nothin Heads Roll At HSC | New Haven Independent

Heads Roll At HSC

Alliyya Swaby Photo

Buildilng leader Good (pictured) got the boot.

Schools Superintendent Garth Harries has removed the entire leadership team at High School in the Community, leaving its teacher-run tradition in doubt.

Erik Good, the school’s building leader” (aka principal) and Assistant Building Leaders (aka assistant principals) Cameo Thorne and Paulette Jackson learned in recent days they will not have their posts come next school year.

New Haven Federation of Teachers (NHFT) President David Cicarella — whose union has run HSC for the past three years as part of a state-funded experiment overseen by the school district — said he participated in the decision and delivered the news. He said the removed administrators will be able to take jobs elsewhere in the system.

Cicarella and Harries also decided to open the top HSC three posts to teachers throughout the city, not just those at HSC. That’s a change. Since its founding 1970 as a school without walls” emphasizing learning out in the community, HSC has had its teachers choose their leaders from within their ranks.

As word of the removals spread through HSC in the academic year’s final days, teachers expressed concern about HSC’s future direction.

There’s great institutional unease” over how this was done and whether HSC will remain teacher-run. said Chris Kafoglis, who is also leaving the school. Kafoglis currently serves in a fourth top administrative post, school culture leader.” He decided for personal reasons to return to teaching math, at another school.

I find it ironic that when the union is the operator of the school, is when teacher-run seems to be coming to an end,” Kafoglis said.

Good did not return calls for comment.

Cicarella, the union president in charge of operating the school, said he envisions HSC remaining teacher-run, with some changes in the rules. One big change: The school’s teachers will no longer choose their administrators. The current system has presented a conflict of interest, he argued, because administrators discipline the teachers who vote whether to keep them in their jobs.

The second major change will be the opening up of the top positions to teachers from throughout the district. Cicarella argued it doesn’t make sense to limit the search to the 30 teachers at HSC, rather than the 1,900-odd teachers across town.

The NHFT is absolutely committed to is keeping HSC teacher led,” Cicarella emphasized. So while the leadership model may be changing slightly, we have conveyed adamantly to the superintendent that we do not want to see a principal running HSC. This is in fact why we feel it is so important to open up the leadership positions to every New Haven teacher as we are certain that we will find many, many excellent candidates among our membership to be potential HSC building leaders. So while Garth has stated nothing is off the table, the NHFT is absolutely confident we will emerge from the interview process with outstanding teacher candidates as potential leaders for HSC.”

The NHFT’s executive board voted unanimously in May to seek to extend its memorandum of understanding with the school board an extra year to continue running HSC. He said a committee of HSC leaders and NHFT representatives will continue meeting monthly to address concerns at the school.

Melissa Bailey File Photo

HSC students on a Fair Haven history walking tour with neighborhood activist Lee Cruz.

Superintendent Harries said Tuesday night that there’s no guarantee the school will remain teacher-run. It’s not even clear, he said, whether Cicarella’s union will remain in charge of the school come September. That’s currently under review. (Read about that here.)

I have not made decisions about what the structure might look like next year,” Harries said.

Turnaround Troubles

The school is at a crossroads.

Three years ago, amid declining student performance and low graduation rates, HSC obtained a state Commissioner’s Network” grant — $1.5 million a year for three years — to experiment with new models as a turnaround school.” It instituted union control of the school. And it instituted mastery learning,” meaning students advanced to a new grade when they completed the necessary work, not at a fixed point at the end of an academic year.

Form the start, the experiment hit rough spots. Zero of 44 students completed their freshman year at HSC under mastery learning , causing some parents and students to panic. (That number rose, as people adjusted to the new system.) Instead of making teachers feel empowered, union control led to new tensions: Teachers found themselves at odds with union leaders over HSC’s direction.

It’s ironic that there’s that friction” between the teachers and their union management, Harries said.

Most important, Harries said, absenteeism kept rising and graduation rates continued declining, along with the percentage of students on track to graduate. The four-year graduation rate dropped from 56.9 percent to 47.5 percent; college enrollment dropped from 69.2 percent to 57.8 percent in the experiment’s first two years. (Student, parent and staff satisfaction with the school increased, as measured by surveys.)

The city will lose most of the extra state money this coming year now that the three-year grant has expired; it will get an as-yet unspecified residual amount. That means the school will have tighten spending. Harries said no teachers will be laid off; Kafoglis’s administrative position will not be filled.

Melissa Bailey File Photo

Candidates to become HSC’s new building leaders will be interviewed by a committee consisting of HSC teachers, a parent, a student, and NHFT leaders. That committee will pass its recommendation to Cicarella (pictured); Cicarella will then pass his recommendations to Harries.

I can’t imagine not choosing some people that apply that come from that building,” Cicarella said. But he called the need to widen the search an example of how HSC needs to accept some changes. He noted that Kafoglis, a respected assistant building leader, had come to HSC from another school (Wilbur Cross).

Some things are going to be uncomfortable. We’ve got to be willing to have the integrity to say these are the changes that need to be made,” Cicarella said. He called it a conflict of interest for teachers to choose their administrators, because the administrators have disciplinary authority over them.

I’m going to need to be comfortable” with Cicarella’s recommendations for building leaders, Harries said. He also said that while Cicarella has urged that HSC remain teacher-run, he remains on the fence. I’m not prejudging any of these issues,” Harries said. I’ve been super-clear that what matters to me is a strong plan [for improvement] with strong leadership. If teacher leadership is consistent with that, I’m fine with it. That remains to be seen.”

Cicarella said the NHFT wants to train HSC staffers in consensus decision-making as an alternative to up-and-down votes on issues.

Voting creates winners and losers, damaged feelings, and allows those voting against to sit back and not buy-in because they didn’t vote for the proposal,” Cicarella argued. Consensus is much more inclusive whereby everyone discusses, has input and ultimately agrees to support and buy-in , even if it is not their idea. The NHFT Executive Board operates in this fashion as it is much more inclusive, and frankly more democratic, as we do not move forward with an idea until all members are heard and comfortable enough to support the proposal. Opposing and differing views and opinions are not shut down with a call for a vote. So while we do vote as a matter of record, our consensus mindset always leads us to collaboration and cooperation as we move forward in our work together.”

Previous Independent stories on High School in the Community’s experiment:

Zero Out Of 44 Students Complete Freshman Year
Solanlly’s Tale Sways UConn
I Sat Down & I Grew Up”
Jury Sentences Jayla To Her Own Punishment
Teachers Clash With Union Prez Over Turnaround
91 – 39 Blowout Comes With A Lesson For Victors
New Haven Rallies For Solanlly & Chastity
Social Promotion Vow Put To The Test
HSC Heads To Capitol For New Diplomas
She Awoke To A New Life — & A New Mission
High School Of The Future Debuts, Briefly
Gay-Rights Teach-In Goes Off-Script
Nikita Makes It Home
15 Seniors Head To College Early
No More B And A Smile”
Students Protest: Give Us Homework!”
Meadow Street Clamps Down On Turnaround
School Votes For Hats; District Brass Balks
Students Invoke Free Speech In Great Hat Debate
Guv: End Social Promotion
History Class Hits The Streets
Misfit Josh” & Alex Get A 2nd Chance
Guess Who’s Assigning The Homework Now
On Day 1, HSC Students Enter A New World
Frank Reports Detail Experiment’s Ups & Downs
School Ditches Factory Assembly Line”
State Invites” HSC To Commissioner’s Network
Teachers Union Will Run New Turnaround”

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