“We Settled” — For $175K

Yet another poor decision.Time to end the constant payouts at taxpayer expense.

When should we expect the resignation of the remaining BOE member who voted to hire Birks in spite of significant public resistance? By my calculation only one remains after Mayor Harp vacates her seat. Am I missing someone? You can't rail against wasteful spending out of one side of your mouth, and support a $160K payout USING OUR MONEY out of the other.

A big part of what she did was get rid of people and pay them off. Karma.

Can't believe the Unions gave Goldson a pass?

So much for elected positions to the Board of Education, when no one wants the job. (Goldson could not have been more vulnerable.)

The New Haven Public Schools finds itself in this current situation because the process to select the last superintendent, Dr. Birks, was severely subverted and politicized. The best experienced and qualified candidate for the job was rejected in favor of a person who NEVER served in the capacity of a superintendent or assistant superintendent!
Merit, experience, credentials and common sense and decency were trumped by politics and a power grab last time.
That must NEVER, EVER happen again!
The board dismissed the wisdom and recommendations, pleas, protests, petitions and demands of the public NOT to select Dr. Birks.
That, too, must NEVER, EVER happen again!
Parents, students, teachers and other members of the community had advocated for the most qualified and experienced person.
Obviously, the public was proven right, and the board was proven wrong!
Two former and one present member of the board have publicly admitted that their vote for Birks was a terrible mistake. Only one current board member who voted for Birks has not publicly repudiated that vote.
To err is human. To err again in the same fashion is foolishness.
The Board of Education must partner with the public, actually listen and pay attention to their recommendations and demands, and REPRESENT their interests and concerns.
This will prevent a recurrence of the Birks fiasco.
The cost of that erroneous decision was far greater than the $160,000 payoff for Birks.

If we can't know the terms of why she was booted out; how come SHE IS NOT PAYING US?!?!?!?

And the beat goes on......

We Settled Notes:

LMAO medical benefits until she gets a new full time job..PLEASE she will be on a consultant per diem basis for years to come ..no one is going hire her!!!!!!!!

The NHBOE, especially Mr. Goldson and Ms. Harp, appear to be the main characters most responsible for this debacle. When education takes a back seat to politics, the community as a whole suffers, and of course, the students once again become just more collateral damage. That Ms. Harp has the gall to lose the Dem primary by a resounding "Please, No More" margin and still feel she can still backdoor her way into office says a good deal about her abilities (this includes her disastrous support for Ms. Birks for Super). Mr. Goldson should be ashamed of himself and resign. A ship of fools indeed.

This was absolutely the right decision. Our students and teachers deserve careful, competent leadership -- not distraction, self-promotion, intimidation, politics and theatrics. Last night's Board meeting had a completely different atmosphere, even the challenging stuff.

175K later, 4 Superintendent in 3 years!

Harp and Goldson just had to have Birks! This could have been avoided...

At the time when the board took the PUBLIC vote, the reporter who aired the story failed to state Dr. Joyner was the ONLY Board member that voted to terminate Dr. Birks for cause and the only one who voted against the buyout. If they had just fired her, they would not have to wait for her to sign. More burdens for the tax payers to pay...

We need qualified board members that are from a diverse background, enroll their children in the New Haven Public School system in the past or the current...must be a former educator, no scandals, have transparency and very ethical ..this foolishness needs to stop!

I'm not surprised how it ended.

Does anyone else remember the beginning?

<blockquote>By a 4-3 vote, New Haven's Board of Education selected Carol Birks as its choice to become the next superintendent of schools — at the end of a raucous meeting that signaled that she would begin the job with the challenge of winning over a sizable sector of skeptics.

The vote took place at a tense special meeting held at Beecher School, where it was standing room only. Four cops were assigned to keep the peace, but that didn't stop one board member from challenging another to a duel and students from threatening to walk out of class next week in protest.

The meeting lasted two and a half hours. The first two hours consisted of parents, students and other members of the public blasting the expected choice of Birks over the two other finalists for the position, Pamela Brown and Gary Highsmith.

Only two speakers explicitly endorsed Birks for the position, while 30 came out against her. (Click here for a story detailing the three finalists' backgrounds and applications.) Opponents said they didn't want to see Birks get the job because of alleged connections to charter schools, support for student-based budgeting and emphasis on standardized testing data.

Mayor Toni Harp and fellow board members Jamell Cotto, Darnell Goldson and Frank Redente voted for Birks. Redente, who had been under intense public pressure to change his vote, did not show up in person to the meeting; he phoned his vote in.

Board members Carlos Torre, Ed Joyner, and Che Dawson voted against Birks.

"Shame on you! Shame on you!" members of the crowd chanted when Goldson cast his vote for Birks, as he yelled it back at them. "Shame on you!"

Birks hasn't accepted the position yet, and she's been seeking advice about whether she should. If she does want the job, she'll still need to undergo a background check and negotiate </blockquote>

https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/ed_board_birks_/

This firing was sadly not about performance. Nor was Garth Harries. Indeed, perhaps for myriad reason, test scores have continue to go up under both leaders. I won't include Dr. Mayo, as he was installed as interim. Had Garth never been wrongly pushed out, we wouldn't have ended up here but Dr. Joyner and others wanted to see him out. Most likely, because he was white. And also, because he did not come up in the educational ranks - even though NHPS had improved under his stewardship.

Dr. Birks came in during an unenviable circumstance, the state cut school funding, and the BOE has had constant fiscal limitations. Are there things she could have done better, yes. But trust, there are things everyone could do better at their job. Let you without fault cast the first stone.

If the metric was student learning, and if that's determined by test score, college admission, and matriculation - she passed. And if she didn't pass, she wasn't given enough time to prove that the success was or was not attributable to her.

