The highlighted area of the table represents HPS’s cost owed to IAG (I keep typing IGA, like the supermarket) for their “wrap around services” to the international teachers.

I state “owed” due to this contract not being for future teachers they seduce into coming to Hartford, when so many other well run districts across the USA are available and looking, but it is to cover the 15 Caribbean teachers that have already been “vetted” and will be in the district next year, as well as to cover an additional 2 years for the 4 Dominican Republic teachers hired by HPS’ contract with IAG last year.  As stated in documents presented at the meeting, “without approval of this contract we will not be able to hire international teachers from the Caribbean.”  Thus, these numbers are based on the hiring of 19 teachers.

IAG receives from HPS, 20% - 25% of the salary that is paid to the teacher.  This cost is represented by each figure on either side of the “/” under each degree holding column in the highlighted region.  So, for a teacher with 2-years of teaching experience from the Dominican Republic, holding a bachelor’s degree (or similar), HPS would pay IAG $12,775.

$12,775 is 20% of $63,875.  So, for a teacher with 2-years of teaching experience from the Dominican Republic, holding a bachelor’s degree (or similar), HPS would pay that teacher a yearly salary of $63,875 (plus benefits).

In comparison, a teacher from Biddeford, Maine who moves to Hartford, with 3-years of experience and in possession of a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern Maine, would, for 2022-23, be paid by HPS $47,464 (plus benefits).  A base amount $16,000 less than what HPS will paying for the teacher of similar standing from the Dominican Republic.  I used the 3-year number from the pay scales in the current Hartford Federation of Teachers (HFT) contract because a 2-year number is not given.

On top of the teacher’s HPS salary of $63,875, HPS pays the $12,775 service fee to IAG, for a total cost of $76,650 (plus benefits) to hire my sample teacher from the Dominican Republic.  The teacher from Maine is left wishing he had moved to the Dominican Republic for his degree, as most USM graduates probably do when they graduate (trust, I’ve been there), and the situation is most likely worse off now since Dano Malloy became head of Maine’s college system.

If HPS paid teachers from the continental United States the same amount as they expend through their hiring of international teachers, you would see a dramatic drop in the HPS teacher shortage bar chart.

Naturally, as you move up the table with higher credentials and experience, the salary and costs increase.  At the table’s “Veteran” level, a level only described by Nancy Williams of the Superintendent’s masterful OTM team as a level where a teacher has “a lot” of experience, the cost are the greatest.

For sake of clarity not often found at BOE meetings, lets call a “veteran” teacher with “a lot” of experience, as one with a minimum of 10-years of experience dealing with substandard district leadership.  This teacher, from the Ukraine, at the 25% IAG fee level, would cost HPS $25,686 in IAG fees, plus the teacher salary of $102,744, a salary level not reached by HPS teachers until they have 15-years of experience and a PHD.  Arriba, doc!

So, these programs being advertised as some rhetorical “cultural exchange,” is more about exchanging dollars for Dominican Pesos.  International teachers at HPS are compensated very well.  However, they are being compensated with ESSER bucks (federal COVID relief dollars), which stop hitting HPS bank accounts in September of 2024. 

Here are a few other issues left hanging by a less than “thorough” vetting of this proposal:

• The meeting’s agenda item description states: “This partnership is particularly important for our dual-language classrooms with a high concentration of Portuguese speaking children and families.”  According to the 2001 World Book, Portuguese is not an official language of any Caribbean island, and is only lightly spoken in 3 Caribbean countries; Bermuda, Jamaica, and Guyana.   It’s like looking for a Republican teacher in Hartford.

• The meeting agenda item description states: “Connecticut is home to one of the largest Caribbean communities in the world…”   This is false.  According to the US Census Bureau’s 2015-2019 data, Connecticut does not even rank in the top 10 states in the country for its Caribbean population.  Using this false information as a sales pitch to lure the Caribbean teacher, is morally wrong and most likely illegal.

• The meeting agenda item description states: “We currently have a need for 58 teachers to fill bilingual” positions.  This contract is only for the 19 teachers already selected and in the pipeline.  Is the “58” number exclusive of these 19 teachers?

• Information from the meeting shows that for years 1-3, 20% - 25% of teacher’s base salary is paid to IAG.  Which is an increase in the contract numbers awarded to IAG in 2022.  The 2022 contract, for 4 D.R. teachers, would pay IAG 20% in year 1, but only 15% in years 2-5.

• Why is HPS not approved by the U.S. Department of State to sponsor J1 Visas?

• Since receiving their fat contract in November of 2022, Hartford teachers and the Hartford community have had no reports on how successful Adams & Knight have been in recruiting certified teachers to HPS.  Will HPS’ international partner also reflect the nontransparent culture of HPS leadership?

• Is there a financial Plan B to continue paying these teachers beyond 2024 when the ESSER funds dry up?

Below is a list of the many teacher recruitment strategies and programs implemented by HPS, as put forth during the March 1st meeting:

 Para-educator Pathways

• ·         Relay GSE Partners

• ·         Bulkeley High School Public Service Academy

• ·         Hartford Promise

• ·         University and College Partnerships

• ·         Community College Partnerships

• ·         Alternative Route to Certification Partnerships

• ·         Student Teachers Beyond

• ·         Recruitment in CT Towns

• ·         Community Partnerships

• ·         Employee Referrals

• ·         Sign-on-bonuses (stop laughing)

• ·         In-State Career Fairs

• ·         Digital Outreach and Social Media Marketing

• ·         HBCUs

• ·         Regional Enhanced Reciprocity

• ·         Paso a Paso

• ·         Caribbean Connection

What is the total cost for these strategies and programs, and how many teachers have been brought on because of their implementation?  

Weekly, word on the street is of another (sometimes more) HPS teacher resigning.  What is the net gain or loss in the HPS certified teacher pool for this school year?

And finally, what is that little plastic thing at the end of a shoelace called?