Praise, Frustration Follow Star Teacher’s Departure

Briana Bellinger-Dawson left her ​“dream job” as an arts educator at Nathan Hale School earlier this month after deciding that she could no longer afford to work part-time and not receive the support she needed to get her teaching certification.

Her departure has left a community of Morris Cove families already feeling the beloved teacher’s absence — and speaking out about their frustration that the city’s public school district didn’t do enough to hold onto a life-changing role model who went above and beyond to bring performing arts to city students.

Nathan Hale School parents and students expressed those concerns Wednesday evening during a community meetup convened in the PreK‑8 school’s cafeteria at 480 Townsend Ave. 

Attendees reminisced on the many positive personal experiences they have had over the years with Bellinger-Dawson — affectionately known as ​“Ms. B.” They also proposed different ways that the district might be able to bring Ms. B back, and in doing so forge a better means of holding onto top local teaching talent, especially if those educators aren’t already fully certified teachers.

“Every metric the district is worried about are things her program addresses,” said Lisa Bassani, whose seventh- and third-grade daughters Sofia and Aveline Volpato attend Nathan Hale. ​“Students wanted to come to school. Students wanted to work with her. You can’t help but just absorb her passion.”

“There’s a failure of this district to identify this incredibly talented person,” Bassani continued, ​“and mentor her and put her on the appropriate path.”

Bellinger-Dawson, a New Haven native, started working at Nathan Hale School in 2015 as a part-time teacher focusing on both dramatic arts and dance. She remained part-time for eight years due to not having a bachelor’s degree and a teaching certification from the state. 

Click here, here, and here to read more about Bellinger-Dawson’s work at Nathan Hale, as documented by Lucy Gellman in the New Haven Arts Paper.

Ms. B: "I Wanted To Be The Educator That I Needed Growing Up"

Reached by phone on Thursday, Bellinger-Dawson told the Independent she has had to work several jobs while in her Nathan Hale School role to pay her bills at a time when the cost of living has been on the rise. One of those jobs has included teaching freshmen theatre studies at Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School downtown.

At Nathan Hale School, Bellinger-Dawson was initially tasked with working with only middle students. She was later assigned to work with the entire school to include elementary students. 

Each year, Bellinger-Dawson directed a fall, spring, and summer musical or play at Nathan Hale, even though she was not paid for this work. She continued to do it, she said, because of the deep bonds she’s made with her students through these theater productions. 

“I wanted to be the educator that I needed growing up,” she said.

In her part-time position, Bellinger-Dawson was only able to claim 19.5 hours a week in paid work, though she typically worked at least 40 hours a week to stay after school to put on theatre productions. She was paid $540 every two weeks. 

After eight years on the job, Bellinger-Dawson left her role at Nathan Hale School roughly a week ago. She did so, she said, because of the lack of support the district offered to help her move up to a position as a full-time employee. 

She is now employed full-time as the new coordinator of community partnerships at Wesleyan University in Middletown, where she facilitates students’ community service projects.

Over the years, Bellinger-Dawson said, she’s struggled to find the time to take classes to finish her degree because they are offered during school hours or while she has been working a second or third job. 

Since her start in 2015, Bellinger-Dawson has taken students twice a year on Nathan Hale’s Broadway New York trip. That has involved taking students to a 90-minute master dance classes with Broadway show cast members and choreographers, attending a Broadway production, and concluding with dinner and games at Dave & Buster’s. 

Over the years students have met actors like James Monroe Iglehart and Thayne Jasperson, and have attended Broadway productions of The Lion King, Wicked, and Hamilton.

Jasperson even recently visited Nathan Hale School to host a master class with students on Jan. 30. Several students had Jasperson sign one of their dance shoes and Bellinger-Dawson sign the other during closing night.

Bellinger-Dawson told the independent that her departure is a ​“temporary goodbye.” 

She said she is working to partner with local artists and arts leaders in New Haven in hopes of creating a new community theater. 

“This is really what we need. These kids, they need a program that isn’t just at a few schools,” she said. 

In recent years Bellinger-Dawson worked from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. in her teaching role. Then she would lead Nathan Hale afterschool theatre productions from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Then she would travel to the Connecticut Repertory Theatre at the Storrs campus of the University of Connecticut to help direct shows. Most days, she wouldn’t return home until around 1 a.m.

During the height of the pandemic Bellinger-Dawson also created a summer musical program based at Nathan Hale that was open to all New Haven youth to audition for a summer play or musical.

Despite constantly having to spread herself thin to financially support her family, Bellinger-Dawson said her role at Nathan Hale was her dream job. ​“I love introducing them to theatre and seeing their faces when they’re proud with what they do,” she said about her students.

Bellinger-Dawson added that recent health problems played a part in her departure because she does not have any health insurance through work as a part-time employee. 

