challenged not just by narcotics-related violence, but shootings and other incidents that stem from disputes

7:31 Paul Bass:
Policing specifics: We’re bringing David Kennedy’s “High Point” strategy for fighting violence. We’re looking at doing more with cold cases. “Families haven’t give up on justice. And we can’t have murderers walking our streets.” He warns aldermen: I’ll be coming back with requests to change personnel rules, among other proposals, to deal with cold cases. (A reference to bringing detectives out of retirement maybe?)

7:31 Streever:
I wish the Mayor will speak about the decision to allow Esserman to remove well-known and respected community police from the top positions, at an additional potential cost of 2 million plus. Velleca and Adger could have easily put in another decade—both loved their jobs and were loved by residents—but now they are retiring at 120k+ a year for the rest of their lives while Esserman brings in his new squad.

7:31 Neena Satija:
The hiring of new officers will also be closely watched in the city—many residents say they want more officers who are actually from New Haven.

7:32 Kevin Ewing:
One way to help with maintaining community relationships is to stop changing the chain of command in the department every couple years. Just when we start building relationships we have to start all over again.

7:32 Paul Bass:
News: He now is saying he wants to double the number of walking beats to 40. Just last week the first 20 were added to the beat. DeStefano says the strategy will involve NOT spending new money to “pay for it all,” but changing the overall approach to policing with lots of changes within divisions. He says this proposed strategy will come before the board and there will be lots of discussion. Notice the olive branch—he now has a potential opposition majority on the board. He wants to be working with them, and taking a lead on policy, rather than fighting them.

7:32 Angi Carter:
Police Chief Esserman wants to double walking beats to about 40 and increase the number of school resource officers; DeStefano admits he must sell the Board of Aldermen on those concepts and answer their questions on how they get funded; no details yet on the budget implications but the cost is expected to head upward

7:32 Comment From Rachel
Paul, how does one turn off the annoying typing sound that interrupts the audio feed every time someone posts?

7:33 Streever:
Rachel: there is a sound control at the bottom

7:33 Comment From Yaakov
Community partnerships: I’ve already met the new walking beat cops in the Dwight neighborhood. Amazing guys.

7:33 Paul Bass:
Thanks David! Way beyond my page grade.

7:33 Angi Carter:
Mayor bringing up police department’s district managers

7:34 Neena Satija:
This is a volatile time for the top tanks of NHPD, as Esserman just asked his three remaining assistant chiefs to leave and wants to pick his own team.

7:34 Paul Bass:
Here comes the parade of district managers. They really are the front line accountable cops—in charge of neighborhood mini-police forces. They’re an enthusiastic bunch when it comes to dealing with citizens. They’re at that great stage where they haven’t been kicked upstairs and out of daily contact with the public, away from 1 Union Ave., but where they have a lot of ability to determine how policing takes place.

7:34 Kevin Ewing:
I wonder how many of them will be at the next SOC address.

7:35 Angi Carter:
Esserman has announced he wants to replace the three assistant police chiefs who were in place when he started last fall - there’s been backlash from the community about outsing Asst. Chief Petisia Adger

7:35 Comment From Yaakov
Cops get last names, teachers don’t?

7:35 Comment From Guest
Wow thanks all. My first time on this site and the directions and info on turing off the typing click was good. It works

7:36 Angi Carter:
Now moving to matchups and mismatches between jobs and skills in New Haven

7:36 Streever:
I’m glad to help guest! Thanks for being here.

7:36 Paul Bass:
Now on to job creation—another area where the newly elected aldermanic majority brought in an agenda that the mayor is working hard either to get in front of or at least play a major role in. Alternatively, this seems to be the big issue on which the aldermen can assert themselves as true policymakers rather than reactors to the executive branch.

7:36 Paul Bass:
The aldermen “set the table” and “should be proud of” doing so on this issue, DeStefano says.

7:37 Comment From scotto
non-shout out to Yale

7:37 Comment From Patty Mc
Wow thanks to all. watching and doing homework at the same time and the clicking was a bit much. Turned it off and all is good.

7:37 Angi Carter:
Jobs will be a big thrust of the new Board of Aldermen, they will unveil their own plan; DeStefano is emphasizing city partnerships with employers

7:38 Paul Bass:
DeStefano unveils a “one stop” “Employer Pipeline.” City government would find out what jobs are open at local employers. It would find out what skills people have who are looking for jobs. It would look at what training is needed. Then it would try to link people up. Interesting political subtext: The version of this emerging from the labor-oriented aldermen would put more teeth into agreements with developers of new projects. This focuses on already existing workplaces.

