Alders Press NHPS On School Closures

"...while some, like Fair Haven School and Wilbur Cross, are currently at capacity because of recent large influxes of students." I, for one, would like an explanation of what this means. Did these students move from several NHPS buildings over to FHMS and WCHS? Are these new students to New Haven? What is the reason for the influx?

This is ridiculous. NHPS is already in a deficit for this year, and there's no way the city is going to magically come up with $12 million. How are school closures not already part of the plan?? No, you can't have another year to figure it out by paying more people to do studies. We're already in an emergency situation. There's not enough budget to keep up schools, not enough teachers, not enough kids. Consolidate schools now. They've already identified in a previous study which schools are top of the list to be shut down. ENOUGH.

If you're asking for $17 million and they're not even giving half of that, why continue to bleed red???? Why continue to put off what clearly needs to be done? CONSOLIDATION IS A MUST! This has been a must for years and we finally have someone competent enough to make the decision. Let's get it done!

The NHPS has had years to plan for school closures and to right size their budget. Further delay is unwarranted. The NHPS is like a recalicitrant child who refuses to comply with the rules of the house - come home on time, spend their money within budget and to actually be productive. More than 30% of kids are chronically absent; 80% can't perform at grade level; the NHPS can't stay within their budget and they don't even try to budget for proper maintenance even of the $2 billion in brand new schools. Another year of delay will not change that. School closing should start as soon as the school year ends. It doesn't need community input. It's a management decision. Get on with it. NO MORE EXCUSES.

Stop begging for time .. time to consolidate! Ho absolutely ridiculous to try to convince people that you can’t do it due to children’s reading?? How is that connected in any way? Negron should feel confident in her staff that all children are receiving the best reading program no matter where they go. Shame on her using that crazy excuse!
Stop the bleeding and do what is needed. Of course our Mayor will allow his self selected superintendent to do what she wants.

Every building and every student body means money for the disctrict. You will have to rip these things from the hands of the big wheels in BOE and City Hall.
Do our alders have the guts to do the RIGHT thing?? Not the popular thing but the RIGHT thing for our city and people. Students are part of this city but they are not the only part. The rest of us count too and many are sagging under the debt that NH has accumulated, the bulk of whice is due to the schools.

Alder Honda Smith is right, we need to make sure classrooms aren’t too large and that paras are available if we reduce the number of schools. It’s not just about reducing buildings, it’s about how to best meet the needs of the students and the teachers.
Under 20 kids in grades 1-8 is good. If you go over 22 students, then the ability for the teacher to help each child and manage the classroom starts to suffer. I’ve seen this as a NHPS student and also as a NHPS volunteer.
Kindergarteners need more individual attention and should have smaller classrooms or a teacher and a para if it is larger. Kindergarten is where students need to learn the skills that will ensure their success in further education, and have to be identified if they have learning disabilities to get the extra specialized help they need to overcome those hurdles.
Whenever possible, we need neighborhood schools in each neighborhood area within waking distance of where students live. This not only cuts down on busing, it helps students have playmates outside of school with their classmates and neighbors, and it helps parents and guardians make friends with other parents, and makes it easier for parents and guardians to attend meetings with teachers or school events or volunteer at schools. It also strengthens community ties.
I hope this is given a thoughtful review and the BOA and superintendent are given the time to spend this coming academic year preparing and identifying the schools that make the most sense to consolidate and close, and to prepare the teachers and students and parents for the transition, and address any issues of concern.
Rushing this to happen this fall for the 2024-25 academic year does not make sense, the 2025-26 year would give the NHPS more time to plan and prepare.

NHPS2021, I assume you mean consolidating schools, which makes sense. Consolidating districts on a regional basis also makes sense, but is not going to happen.

CY2, some funding is per student. But your statement "every building ... means money for the district" is inaccurate with regard to operating budgets (what this article is about).

Close buildings now, before Sept 2024. Start the staff cuts but start at the top of the administrators before you get to classroom. And please not on the backs of teachers...
Taxpayers need help to be able to afford to live in NH. This has to happen and the sooner; the better

Closing some schools, shifting student populations, and reassigning staff would require immediacy. If the BOA wants that process to happen now, it needs to give a directive with a hard deadline, not a suggestion. By the same right, they also shouldn't complain when the schools closed are in their wards nor when their schools start receiving students from neighborhoods that they wouldn't want to live in. Pleasing New Haven in saving money and merging schools is a gargantuan task. If it is mandated to happen now, then the BOA and the BOE need to make room in their schedules for significant dialogue with each other and with the community. Make sure it's done right.

