Within the scope of the Hartford Schools Report’s policy of accepting anonymous submissions, I recently received an audio file of what I believe to be a local podcast program reviewing a proposal by an HPS teacher.  This proposal would create a teacher’s advisory council, which would serve as a conduit between the board of education and the classroom.  A previous story on the Hartford Teachers Advisory Council (HTAC) can be viewed here, and the anonymous audio file reviewing the HTAC can be heard here.

The reviewers of the HTAC proposal called it a “practical” response to the “disconnect” between “theory” and “what works in the real world,” and “great ideas” which “fall apart” when they hit the classroom.  Stating that “two heads are better than one,” the reviewers felt that teachers sharing feedback and research with the board, being “active participants” involved in “shaping the conversation,” are no-brainer responses to the disconnect between the theories and ideas which the district feeds the board of education, and the realities of the classroom faced by teachers every day.

The podcast applauded the HTAC proposal for its “boots on the ground perspective.”  It was “striking,” stated a reviewer, that the proposal does not have roots at the district level but instead, it has “bubbled up from teachers themselves,” a “grass roots effort.”  Any final implementation of this proposal ought to remain free and separate of district leadership less it becomes another rhetorical puppet of the superintendent, delivering a scripted, often false, message of reality.

However, while the podcast states that the board implementing the HTAC proposal would, in essence, tell “teachers that we actually value what you have to say,” the HPS BOE is choosing instead to ignore practicality in its responsibility to ensure students are receiving the best education possible.

The former Rigueur-led board gave the proposal a very cold shoulder, never bringing it up for public discussion or vote.  The current Arulampalam-replacement board, still trying to gain their footing as an educational assessment group, is dragging its feet on the very solution to their educational naivety and for practical school governance.  An HTAC will make the BOE smarter and more effective.  Two heads from those on the front lines of education are better than one head without a connection to education.