7:38 Comment From CITYSAVIOR
all good cops but the street officers should have been acknowledged, the mayor already said the detectives could not solve shooting. The street officers are the foot solders

7:39 Angi Carter:
quickly on to finances and the budget—Jeffrey Kerekes hammered the mayor on spending, questionable real estate deals and lack of enforcement on tax abatement plans with employers, some of whom have left the city, during the election last year

7:39 Kevin Ewing:
Uh oh…. tread lightly Mr. Mayor…

7:40 Paul Bass:
“Job Number Four”—finances, taxes, grand list, budget. He has some decent news: 2011 grand list grew 17 percent. Most of that is just from the reassessment of property. But 2.7 percent comes from new sources: PSEG’s peaking power plant and UI’s substation upgrades on Union and Grand Avenues. That adds $6 million a year in tax revenue to the city’s coffers. We grew last year, too, thanks to projects like 360 State. Years before it was the cancer hospital and related developments. Yes, we like all cities have budget challenges (especially when it comes to health care and pension costs). But we also have some financial advantages in this economy that other cities don’t have.

7:40 Neena Satija:
Mayor quick to talk “new growth, not reval growth”—that’s because revals went up dramatically this year after being on hold for several years. A lot of residents weren’t happy to see their tax bills jump.

7:40 Paul Bass:
Latest projection: 17th city budget surplus over the past 18 years.

7:41 Angi Carter:
On taxes, the mayor says 2011 revaluation will have biggest impact - cites ‘wild disparities’

7:41 Neena Satija:
The increases in property tax were particularly bad in the East Rock neighborhood.

7:42 Streever:
I’ve never seen a silver bullet for solving the budget with one or two easy cuts. What I do see are a number of small bad decisions that ultimately cost us all—decisions like forcing Adger to go. An Asst Chief who could have stayed on the force for another decade is now going at, what, $120k/ year pension for the rest of her life? I have a hard time taking him seriously on his promises to reign in the budget when I look at missteps like forcing Adger out.

7:42 Angi Carter:
increases in property valuations were steeper than drops, mayor says

7:42 Kevin Ewing:
He is really good at spouting out statistics and numbers. That always impresses me.

7:42 Streever:
East Rock was absolutely hit the hardest—one of my neighbors saw his tax burden grow 4-6 times higher than his neighbors who live in almost identical homes on Canner street.

7:42 Comment From scotto
Those pensions are just staggering

7:42 Paul Bass:
Now comes property revaluation. That looks like it’ll be an earthquake in East Rock, but not much elsewhere (in general). Interesting stats the mayor offers: 46 percent of residential property owners saw values rise in the revaluation; 54 percent saw them drop. For owner-occupied residential property, 51 percent of properties rose in value, 49 percent dropped. That’s unusual—about half the city goes up, half goes down. The challenge: How not to whack East Rock senseless without enabling people in more struggling areas from benefiting from an overdue adjustment in their own tax rates.

7:44 Paul Bass:
“Hard sets of choices” loom on the budget, DeStefano says. That’s an annual fact, not specific to this year. True nonetheless. He notes that nationally, jobs are back on the upswing int eh private sector. But government at all levels is shedding jobs.

Meanwhile, many people will want more services in New Haven.

7:44 Angi Carter:
DeStefano repeatedly cites health care costs and pensions as ‘budget drivers’ but leaves off debt from school construction

7:45 Paul Bass:
Mayor says he will be submitting ideas to get the self-insurance fund under control. (We don’t have an insurance company for lawsuits. We, taxpayers, are the insurance company.)

7:45 Comment From scotto
There is always revals to tax more but never revals on the pesions that the

7:45 Streever:
Any thoughts on why he didn’t mention the long-term costs last year? (in an election year)

7:45 Kevin Ewing:
I’ll admit that I’ve not paid much attention to the details of the budget but it seems we approach budget and taxes backwards. We figure out how much we can get and then spend it. What would happen if we figured out how much we need then collected it.

7:46 Paul Bass:
The city’s about to get into serious contract negotiations with police and fire unions and two big AFSCME locals, DeStefano notes. It’ll be interesting to see how he and the firefighters negotiate requested pension and health givebacks after the union endorsed the mayor last fall.

7:46 Angi Carter:
Mayor will not delay implementation of reval but will take a look at possible ways to ‘mitigate’ its effects on taxpayers…we need him to elaborate on that in a follow up discussion

7:46 Streever:
Kevin: If you listen to most citizens complain about municipal services, I think the issue is that we don’t have enough money to do what we need to do. Of course, I feel that you are right—the city should be doing a much better job of proactively planning and thinking about the budget with an approach more like yours.

