Without using the phrases, ‘utter and pathetic failure,’ and, ‘don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out,’ Mayor Arulampalam announced this week that our long, nauseating, local nightmare will soon be over as he appoints five new members to the Hartford Schools Board of Education.

Current seated members Jim Schmerling (I know, right?!), A.J. Johnson ("It takes about a year to really get a grasp of what you're doing in this job," – Hartford Courant, May 10, 2024, B10), and Phil Rigueur (who once told a public speaker at the BOE’s Regular Meeting, “elections have consequences”), as well as the even emptier seats once kept warm by resignees Kim Oliver and Yvette Bello (“BOE Loses Second Member in Three Months”), will be replaced by the Arunan-5, correcting this particular failure of the Bronin administration.

While some may argue that this is just par for the course for a new administration, replacing the appointees of the previous administration, the mayor’s comments during his announcement indicate that there was more involved in the turnover than just routine administrative maintenance.  I mean, if the current board’s delusions of having done a fantastic job over the past few years was our reality, why fix something if it ain’t broke?  Believe me, this one was broken big time.

Arulampalam stated that his goal was to bring “fresh energy, expertise, and strategies” to the board in “support of Hartford’s public education system and the students it serves.”  Apparently, he didn’t see these things in current BOE members.  He stated that this is a “step toward getting our schools back on track.”  You can’t state that something needs to be put “back on track” if you don’t feel it’s off track and out of whack in the first place.  And, while once again signaling a greater city involvement with the school district than that of the previous administration, Arulampalam stated that the Arunan-5 are folks “who will [collaborate] with our council.”  Hey, Rigueur wrote a letter to the them once.

So, let’s take a look at the Arunan-5.  Based on published reports and resumes, these folks are bringing stated and proven skills and experiences to the board which include oversight, quality assurance, management, planning, and analytical acumen.  Administrative maintenance my ass!

The hope and promise of these folks bringing these skills and experiences to the board of education is a signal from city hall that the superintendent of schools has lost her rubber stamp.  I’m going out on a limb here, but I’m quite sure you will never hear one of the Arunan-5 state to a prospective contractor, “We’ve done this before, I have no questions” (“The Board of One”).

You can read the resumes of the Arunan-5 here.

Hartford gets a Hoosier.  Jennifer Hockenhull may not have Larry Bird’s jump shot, but she will score many points in Hartford if she exercises her stated skills of “financial management and budgetary oversight” when it comes to the parade of non-profits brought before the BOE by the superintendent.  Oversight in any form hasn’t been on the BOE’s agenda for a few years.

Ms. Hockenhull served for four years in Mayor Pete’s (Peter Buttigieg) administration in Indiana as Deputy City Controller, which is like a city treasurer.  Once Buttigieg went to D.C. with Uncle Joe, he ran into old friend Luke Bronin, the two have known each other since 2005.  Through that connection, Ms. Hockenhull came to Hartford in 2021 and Bronin appointed her to be Chief Financial Officer/Director of Management, Budget and Grants.  Shortly after leaving that office, she joined citizen Arunan Arulampalam at the Hartford Land Bank.

The elephant in the room with Ms. Hockenhull is her love affair with non-profits.  She has served as a consultant for non-profits for 20 years and has stated, “I have a passion for supporting non-profits,” and will actually be giving a workshop called “Financial Management Fundamentals for Non-Profits” on May 15th at the Hartford Public Library.  Will she hold non-profits which parade before the board to strict scrutiny despite her “passion” for them?  Has she consulted local non-profits that have come before the board for a contract, and will there be a conflict between her “passion” and what’s best for HPS?  And finally, Ms. Hockenhull, if Indiana is playing UCONN in a basketball game, who do you root for?

Kory Mills is an HPS graduate who obviously wasn’t just passed along.  He has been a “performance manager” and “management analyst” for the city of Hartford in various departments since 2016.  Mr. Mills “has demonstrated a commitment to data-driven decision-making and strategic planning,” and, as a history major, he wrote in 2010 that history major’s have a “dedication to detail and an understanding of where we are and how we got there,” a philosophy that will serve him well on the board.

As the co-author of an article entitled “Carnegie’s Connecticut Libraries,” the story of how billionaire tycoon Andrew Carnegie funded nearly 1,700 libraries in the United States, Mr. Mills may be dismayed as a BOE member to learn that not all HPS schools have libraries, and of the ones that do, not all have librarians.  Which is sort of like having a financial department in central office but not have a Chief Financial Officer, which also happens to be the case at HPS.

Stephen Wilson’s stated skills in “business analysis,” “process management,” and “process improvement” lends promise to what he can bring to the table as far as analyzing the performance of those who seek a check from HPS for services rendered and how he may create an effective process for the board to vet these contractors.

As for Ruth Reynolds Fortune, if you can’t count on a person who’s career has been one of guiding the elderly through the estate planning process, then we all might as well just go home.

Lastly, just because that’s the way it happened to work out, is Steven Tatum.  Mr. Tatum brings a wealth of knowledge of Hartford Public Schools to the table as he was a teacher here for ten years and served on the executive board of the Hartford Federation of Teachers.  A voice for teachers on the board!  Mr. Tatum is also known for his juggling skills as he brought these skills to the BOE’s Regular Meeting during a public comment period to demonstrate how teachers at HPS must juggle various duties in addition to teaching students (Mr. Tatum was joined by teacher Tiffany Moyer-Washington, who narrated but didn’t juggle).

An important plot point that Mr. Tatum will bring to the BOE is an understanding and knowledge of, hold your breath, Robert’s Rules of Order!  I yield the floor back to you, Mr. Chairman!

So yeah, except for the Hockenhull non-profit speed bump, things look promising for Hartford’s board of education going forward.  Well, there is another issue, if things are today as they were in August of last year.

The city’s charter states that “at no time shall more than three (3) of the members appointed by the Mayor be members of the same political party…”  Four of the Arunan-5 are, or at least were in August 2023, according to VoterRef.com, (yup, read it on the internet), registered Democrats.  Is this a mayoral goof or a case of old data not reflecting today’s reality?  I’m told it’s closer to the latter.

However, that means one of the four possibly changed their party affiliation in the past nine months.  To get on the BOE?  Looking at the candidates for this change, it does not seem plausible.  Mr. Wilson has voted in at least 10 elections as a Democrat and was a Regional Field Manager for Connecticut Democrats in 2014.  I don’t see Mr. Wilson changing sides now.

Ms. Fortune was a field organizer for Barack Obama in Iowa in 2012.  I find it highly unlikely a person with enough passion to volunteer to help drive voters to the polls for Obama is going to change her voter affiliation.

That leaves Ms. Hockenhull or Mr. Tatum.  Hockenhull has voted once in Connecticut since arriving sometime around 2021, and Mr. Tatum is shown having voted in three Connecticut elections.  Mr. Tatum is a union guy, not likely he dropped the big D.  Jen-ni-fer…?

At any rate, we are going to miss Jim Schmerling.