At NHPS Convocation, Teachers Matter

A city celebration of educators and school staff reminded Mauro-Sheridan Magnet School French teacher Phara Dorleans of the moments that have kept her in the profession for seven years and counting.

At the top of that list: When her then-kindergarten student cried all weekend to her father, ​“I want to go to school to see mademoiselle. I miss her!” 

Dorleans shared that memory — and that reason for persevering as a city public school teacher — on Wednesday morning during a convocation ceremony that the New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) hosted at Woolsey Hall on College Street.

She was one of several hundred city school teachers, administrators, support staff, paraprofessionals, and other NHPS employees to attend the welcome-back event, which took place less than a week before classes are set to start on Monday, Aug. 29. 

The Wednesday program hosted at Yale’s Woolsey Hall was geared toward celebrating all school staff on their first official day of work for the 2022 – 2023 school year. 

The district-hosted event had the theme ​“You Matter,” highlighting and giving thanks for school staff members’ resilience, dedication, and heroic impacts on students’ lives. 

Dozens of teachers kicked off their first day by riding on a yellow school bus to the Wednesday event. 

Dorleans, who currently teaches sixth-through-eighth-grade French, offered a real life example in a conversation with the Independent after Wednesday’s ceremony of why teachers matter. She also explained why she remains inspired to keep teaching in the city’s public school nearly a decade in to her time on the job.

She said she continues her work in the classroom because she loves giving students hope and inspiring them to make their own positive impacts on the world, she said. 

“When I look at them, it keeps me from giving up,” she said, despite recalling the many challenging mornings she’s faced over the years with having a job that’s not ​“making me rich with money.” 

She added that she is dedicated to continuing to be an educator every year because ​“it means something to them when you come back no matter what.” 

When asked for a particular memory or moment in her time on the job that exemplifies why she has remained a NHPS school teacher, she recalled when she was a kindergarten teacher — and hearing from her student and her parents that the student was so eager to get back to class that she couldn’t wait for the weekend to end.

The lineup of speakers at Wednesday’s event each touched on the idea that the teaching profession is an influential one. Speakers also stressed that New Haven educators and beyond deserve more support from the local, state, and federal levels to meet students where they’re at and to educate them academically, socially, and emotionally. 

Superintendent Iline Tracey — who later on Wednesday afternoon announced her plans to retire at the end of the coming school year — called New Haven teachers ​“difference makers” during her time at the mic. 

The morning was filled with speeches, a faculty choir performance and student dance number, and impromptu group songs. 

Tracey gave thanks to her executive team and the thousands of NHPS staff that keep the city’s schools running daily. She underscored the toughness and adaptability of New Haven’s school staff throughout the Covid pandemic. 

Tracey reminded educators to keep hope alive even ​“if the storms are crashing around you.” 

She left staff Wednesday with the quote from French poet and journalist Anatole France, who said: ​“Nine-tenths of education is encouragement.” 

New Haven Federation of Teachers President Leslie Blatteau reminded leaders that New Haven must have hope coupled with action to bring change to the district. 

Veteran educators at the Wednesday celebration also included Mauro-Sheridan support staff member Sean Hardy and newly announced Hill Regional Career High School administrative assistant Jonathan Berryman, who previously taught at Barnard Environmental School for eight years. 

For 25 years Hardy has been an educator with a particular focus on introducing his students to community leaders to better apply what they learn in the classroom to real life. 

He said the students inspire ​“a spirit and attitude of greatness” in him on a daily basis, and that’s what kept him motivated to continue teaching. 

“It makes me excited to see them excited,” he recalled. 

Berryman described teaching as his calling and as ​“a part of who I am.” He has taught music professionally for a total of 27 years. 

He intends for teaching to be a lifelong profession as a way for him to give back to the community he said. 

“Not doing it [teaching] wasn’t an option,” he added. 

