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At the latest hybrid online/in-person school board meeting.
Worthington Hooker’s school community is still looking for answers as to exactly why the superintendent plans to move the school’s assistant principal somewhere else.
A few Worthington Hooker school members spoke up yet again during last Monday’s Board of Education meeting about the the superintendent’s plan to transfer Assistant Principal Jenny Clarino. They’ve gone without an answer from the district since November.
Supt. Madeline Negrón and the school board members did not provide any response to the community members’ public testimony Monday. Reached for comment Friday, district spokesperson Justin Harmon told the Independent, “We have no further comment about the situation at Hooker. It is hard for folks to appreciate, but we are limited about what we can say in any personnel matter.”
Hooker parent Sophia Lafargue testified at Monday’s board meeting requesting that Negrón reconsider transferring Clarino. She pointed out that Negrón reversed her initial decision months ago to transfer principal Margaret-Mary Gethings. She also questioned, like others did during the public comment section of Monday’s meeting, why the transfer is happening.
“We’ve tried for several months now to get some answers as to why that might be,” Lafargue said. “We’re hoping that the decision to move Ms. Clarino can be reversed. This school leadership is critical to the success of our teachers and that is obviously critical to the success of our students.”
She described the looming transfer as disruptive and noted that the shuffling of administration is “quite the opposite of what research tells us about what it takes for students to be successful and for teachers to have the support they need.”
She concluded with a final question to the school board: “Is the shuffling of school leadership accepted by the board as good practice for the advancement of our children despite the fact that research says that such shuffling should be considered very, very carefully?”
Thirty-five-year NHPS veteran staffer Karlen Meinsen also testified Monday. She agreed that consistent leadership is vital for the district as its deals with an ongoing budget crisis.
If the superintendent follows through on making threatened cuts to close next year’s anticipated budget deficit, Meinsen said staff and students will already have to deal with a reduction in resources and shouldn’t have to also deal with less administrative support.
“Keeping administrators and support staff in place for stability and guidance to the staff members who will undoubtedly feel the impact of impending cuts would be wise for many reasons,” she said.
Hooker’s parent-teacher association (PTA) has requested additional meetings with Negrón to get a better understanding for the transfer that’s been looming now for six months.
In an October meeting between the PTA and Negrón, the superintendent told the group it was her intention to transfer Clarino to another school effective Jan. 1. However, Clarino was not transferred by then, and therefore the school community remains unsure about when they will be down an administrator.
“Dr. Negrón, you promised in your acceptance letter to build trusting productive and collaborative working relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including students and parents and caregivers,” Meinsen said. “In making this decision which will hurt the Worthington Hooker school community by moving Ms. Clarino, you have not spoken with any of the parents or young children who will be impacted.”
Li and Russ Martin, who are parents of a third-grader at Hooker, also advocated Monday for an explanation and for Clarino to stay.
Li Martin noted that as a teacher at East Haven High School she’s seen first-hand the positive impacts of staff consistency throughout students’ educational journeys.
“Our daughter has been one of the beneficiaries of that said consistency,” she said.
Russ Martin pointed out the lack of transparency the district has provided for the situation, stating, “if there’s good rationale, we’d love to hear, but we don’t know why no one is telling us.”
He added that it will also take students years to adjust to new leadership.
“We’ve got a school system that doesn’t have the greatest reputation with one or two golden exceptions, Worthington Hooker being one of them. How does that improve the New Haven school system as a whole?”
Clarino did not respond to a request for comment by this article’s publication.
Watch the full board meeting above.