7:46 Angi Carter
DeStefano circling back to school reform

7:47 Comment From CITYSAVIOR
streever is Adger going to make 120k . I thought that jump was removed prior to her appointment? The police do not provide any protection for asst.chief. their at will so until that happens the door will be revolving . Now the mayor says the police and fire work heard but im coming after your benefits . what a joke

7:47 Neena Satija:
Ends with school change—he’s really pleading now. School change has been embroiled with politics even more than usual lately during the investigation of grade tampering at Hillhouse, where the new principal Kermit Carolina alleges he’s only being investigated because he didn’t support the mayor during his re-election campaign.

7:48 Streever:
CitySavior: I don’t know what her pension will be, but I suspect it will be solid—I hope she does do well, she is a great officer, and I’m sorry to see her go.

7:48 Paul Bass:
Mayor is ending with a school change coda. He wants to make it clear that he considers school reform the biggest deal in New Haven. That involves a sell—school reform definitely took a back seat to public safety and job creation in last fall’s election. That’s a leader’s role in part—besides responding to grassroots demands, framing what he considers the big challenges, then convincing people to buy in. Whether DeStefano succeeds in that task with school reform will largely determine the success of this term—and a key part of his legacy.

7:49 Streever:
The vast majority of speech tonight seemed to be on school change—I do think we need to drastically improve our school system, but I don’t think that focusing on teacher excellence is the real solution. I think focusing on increasing teacher coverage is a lot more important, and haven’t seen any proposals for that.

7:49 Streever:
Have teachers gotten worse over the last 50 years, despite an increase in education for teachers, an increase in standards, in increase in qualifiers? It is certainly a more difficult job now than it once was. Has college gotten dramatically harder that kids need more from their teachers?

7:50 Paul Bass:
DeStefano just ended. Speech longer than usual—it turns out that had as much to do with all the people he was recognizing and bringing up, I think. Over the next two months we get to hear a minority state of the city and ... wait, we’re supposed to hear a Republican state of the city address. But there are no elected Republicans this year! Stay tuned.

7:51 Kevin Ewing:
I’d say overall that was a pretty good speech. I will continue to say that we can’t put ALL of our focus on schools and the kids that are in them now. We have to remember that the schools have been failing for a long time and we must continue to think about the generations that attended them. They’re in their 20s and 30s now and we never taught them the basics.

7:55 Comment From Yaakov
Thanks for the coverage, Paul and Kevin.

Comments

posted by: Threefifths on February 6, 2012 9:16pm

When it comes to politics, I’m not on the right side or the left side. Do you remember when they crucified Christ? There were someone on his left side, and someone on his right side, and they were both thieves. That’s the same way with politics.
BOB MARLEY

posted by: Threefifths on February 6, 2012 11:48pm

One can also say that politics and politicians have been failing the people for generations.

posted by: brutus2011 on February 6, 2012 11:52pm

It is pretty clear that the mayor has the focus on school reform as his top agenda.

It is also clear that he intends to pursue school reform as before with nothing new.

Teachers are the main focus of accountability.

Education managers are off the accountability radar.

But what I think is the most telling indicator of possible school reform success or failure is the comments I have read in this article.

These comments are by intelligent people who care about our community.

Unfortunately, these people do not understand how their inaccurate views are inculcated by a masterful propaganda campaign against teachers and by the skillful use of information asymmetry from the city’s managers.

This is what everyone needs to know who cares about our schools and our children’s future.

1. Alcoholism is/was rampant in the old guard with all its ripple effects on our community.

2. The mayor and the superintendent use the financial incentive to secure both campaign funding and loyalty with the education system.

3. The superintendent has much discretionary spending that is cloaked from public scrutiny.

4. The allocation of funds in our schools is heavily weighted to management and consultants with the classrooms being starved of resources as a consequence.

5. Administrators have no incentive to change because the teachers are the scapegoats.

6. Parents have no incentive to change because the teachers are the scapegoats.

7. Everybody, except the obvious, has no incentive to change because the teachers are the scapegoats.

Repeat after me, teachers are NOT the problem.

I, brutus2011, approve this message.

posted by: Threefifths on February 6, 2012 11:58pm

I disagree.Parents are the first line.If what you say is true.Check this report out on the Children of Native-Born and Immigrant Black Families.