Alas, the firing was more about protecting teacher desires, than actual student improvement. And that's fine. But don't solely proclaim without proof that the students were hurt during this process. The metric for deciding that says otherwise. Moreover, students don't get to choose teachers, like I don't get to choose my manager.

But if you want to complain, argue for higher taxes and reduced administrative staff. Let's have more teachers and class rooms, and pay the support staff in the school more money. And let's pay for it with taxes. Give the next superintendent the tools to get the job done and don't complain when taxes are raised to pay for it.

You fake posters with fake names are clearly raising your voices to try to diminish Goldson's leadership, in preparation to try to run Elicker's proxy Joyner for board President. God help us if Joyner is again allowed to become president. His one term in leadership was a disaster. What did he accomplish? Zilch. Goldson has led the board through a policy and bylaws rewrite, a reduction of a deficit from $20 million to less than $2 million, he was able to negotiate another $2 million from the state while adding 700 LOCAL seats to the magnet schools. Keeps your posting with fake facts, the truth will always rise to the top.

"student learning, and if that's determined by test score . . . The metric for deciding that says otherwise."

This is a great example of how test scores are inadequate to evaluate just about anything.

@Atticus Shrugged
@Atticus evidently is not a NHPS employee, has not regularly attended BOE meetings in the past 2-4 years, has not read the papers, and is woefully uninformed.
Both Garth Harries and Carol Birks were removed for poor performance. Neither had sufficient experience as a superintendent. Neither was qualified. Harries was not even professionally trained as an educator! Race had nothing to do with their removal, especially in the case of Dr. Joyner who supported the removal of both. So did Goldson!
The majority of the BOE in both instances voted to remove Harries and Birks, with widespread public support because of their failures and poor performance.
In both cases, Mayor Harp promoted and supported people who proved detrimental to and inadequate for the district. Harp defended Harries like a son to the end, but she ultimately was compelled for obvious reasons, to cast her vote against Birks. She had no defense, and NO VOTES to save her.
If Atticus thinks that Harries and Birks were adequate or effective leaders, he is sadly mistaken and out of touch with a large number of students, parents, and educators.
@ TrutherNH
Rest assured, Dr. Joyner has no designs to be mayor, superintendent, or BOE president. He prefers to simply be an advocate for students and educators to focus on keeping KIDS FIRST more than just a slogan for the district, but a reality for all stakeholders. He is not about promoting himself. He has a half century record, a name, and a commitment to educational excellence that speaks for itself. He needs no title.
Regarding Goldson's leadership skills, at the last BOE meeting he had a major lapse in judgment which could have resulted in a costly lawsuit against the NHPS. Goldson supported a motion to delay a vote to approve a new hire because the person was not Hispanic or a Spanish-speaker. That action, if approved by the BOE, would surely have resulted in the BOE being sued for discrimination.
Fortunately, the BOE rejected that motion.

@ Thomas Paine

Atticus is totally out of touch with NHPS perhaps Atticus is not a product of New Haven "Public" School system. Not following facts and comments full of what if's when it is very clear the board had grounds to just fire Dr. Birks...The State education department allots millions to the NHPS and the mayor continually seems to dictate every decision and it ends up being a disaster...one of the reasons is she is not in touch with the board herself by educating her children in a private school "privileged" system. If you get hired with 700K contract you should hit the ground running...day 1.

@Atticus
Dr. Joyner has no desire to be president of the Board. He never wanted to be the president of the Board. He was thrown into the position when Daisy Gonzalez died because he was the Vice President. He didn't like it then so why would he attempt to fill that position again. People have also said that he wants to be the mayor. He does not want to be either one. Dr. Joyner and his wife are enjoying retirement and his presence on the board shows he clearly only want the best for the children of this community that we love. Dr. Joyner uses his extensive educational experience to help the children and families in the community. I myself along with people who were part of the New Haven Public School system can attest to the help that he has given them in this community.

@Truth
Darnell resume claim to have legislative experience...seems like there is a disconnect between having the knowledge to understand proposals/contracts because when the taxpayers like myself thought the fiasco was over Dr. Birks was still able to negotiate her severance package because of the ambiguous language in the contract..really health insurance ...typical Darnell who pride himself to be called a systems man...system people solve problems not make them.

@TrutherNH
"You fake posters with fake names are clearly raising your voices to try to diminish Goldson's leadership....," wrote the man who used the FAKE NAME "TrutherNH!"
It is the pinnacle of hypocracy for someone using a fake name to rail against the users of pseudonyms who express their views in the New Haven Independent.
The one outstanding truth that TrutherNH mentioned is this: "The truth will always rise to the top."
That is exactly what we want in New Haven, the New Haven Public Schools, and the New Haven Board of Education: the Truth, the Whole Truth, and NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH, so help us God!
Then let the chips, fall where they may!

I never argued that Dr. Joyner wanted to be board president. I think he'd rather try to put someone in at board president and superintendent that he feels he can control and then cast aside if the political winds suit him. That's not casting an aspersion but is merely my belief. With that said, he has argued that he - or the board - should review every contract signed by the superintendent, which at best micromanaging the superintendent or at worst trying to do its job without the full ramifications.

I've never argued that she was perfect. Just that she wasn't actually given the time or opportunity to do her job. And that people don't want to pay for the fixes that are needed. So, whomever the city hires next will likely face the same situation.

Besides our city's finances, there's no area of city government that's been in more disarray than our city's schools. This outgoing Superintendent was forced on the community and a disaster from day one. Under a dysfunctional BOE, Birks leaves with a hefty buyout and a school system in shambles. Thank God a new Mayor and change is coming!