Berryman said he remains inspired when his impact in the classroom is affirmed by his former students and parents, who at times visit to thank him personally. 

Event emcee Marquelle Middleton, who is NHPS’s director of school choice, gave shoutouts to all of the city’s public schools throughout the event, which was met with claps and cheers of pride from staff members in the crowd. 

Middleton told the room full of staff that they do matter.

“To the child who on their first day of kindergarten is a bit frightened and needs you to hold their hand, you matter,” he said. ​“To the child who did not eat breakfast at home and you served them a nutritious meal, you matter. To the child who just needed a break from learning and you were there to talk them through, you matter. To the high school student who was chronically absent last year and will have improved attendance this year, you certainly matter. To the grandparent who is raising their grand child and is not able to log into PowerSchool without your assistance, you matter.” 

The celebration included an impromptu singing of a rendition of ​“I Don’t Feel No Ways Tired” as led by retired educator Marcella Monk Flake, who taught in the district for 37 years. Tracey and other school staff joined in the singing. 

“We’re fired up and ready to go,” Tracey said afterwards. 

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro thanked educators for their work while describing accessible education as ​“the great equalizer.” 

“I’ve long believed that our public schools, our teachers, our students have been struggling for far too long,” she said. ​“The richest country in the world, it’s unconscionable that we still have teachers forced to take money out of their own pockets to buy paper, pencils, even food for their students.”

She promised to support efforts that will no longer leave school districts that are made up predominantly of students of color underserved.

As chair of the federal Appropriations Committee, she said she also plans to fight to repeal the Social Security reduction law for public servants known as the Windfall Elimination Provision. She said that law negatively impacts teacher shortages in states like Connecticut. 

“When it comes to education it is not just about supporting students but also the teachers that give their all to ensuring that our students are getting a valuable education,” DeLauro said. ​“It is a selfless act to choose teaching as a career.”

DeLauro said she will not back down from the national fight of increasing teacher wages, teacher training, and assistance of loan payments and debt forgiveness. 

“As a nation we need to stop scapegoating teachers for the society’s ills, but address the society’s ills,” she added. 

Board of Education student representative and Hillhouse High School senior Ma’Shai Roman affirmed the importance of educators and school staff for students like herself. 

“There are students who don’t have a strong support system at home to lift them up when they are down. We depend on our teacher,” she said. ​“A caring teacher can be the biggest motivation for students.” 

She described teachers and school staff as students’ safe place. 

A student performance titled ​“Amina Warrior” by the Academy of Dance was performed mid program to show off the local talent of New Haven students. 

The choir of district educators sang, ​“I’ll Make The Difference.” 

The celebration’s keynote address was given by Board of Education Secretary and retired educator Edward Joyner. 

Joyner’s remarks followed up a jazz performance by a band made up of NHPS faculty members Nick Dimaria, Michael Piraneo, Jake Falce, Henry Lugo, and Mike McGinley. 

In response to the soulful tunes played on Wednesday morning, Joyner compared jazz music to educating, which he described as ​“improvisational.”

“Teaching and parenting are the most essential roles in any society,” he said. ​“We will always be fighting an uphill battle unless we can restore a level of decency and support for the most honorable profession in the history of the world.” 

He concluded by offering the room of educators ​“free professional development” from himself. 

In a poem dedicated to educators and school, staff motivational speaker Frank Brady described teachers as problem solvers, culture shifters, life changers, and heroes. 

Below are a few excerpts from the poem that Brady read on Wednesday:

You Matter
I know you here this all the time
But hearing it, and feeling it are two different THINGS
YOU matter, is a declaration of your worth
A love song on the sound track of your impact.

The long nights and early mornings
The days you question, ​‘Why am I doing this again?
​‘Am I reaching these Kids?‘
With every diploma received, You MATTER

You Matter
Because you MARCH, through MARCH
You know What March looks like
MARCH, It’s LONG
Like the length of your patience
YOU MATTER!