Laura Glesby Photo
Sarah Miller, center, proposes Board of Ed reform by charter.
Despite a push from dozens of New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) community members, alders decided not to amend the city charter to restructure the Board of Education to include mandatory seats for current public-school parents.
As part of this year’s once-in-a-decade charter revision process, alders convened on Thursday evening as the “Committee of the Whole” in the Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor of City Hall.
At the meeting, they came up with a set of questions and priorities for the Charter Revision Commission to account for in its next round of proposed edits to the city’s founding document. Eventually, alders will either approve or reject the commission’s new draft of the charter for a ballot initiative slated to go before voters in November.
One proposal that alders considered would have changed the structure the Board of Education, an entity that has in recent years erupted into acrimony and tension as NHPS schools experience teacher shortages, pandemic learning losses, and other challenges to students’ well-being and academic growth.
That proposal would have required two seats on the school board be reserved for current NHPS parents. The alders ultimately dropped that proposal, with some looking to consider reviving it as a potential ordinance amendment down the road.
That Board of Ed proposal arrived against the backdrop of a broader conversation about how to go about restructuring government in the first place.
The alders present on Thursday unanimously voted to ask the Charter Revision Commission to remove detailed outlines of the structure of city departments, boards, and commissions from the charter — such as, for instance, specific qualifications required of city department heads. The commission will determine which essential functions to leave in the charter and which details to “sunset.” The alders stated a goal of re-establishing those finer details in the code of ordinances, so that commissions, boards, and departments can more easily be revised and adapted to changing times.
After that vote, Fair Haven Alder Sarah Miller called on her colleagues to support an overhaul to the Board of Education, which is currently defined alongside other city boards and commissions in the city charter.
Specifically, Miller called for a requirement that at least two members of the Board of Education be current NHPS parents. She also planned to propose that the mayor to be removed from the board, with a mayoral appointee to serve instead.
Parent representation is “something we see across the country,” Miller said on Thursday, but “not something we’ve always had” in New Haven. The only current NHPS parent on the Board of Ed right now is Mayor Justin Elicker.
Over a dozen New Haveners, including some affiliated with the New Haven Federation of Teachers, had testified in support of those reforms at a public hearing one week prior. Several had also called for more representatives on the Board of Ed to be elected by the public rather than appointed by the mayor.
On Thursday, Committee Chair Jeanette Morrison banned public testimony that touched on the Board of Ed’s structure, as well as testimony on whether non-citizens should be able to serve on city boards and commissions. A handful of audience members on Thursday had sought to testify in support of a Board of Ed restructuring, but were not permitted to.
Fair Haven/East Rock Alder Claudia Herrera spoke up in support of Miller’s proposal: “I truly believe when you have a parent” on the board, the representative is “more invested.”
Board of Alders President and West River Alder Tyisha Walker-Myers alluded to the group’s earlier decision to shift the details of boards and commissions away from the charter and into the code of ordinances.
“Is this something that has to be in the charter?” she asked. “I am uncomfortable making this a charter requirement,” she added, noting for example that alders might want to increase the number of parents mandated on the board in the future.
Steve Mednick, the attorney guiding this year’s charter revision process, replied, “You place items in the charter that you want to stand the test of time.”
After further discussion, the alders came to a consensus that the code of ordinances would be the right place to change the Board of Education’s structure.
“Once we issue something by charter, we are locked in,” said Majority Leader Richard Furlow.
“I’m persuaded that it makes sense to do it by ordinance,” said Miller. She withdrew the motion she’d made.
See below for previous articles about this year’s Charter Revision Commission process.
• Alders Block Non-Citizens From Boards For Now
• Ed Board Overhaul Seeks 2 Spots For Parents
• Immigrants Cut Short, Walk Out
• Immigrant Participation, Protections Eyed
• Revisers Punt On Residency Requirements
• 4‑Year Terms, Residency Requirements Embraced
• Immortality Loophole Looms For Board Lifers
• To Split Or Not To Split Traffic & Police Boards
• Charter Revisers Eye Alder Pay Bump
• If It’s Good Enough For Hartford, Middletown
• Elicker Administration Pitches 4‑Year Terms
• Union Targets Mayor’s Ed Board Influence
• Ready. Set. Revise!
• 9 Approved For Charter Revision Commission
• Alders Establish Charter Revision Commission
• 4‑Year Terms Back Up For Debate
How can it possibly make sense, how can it possibly help, not to create permanent seats for parents and leave the present disconnect from what is actually happening in NHPS schools as it is?