In 2018, facing similar budget, enrollment, and the high needs of students issues as she will bring up today, Hartford Public Schools Superintendent Torres-Rodriguez unveiled a consolidation plan which called for the closing or merging of at least a dozen schools over three years, a plan which the board of education eventually approved, but also a plan which then vice-president of the Hartford Federation of Teachers and current Weaver High vice-principal and state representative Joshua Hall called “disturbing,” and that it creates “holes in our community, holes in our neighborhoods” and a plan which he says “has generated so much pain, anger and trauma.”

Apparently the 2018 plan of saving money and using resources more effectively by closing schools in Hartford did not have a great impact on HPS because today we again are hearing of budget crises, dropping enrollment, and the rising special needs of students, but still, once again it appears the Superintendent may be looking at another plan to “right size” Hartford schools. 

Actually, the similarity of today’s issues with the issues of 2018 stand to underscore the failure of most of Torres-Rodriguez’s plans, so much so that the community and current city leadership ought to implement their own plan and rid the city of some costly, dead weight.

But anyhoo, during the BOE’s March 27th Workshop, Torres-Rodriguez stated that she was “surprised” at how many times she heard from members of the community in budget meetings about too many schools being underpopulated.  Were these actual comments from community members attending budget workshops, or is this just Torres-Rodriguez overstating public concern so that when and if she announces another school closing “plan,” she can divert some of the criticism by claiming this plan was created with input from the community?  Which is what she said of the current cuts to school staff because of the budget mess (“Superintendent Links Staffing Cuts to Overspending by Principals”).

The Superintendent stated at the meeting that next year almost half of Hartford’s schools will be populated with less than 350 students.  In 2018 there were talks of closing Batchelder School, which at the time had 430 students.

This need for “right sizing,” says Torres-Rodriguez, “warrants attention…sooner rather than later.”

This will be like déjà vu all over again.  There will be pain, anger, and trauma just like in 2018.  It will be just as disturbing to the community as it was in 2018.  And, just like in 2018 (and at any other time over the past 4 years), any plan the Superintendent slaps down before the BOE in 2024 will receive that body’s vote of approval.