Ko Lyn Cheang Photo
Leslie Blatteau: Responded to in writing.
Two weeks after Leslie Blatteau asked the Board of Education a question, she got an answer.
That was progress. Before the roll-out of a new response system, there was no way for members of the public to get answers to questions they posed to the school board.
How much progress? Depends what you think of the answers.
Blatteau, a Metropolitan Business Academy teacher and activist, was among four members of the public who posed questions at a recent Board of Education (BOE) meeting after a new process was put in place.
In the past, citizens could speak at the board’s biweekly meetings. They could ask all the questions they wanted. That didn’t mean anyone offered an answer.
The board has now agreed to post answers on its website after members of the public pose questions. Written responses to the community’s questions are posted under the Board of Education tab in the meeting material.
Blatteau asked two questions, actually, at the BOE meeting held Aug. 9.
Blatteau asked when the board will return to in-person meetings. She also asked if the district plans “to use federal grant dollars to support affordable and equitable before-school and after-school programming at every New Haven elementary school this year”
The eventual posted answer to Blatteau’s first question read: “Members of the community can request in-person [meetings] and a space has to be provided. Board members can choose to be in-person or continue with zoom — it’s up to the individual board member to select the mode of participation in meetings.” (Read more about a previous conversation about this by the board here.)
The answer to her second question indicated that portions of “monies were allocated to each school to determine use of funds. Grants come with specifications and parameters for spending. 21st Century and State afterschool grants are specified for some schools because they were written into the grants.”
The district is using $16 million of its federal American Rescue Plan education grant funds to respond directly over the next three years to its students’ social, emotional, and academic needs affected by the pandemic. Of that amount, about $10.9 million will be distributed among each of the public schools’ principals to personally invest in addressing student, staff, and family needs.
Maya McFadden Photo
Kirsten Hopes-McFadden: Receives an “answer.”
Another member of the public who got a response to questions two weeks later was Kirsten Hopes-McFadden, a teacher at Engineering and Science University Magnet School (ESUMS).
Hopes-McFadden has spoken at every meeting since July 12 demanding a new investigation into the handling of the BOE’s decision process regarding the demotion of the former Brennan Rogers principal for using a racial slur.
The “response” to Hopes-McFadden’s question: “The Board will have to answer this.”
Hopes-McFadden said she has been asking for an investigation because “the superintendent has this repeated process of asking the board to vote with all the necessary information,” said Hopes-McFadden, who was reached by phone Saturday. “Had they given the information to the board members and the vote went however, I would be satisfied ‚because it would at least be done properly.”
During public comment Hopes-McFadden also raised concerns about the implementation of the governor’s Covid-19 vaccine-or-weekly-testing mandate for NHPS staff. The board’s response simply confirmed that NHPS will uphold the mandate.
“I want more thorough answers because that response didn’t mention the plan for those who they allow to be exempt from the vaccine and what the procedure for mandated testing will be,” Hopes-McFadden said.
Before the board decided to answer public questions with written responses on the website, BOE member Tamiko Jackson-McArthur had suggested the questions be answered live, in-person, during meetings, so participants don’t have to wait for responses.
“If someone takes the time to come here at 5:30 — which a lot of people rush because they’re just getting out of work — just answer them. What is the big deal?” she said.
BOE Vice President Matt Wilcox suggested the responsibility of providing responses to the public’s questions be given to the Governance Committee.
“We want to make sure that we have the answers properly gathered and prepared to give proper answers to the public rather than just answering off the cuff,” said Superintendent Iline Tracey. “Some can be answered immediately; some we have to get the staff ready to answers. I don’t have a problem answering the community’s questions.”
The written responses to the public’s questions were posted the day before the last meeting on Aug. 23.
Tracey plans to designate newly appointed BOE spokesperson Justin Harmon to take on the responsibility of responding to questions. Harmon will work to come up with responses in collaboration with the BOE President Yesenia Rivera, Tracey said.
Other questions asked by the public concerned funding options for before and after-school child care, the hiring of teaching staff with zero years of experience, and a request to increase the two-minute public comment time limit. (Read those responses here.)
Responses to the public comment questions asked during last week’s Aug. 23 meeting had yet to be posted as of Sunday.
The Carlson Plan changes the BOA to 4 elected and 3 appointed, while also removing the mayor's seat from an automatic placement. This allows for more frequent turnover of members, reduces the political favor aspect, and puts more power and control of the BOE into the public's hands.