• How many teachers in Hartford can remember how back in the day Hartford Public Schools Superintendent Christina Kishimoto would convene every two weeks with a Teacher Advisory Group?  Is there any chance current Superintendent Torres-Rodriguez would consider such an engagement tool?

• Speaking during the Board of Education Public Meeting last week, Hartford Federation of Teachers President Carol Gale stated that HFT has concerns with the contract being offered to International Alliance Group (IAG), despite supporting the Caribbean Connection teacher recruitment program.  IAG serves as the host for international teachers who are seeking to come to Hartford and teach on J-1 visas.  While supporting the effort, the unions concerns are over IAG charging the district 20-25% of the teacher’s salary, thus, HFT was opposed to the Board approving this contract with IAG.  Of course, that’s not going to happen, this Board has never voted down any proposal put before them.

• Is there anyone swallowing Hartford Public Schools’ explanation of why they have to suddenly relocate their central office functions from Bulkeley High to a million dollar lease in a high rise downtown?  Bulkeley has been undergoing renovations and initially it was stated that central office folks would be able to remain in the building during construction.  However, apparently it became clear that when applying a new skin to the building, windows, a new HVAC system, and a roof, then HPS would have to find a temporary home.  Obviously.  My issue is, when the project began it was not known that a new building skin, new windows, new HVAC and a new roof was going to be installed?  And if so, they actually thought they could remain in the building when a new ROOF was being applied?

• On March 8, 2023, the Connecticut Education Committee held a Public Hearing on proposed bill H.B. 6845.  This bill would provide age-appropriate books to children in the state each month from birth until age five, and would establish a home reading grant program for the purpose of awarding state matching funds to any school district that provides age-appropriate books to children in grades kindergarten to age five.  Hartford Board of Education Member Jim Shmerling submitted testimony in favor of this bill, yet in stating his bio and background, Mr. Shmerling did not mention that he was a member of the Hartford Board of Education. Sorta.

• John Prescod, a member of the United Way of Central and Northeast Connecticut, who has been working with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library in tandem with H.B. 6845, also testified at the Public Hearing that over the past two years they have been able to enroll “about 70%” of Hartford children up to the age of five in the program.   He stated that this amounts to “about 6,600” kids.  Mr. Prescod underscored the importance of this bill and this program by stating that in the school year 2020-21, “85%” of third graders were not on grade level reading.  He referenced an “Amy Casey” study, that shows “exponentially if children are not on level going into fourth grade that they are more likely to either not finish high school on time, or not graduate high school as a whole.”

• Part of the above referenced Public Hearing also concerned proposed bill H.B. 6842.  This bill would establish a program where more locally grown fresh foods are introduced into local schools.  State Rep. Robert Sanchez was questioning Hartford Public Schools Food Services Director Lonnie Burt about the availability of culturally relevant foods.  The following are his comments:

“One of the concerns I have is that there’s a lot of schools that have a lot of food waste.  And usually it’s because we have kids with different ethnic backgrounds that attend the schools, and some of them are not used to eating broccoli and so forth.

So, how do you entice them?  Do you add anything to the broccoli, like put cheese on it to make them eat broccoli?

Do you also in the school system serve ethnic foods like rice and beans for the Latino children?”

• Also testifying in favor of H.B. 6842 was Alice Gold, a 10-year volunteer in Hartford Schools garden activities.  During her testimony on the bill, Ms. Gold related an antidote which speaks to the need of introducing folks of all cultures and ethnicity to the excitement and importance of farming and growing your own food:

“One of the schools where I volunteer, where they grow the vegetables…they grow them, they harvest them in fall and they make soup.

And one year…we had some extra carrots, so the principal said, ‘Let’s put the carrots out on a table, so when the parents come to pick up their students, they can take the carrots home.’ We had a big pile of carrots.

So, I’m manning the table and one of the students comes by with her mother and she says, ‘Mom, can I take the carrots home?’ And the mother says, ‘No.’ Then the mother says, ‘What would I do with these carrots anyway?’”