“My request for assistance with furthering my education was always ignored,” she said. 

NHPS Spokesperson: "Committed To Working With Ms. Dawson"

In response to Bellinger-Dawson’s departure and concerns expressed by families, New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) spokesperson Justin Harmon sent the Independent the following email statement Thursday:

“Briana Dawson is a great example of a member of the school community who contributes to the learning experiences of our students. Everyone who knows her work at Nathan Hale wants to retain her.

“The New Haven Public Schools is committed to working with Ms. Dawson to identify options that would allow her to continue working in the district while obtaining the teaching certification that is required to become a full-time teacher. We have explored possibilities with Ms. Dawson that would allow her to stay at Nathan Hale in a part-time position or to work in another full-time position while pursuing one of the low-cost bachelor’s and certification programs that are currently available to NHPS employees who want to become teachers.

“Our Coordinator of Recruitment and Retention has spoken with Ms. Dawson and will continue to be a source of support as she decides what she believes will be, for her, the best course of action.”

In response to Harmon’s comment, Bellinger-Dawson told the Independent, ​“I was not offered any full time position with assistance/guidance towards any low-cost bachelor degree programs offered to NHPS employees. We have asked about those resources and information but that has not been offered to me or communicated to me.”

And in regards to Harmon’s mention of a possible certification program she could participate in, Bellinger-Dawson said, ​“This is also my first time seeing such a thing from the district. All mass emails sent to us about certification have been about ARC which is Alternate Route to Certification and you can only apply to that, once you have your bachelors.”

Parents: "She Brought The Whole Community Together"

In attendance at the Wednesday meeting were Bassani, Laura Cross and her eighth grader Elijah Cross, Jeanette Tetrault and her two current Nathan Hale School students Fiona and Vivian Cox, Lauren Holloway and eighth grade son Landon, mother and paraprofessional Kat Laverty and her seventh-grade daughter Gia, and Annex Alder Sal Punzo.

At the meeting in Nathan Hale’s cafeteria, parents described the last performance night of this year’s musical, Newsies, as ​“heart wrenching” as students cried and shared years of lessons learned from Bellinger-Dawson.

This year’s musical of Newsies brought together a cast of 70 kids of all grade levels.

Lauren Holloway said that her son Landon is usually very shy. ​“She pulled something out of him, something that I have never seen before,” Holloway said about Ms. B’s work with her son. 

Holloway’s sixth-grader, Harper, also preferred to not been on stage and instead wanted to work behind the scenes. ​“Ms. B eventually got her on stage and it wasn’t much, it was a little part, but she was so proud of herself,” Holloway said. ​“Working from a place of fear is something that’s so important in so many aspects of life and Ms. B really teaches that and it’s hard to beat.”

Parents described Bellinger-Dawson’s craft over the past eight years as unique and said her personality was magnetic.

They highlighted her ability to get students aged 6 to 14 to work together for school theater productions. 

“She brought the whole community together,” Cross said, whose other son graduated from Nathan Hale three years ago.

Her productions also got other Nathan Hale educators involved and highlighted the talents within the entire school community. 

“The impact she had in this school is something that any school district I would think would want to hold on to,” said Kat Laverty, whose other two daughters are graduates of Nathan Hale and are now first-years at UConn. ​“It’s mind-blowing that we would let someone so talented [go], that can connect with children from the littles to the eighth graders and across all ethnicities. Why would we want her to walk out the door? Why don’t we embrace that [and] try to keep that within the community and share it across New Haven Public Schools?” 

Parents also expressed frustrations on Wednesday that, despite the parents having extended an invite to NHPS leaders, none of the school district’s leaders attended the meetup to hear about the impact of Bellinger-Dawson’s work and to brainstorm solutions that would work to pay Ms. B a livable wage commensurate to the large amount of work she does.

In an initial eight paragraph email Bassani sent to NHPS Supt. Iline Tracey, the Nathan Hale parent highlighted the immense impact of Bellinger-Dawson at the Morris Cove school and asked that the district develop a plan to retain her. 

In response to Bassani’s email, Tracey said, ​“Thank you for sharing what Ms. Bellinger-Dawson has done. We are a public school that has to abide by state requirements for our teaching staff regarding certification. We are bound by law to abide by this stipulation. I wish her well in her new endeavor.”

As a follow-up response Bassani invited Tracey, Assistant Supt. Paul Whyte, the Board of Education’s Matt Wilcox and Yesenia Rivera and Ed Joyner, Human Resources Director Lisa Flegler, NHPS Performing and Visual Arts Supervisor Ellen Maust, and several nearby alders to join the Wednesday meeting. 

“Amidst a dire teacher shortage, this district just let one of its most talented and young stars walk away — the teacher who inspired these kids, sparked a passion for theater and made these kids not only want to come to school but stay long after school ended to rehearse because they loved the play and they love her. They adore her. They admire her. And their hearts are broken now because Ms B is gone. We can and must do better,” Bassani wrote in her email.