The College Enrollment Rates of the Children of Native-Born and Immigrant Black Families
Filed in Enrollments, Racial Gap on January 12, 2012

A study co-authored by Pamela R. Bennett, an assistant professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, finds that Black students who are from families who immigrated to the United States are more likely to enroll at prestigious colleges and universities than students from African American or White American families.
Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study, Dr. Bennett and her co-author, Amy Lutz of Syracuse University, found that 9.2 percent of the Black students who immigrated to the United States or are children of parents who immigrated to this country, enrolled at selective colleges and universities.
In comparison, only 2.4 percent of native-born African American students enrolled in selective colleges and universities. For Whites, 7.3 percent of all students enrolled at the nation’s most elite educational institutions.
The study also found that 75.1 percent of all children of Black immigrant families enrolled in college. This is higher than the rate for White Americans and far ahead of the college enrollment rate of native-born African Americans.
The study, “How African-American Is the Net Black Advantage? Differences in College Attendance Among Immigrant Blacks, Native Blacks and Whites,” was published in the journal Sociology of Education.
Dr. Bennett holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Louisiana State University. She earned a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Michigan.

Remember they went to the same schools.

posted by: Unsure on February 7, 2012 12:01am

... I haven’t seen Velleca’s pension released in any articles nor have I seen Adger’s. On top of that they don’t qualify for that retirement exception that the other ACs (Melendez, Redding etc) did. I do think it is odd that these ACs were forced out and am curious if there is a clause in their contracts that allowed it. Also, why has no one, other than Perez, questioned the hiring of new officers, I believe upwards of 70, when a year ago the mayor laid off 16! Now all of a sudden there is money? But no one challenges the mayor and people wonder why the city has so many problems.

posted by: Theresa on February 7, 2012 12:44am

To paraphrase Bob Dylan you can send them to the finest schools but you know they will only get juiced in it. ... The palaces JD has wasted millions on look impressive but will not teach. Spending cash on better teachers and administrators is the real solution. Most of the surrounding towns have 25 year old schools and much better success at producing educated youth.

posted by: anon on February 7, 2012 10:37am

“If we’re ever truly going to address poverty” on the local, state and federal level, “education is the answer.”

Wrong. Education is a minor factor. An educated workforce may help New Haven proper if educated people stay here and displace lower educated workers to the suburbs (which is already happening) but it will do little to address poverty and inequity at a regional scale.

Rather we should look at more progressive taxes and family supports. Currently, low income families pay about 12% of their net income in State taxes, while high income families pay only about 6%. There are also massive inequities in what they get in return: for example, the large share of families without a car have access to a mass transit system that only reaches about 25% of jobs within the labor market within 90 minutes. That helps explains why the unemployment rate for low income black men is almost 10 times higher than the unemployment rate for a typical white resident living in the city.

posted by: Mike on February 7, 2012 10:59am

I’m personally torn here. I believe the schools are very important and I commend the mayor for working hard to complete his goals BUT just about everyone I know in the city is about ready to leave including myself because of the constant criminal activity that goes unchecked by the police. I understand these two go hand in hand but something needs to be done here, kids also need a neighborhood to go home to where they dont have to see the law being broken 24/7/365, they need parents to help them with their schoolwork and they need teachers to REQUIRE homework. I know way too many kids that are not assigned homework in New Haven, some of these kids are in “magnet” schools. I could go on and on… eventually the criminals are going to outnumber the good citizens in this town if they dont already and this cant be continually ignored, fudging police stats is just the tip of the iceburg here.

posted by: Noteworthy on February 7, 2012 12:02pm

My notes:

1. The abundance of human props is what you do when a) you are trying to convince people you are nicer and more appreciative than you are in real life; b)you use them as fillers because there is not much content in your speech. Both are true of DeStefano’s “we’re just fine” speech.

2. DeStefano says we are doing more “experiments” in education than anybody in the nation. That’s because we don’t have any reformers in our education management. What we have are catapult operators who load up and launch it against the wall to see it makes an mark. There is nothing transformative about what we are doing and the proof is in the outcomes.

3. Finances are just fine says DeStefano. All departments are safe from cuts. No reviews. No analysis of resource allocation or outcomes for the expenditure. Just more of the same.

He did say we had a surplus last year. Yes, thanks to an unexpected check from the state for millions of dollars. A one time check that they posted against a $4.5 million deficit. The check came in the next fiscal year but was posted retroactively in a classic “cooking of the books.” And that surplus was also reached by not paying some bills, not paying in to the pension fund or legal settlement fund etc etc. That’s like not paying your rent or mortgage and at the end of the month saying you have an extra $1,000 in your bank account and claiming its because you are so frugal.

4. I was disappointed that DeStefano didn’t give an Attaboy Award to Jeffrey Kerekes. Afterall, we wouldn’t have a new police chief without Kerekes, or community policing, or a focus on murders and mayhem. Under DeStefano, we would have had a commuter for a chief and community policing would be a couple of bicycle cops riding around on donated wheels.
I guess the mayor didn’t want that kind of human prop.

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