CY2, I trust you mean start the closure process now, in which case we actually agree. But even if closing buildings now were feasible, it would be very disruptive for students and their parents. Deciding where the displaced students will go and revising bus service and other contracts will take months.

Since the pandemic, there are about 2,000 fewer students, but more employees. And yet there is a constant beg for more money. Test scores have gone down, but teachers have gotten big raises.

Someone needs to reign this in.

Dr. Negron has an important point (fact). Whether a merged community (kids entering a new school) will work, depends upon the satisfaction and agreement of the parents who have to move their children to a new school as well as the parents in the school that's ready to accept them. There's a lot of community discussion that must take place. Years ago when the city sold Roger Sherman school which was housing what is now the Conte School Follow Through program, the children had to move to Weshills School which was already filled with students from the area. There were many heated discussions between the two communities - teachers, staff, parents, paras, administrators - to make the change smooth. It's not as simple as people seem to think. Children and teachers are not pawns in a game of New Haven consolidation chess. The fact that the story ended well took a lot of work. I agree with Dr. Negron's position that the district needs time to work out with parents and teachers regarding which schools should close and then which school children will attend. If we're serious about a good outcome, it takes work. There don't need to be new consultants or new hires. Parents, teachers and administrators working together can make the changes smooth.

CY2, thanks. One clarification When a district has spare capacity, as New Haven does, it makes economic sense to serve as a receiving district under school choice. The funding the district receives from the state exceeds the marginal cost of serving the out of district student. The decline in the number of out-of-district students is one factor in the district’s budget blight.

TK, I too am an alum of Catholic schools. I received a very good education even though there were 30+ kids in a classroom. But there were no special needs kids in my classrooms. Or any kids who did not speak English fluently.

$32 million just in transportation. Maybe we should stop bussing kids across the City to go to a school when there’s another school down the street. Talk to any NHPS parent and I bet they have a story of someone who couldn’t get their kid into the school within walking distance of their residence.

Darien $365,528 average household income.

Darien 83.5% WHITE

Darien 1.5% Black

That's all you need to know.

WestvilleExPat you asked what I meant about my rather terse comment.

What I mean is that the economic disparity - the unfairness built into the system of capitalism especially when it comes to public schools is painful when the discussion comes to who gets what and who goes where.

Under capitalism if you live in Darien or one of the other Gold Coast towns in CT the differences on what those towns and New Haven can spend on our children's education is stark and in your face.

New Haven students future depends as much on their education as all children do.

However, if you're from a rich, White town, obviously, your chances of getting a much better education and start in life is almost guaranteed.

Under socialism all property taxes in the STATE of CT would go into one Education pot and shared equally in our education system so that inner city Black and Hispanic kids get the same level of education and resources that the rich, White kids already get.

Thankfully, the inability of capitalism to create a level playing field where all CT students have the quality education that the rich, White kids already have will create, out of necessity, something much better.

That's inevitable.

LucaD, thanks. We agree that property taxes are a really bad way to fund education.

We disagree on vouchers, although I understand why some public school parents favor them Even if there was a voucher system, you and I would still pay a lot of taxes to support public schools. A large part of the costs of the system are fixed. Vested pensions are a form of property and can not be taken from retired or current teachers, regardless of what happens to enrollment. In most cases, taxpayers will have to pay maintenance costs of schools, regardless of enrollment, as well as the mortgage equivalent for newer schools. And I suspect that non-public schools will accept few special needs or English Language Learner students, who are substantially more costly to educate than other students.

And while Catholic schools have provided an excellent education for many students, their enrollment has plummeted. In 1960, when I was a first grader, there were more than five million kids in parochial schools. In 2022, there were fewer than 1.7 million.

LucaD, thanks. Thoughtful, decent people have very different views on these issues. And this is one of many areas where I have no particular expertise.

But I do know something about demography, which poses a profound challenge to schools of all types and to educational finance The nation’s population has more or less plateaued and the number of school age children is likely to decline in many areas. This affects public and non-public schools alike. And these trends have political implications. In the Late Middle Ages, when I was in school (the 60s and 70s) most voters/taxpayers had school age kids. This is no longer the case, and affects both public and non-public schools. Nor is the problem limited to the U.S. In many industrialized countries, the proportion of the population over 65 exceeds that under 18, and politics reflects this demographic reality.