Flavored Ice Served — As Teacher Cuts Loom

Kelsey Olson’s seventh- and eighth-grade students clapped and cheered to celebrate their math teacher as New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) Supt. Madeline Negrón handed her a cup of Puerto Rican flavored ice.

That was one of the ways that district leaders are marking national Teacher Appreciation Week – amid the local friction around an expected budget deficit and potential staff cuts. 

Negrón joined Truman School Principal Aurea Jaca and Mayor Justin Elicker Tuesday morning for the district’s first event of the week celebrating NHPS educators. 

Negrón, Elicker, and Jaca walked door to door at Truman School in the Hill delivering piraguas, a Puerto Rican shaved ice treat dressed with fruit-flavored syrup. They handed those over to the school’s educators, many of whom had just finished spring testing. 

Tuesday’s sweet-treat offering took place against a backdrop of widespread public pushback to Negrón’s announcement that 129 school employees — primarily teachers (including the arts), paraeducators, librarians, and math and reading coaches — could face layoffs next year in order to close an anticipated $16.5 million budget shortfall.

It also took place as Negrón, Elicker, and other district leaders have worked alongside New Haven teachers and students to press for the state to increase funding to municipal school districts.

“Do I wish I could give a teacher more than just a shaved piragua? Absolutely,” Negrón said Tuesday. ​“But it’s the least that I can do as a token of how much we care for the work that they do each day for our kids. It’s not easy to be a teacher today, and I admire the fact that they’re still committed and dedicated to their profession.”

She concluded that another effort to say thanks to teachers is her continued advocacy in Hartford for state government to boost its funding for public education.

The piragua cart at Truman on Tuesday was decorated with a Puerto Rican flag and filled with flavor offerings like coconut, passionfruit, and tamarindo.

Jaca offered her team a sweet taste of Puerto Rico in hopes that the traditional island treat would provide her school’s educators with a taste of Jaca’s own childhood adventures picking up shaved ice from street vendors in Puerto Rico. She also organized this gesture of gratitude to help educators better connect with students’ heritages. 

Negrón said Tuesday that when the American factory where her father worked shut down and he was searching for a new job when she was a child, he worked as a piragüero to make money for their family. She recalled helping him occasionally as a kid under the sun in Puerto Rico. 

“I know things are tough. It’s Teacher Appreciation Week and since last month all I’ve been talking about are the challenges ahead that will impact many of our teachers. We have to continue to find ways just to show them that we truly appreciate the commitment, the dedication to the profession and the students,” she said.

While stopping at teachers’ doors Tuesday, Jaca asked them each which flavor they’d like and helped to make the treats alongside substitute teacher Claribel Espino and parent liaison Carmen Padilla-DeChalus. 

“You can’t have piraguas without tamarind,” Negrón told educators. 

As students awed at the treats from their desks, Jaca reminded them, ​“You’ll get your piraguas for field day.” 

In her third-floor classroom, Kelsey Olson briefly paused her seventh- and eighth-grade math class to accept a passionfruit-flavored piragua.

She described the small token of gratitude as wonderful. After Negrón reminded Olson’s students, ​“Don’t forget to say thank you to your teachers,” one student asked her in Spanish when student appreciation day is. ​“Todos los días,” Negrón responded. 

Another educator who picked up a strawberry piragua said he loved the idea of the morning treats because it allowed him to try something new — and because his classroom was feeling slightly warmer than usual Tuesday. 

“Thank you for everything you do,” Elicker told the teachers. 

Rather than Jaca’s initial idea to treat educators to a snack cart Tuesday, she decided on the piraguas to bring a more personal gift to staff. Throughout the week the school community plans to continue offering different teacher appreciation celebrations, like a teachers’ breakfast. A group of parents also plans to make each educator lunch on Wednesday. 

Before enjoying a tamarindo-flavored piragua Tuesday, Jaca concluded that she appreciates and sees the daily hard work that teachers do. ​“Teaching is hard work. I wanted to share this tradition and welcome so many more traditions for our family here at Truman,” she said. 

Negrón emphasized the importance of providing teachers with as many opportunities as possible to better understand New Haven’s students and their backgrounds. ​“The more we understand one another,” she said, ​“the stronger [the] relationships we’re going to build.”