At the Hartford Board of Education’s September 19th Regular Meeting, Board Members paid homage to Chief Performance Officer, Dr. Bethany Silver, who had announced her intention to retire.  No such attention was given to a colleague of the BOE, Yvette Bello.

It has been learned that Board Member Bello recently resigned her seat on the BOE.  Ms. Bello was appointed to the Board in April of 2021 by Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin.  Ms. Bello’s infrequent visits to board meetings will be missed (out of a possible 60 meetings in 2022, Bello attended 22, leading only Board Member Shmerling, also a Bronin appointee, who attended 11).  Ms. Bello does not list her BOE experience on her LinkedIn page.

While the Superintendent searches for a replacement for Dr. Silver, while also searching for a replacement for Chief Financial Officer Philip Penn who resigned in July, Mayor Bronin must once again reach into that barrel which he scraped for his most recent five BOE appointments to fill Ms. Bello’s seat on the board.

While the community would prefer a teacher (forbidden by state law, city ordinance, and Board Bylaws) or an educational professional be selected for the position, Mayor Bronin will most likely select someone with a low level position on a city commission or city organization, for instance, the Hartford Landbank, where Arunan Arulampalam has had as much success at sowing the seeds of “generational wealth” in Hartford as Torres-Rodriguez has had at sowing the seeds of generational educational achievement.

Personally, I believe the Mayor ought to appoint someone who knows that Robert’s Rules of Order require a motion and a vote to adjourn a meeting.