She continued, ​“Closing off doors between your team and the parents who are deeply invested in our schools does not advance this cause.”

A member of the school district’s team did not attend Wednesday’s meeting as hoped for by the families. ​“Can we hear what ideas you are thinking about? We just want to talk and put ideas on table ” Bassani said.

Since Bellinger-Dawson began at Nathan Hale nearly a decade ago, Bassani said, Principal Tara Cass has submitted school budget requests to the district that would put Ms. B in a full-time position. 

Amidst major school district concerns like low proficiency rates in literacy and an uptick in chronic absenteeism, the parents said Ms. B gave her students a reason to want to come to school. ​“Every year she brought a brilliant group of students together to build camaraderie,” said mother Jeanette Tetrault.

When directing and producing productions, Bellinger-Dawson has been intentional by leading her students through full history sessions to learn the production’s historical settings and characters’ lives. 

“She touched on it all, literacy, history, teamwork, social emotional learning, mental health, you name it,” Laverty said. 

Through Bellinger-Dawson, students learned how to be ​“well versed throughout the entire theatre” — including stage management skills, backstage operations like running the theater’s playback system QLabs, house manager responsibilities, and how to change body mics.

For years Bellinger-Dawson has been in a part time position doing full time work, parents said. 

“It’s shameful that no one offered her any help to get certified knowing she’s put so much into this. We have 170 teacher vacancies and teachers are leaving in droves but this one wants to be here,” Cross said. 

Had there been a member of the Board of Education present, the parents said they would want to learn more about the board’s ability to create positions and ​“what exactly determines that need to create positions.” 

“But none of them are here so we couldn’t even ask that question,” Bassani said.

“These students are paying for their inaction,” Cross said.

Eighth-grader Fiona recalled learning to tap dance for the first time ever with Ms. B for this year’s Newsies musical. ​“It was real stressful at first but she helped with our moves and would name them different names so we understood them better,” she said. 

Ms. B also offered her students constant motivation to try new roles, said eighth-grader Elijah Cross, who played the lead role of Jack Kelly in Newsies last month.

The students described her as inspirational. Elijah said Bellinger-Dawson encouraged him over the years to try lead roles and his first singing role. Over the years, Elijah has been in four productions. He now hopes to pursue an education in performing arts and has applied to the city’s Educational Center for the Arts (ECA) high school program. 

“If it wasn’t for Ms. B I wouldn’t have a passion for performing arts and would of never got up there in the spotlight for shows,” Elijah said. 

The parents agreed that their kids would not have otherwise had the ability to see professional productions if Bellinger-Dawson had not introduced the New York Broadway trip. 

Laverty recalled her daughters, who have since graduated, working on a production with a student they were bullied by. By the end of the production Laverty’s daughters and their former bully had grown a friendship. 

Cross, who works in the construction industry and manages an apprenticeship program for licensed trades at her company, has proposed to the superintendent’s team and mayor possible models that currently exist in the state that could help NHPS to create a certification training pipeline program for educators who lack necessary degrees and certifications like Bellinger-Dawson. Such programs could retain these educators and help them move up in their careers. (Click here to read more about the program Cross mentioned.) 

In a Feb. 1 email to Mayor Justin Elicker, Cross wrote, ​“In the past, at my company, we have always looked for the licensed trades people, because we have all this work to do and need licensed plumbers, electricians etc. In the last 3 years we have felt the pain of a tight labor market and I finally convinced our leadership team to focus on apprentice training so that we can backfill the pipeline of licensed journeypersons in our company. The apprentice program is a paid training and the employer provides tuition support for the apprentices, 4 years of on the job training and education to complete the apprenticeship and apply for licensing. Employers set a completion rate for each trade for example, $30 per hour and apprentices with no training, education or experience start at 50% of that rate, $15 per hour. They attend school and every 1000 hours, or 6 months, we increase their pay rate on a step schedule.”

Cross volunteered to join and lead a district committee to help it to establish a similar model. 

Bassani also suggested a possible option of NHPS introducing an art-in-residence program.

“Why usher exceptional talent out the door?” Holloway asked. 

The parents added that they worry that the district is sending a message to its educators that they are ​“disposable.”

It is counterintuitive to pay a substitute teacher $100 a day for the remainder of the school year rather than paying Bellinger-Dawson a livable wage, one parent said. 

“It cost more money to put out these kind of fires than it does to invest in the people that you have,” another parent said.

At the conclusion of Wednesday’s meeting, Alder Sal Punzo agreed with the families that Ms. B is ​“worth saving.” 

“I cant think of other programs that can bring 70-plus kids together at various grade levels to work together,” he said. 

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