On Tuesday's BOE Agenda

The Hartford Board of Education will meet on Tuesday, March 21 at 5:30 p.m. for their monthly Regular Meeting.  It’s normally a poorly attended meeting and the large, empty space is not meeting or hearing friendly, so nobody will blame you if you sit home in your bunny slippers and watch it on YouTube.  If this meeting was not mandated by the state, it wouldn’t be held, so don’t expect an informational and entertainment filled night at Weaver High School.

Either way, here is the how the meeting will play out according to the currently posted agenda.

The Opening: 

The Chairman will bang the gavel and call the meeting to order.  One can tell how well versed in parliamentary procedure the Chairman is by how he wields the gavel during the meeting.  Gone are the days when John Adams would tap a spoon against a glass, or when Nikita Khrushchev would use his shoe.

Item 1.2 on the agenda is the Roll Call.  This Board does not do this, which basically states that attendance is not important.

Then the Chairman will run down a list of rules to be followed by those in attendance, several which have been found to be unconstitutional in courts across the country.  These include, but are not limited to:

·         No personal attacks on individuals.

·         No signs allowed inside the Board meeting room.

·         A speaker must refrain from naming employees.

Dialog Session:

The “Dialog Session,” which will be correctly renamed later during this meeting, is the portion of the meeting where the public speaks to its concerns.  You must arrive prior to 5:30 p.m. and sign up to speak, or you may not have that opportunity. 

This is the only portion of the meeting where a viewer receives an accurate picture of the state of Hartford Public Schools, and the only part of the meeting that the Superintendent, much to her chagrin, I’m sure, does not control.  So, during this public speaking moment, the Superintendent normally, with head down and pen in hand, busies herself with paperwork, seemingly uninterested in the whole affair.

Reports:

Following the most informative portion of the meeting, is the Reports section of the agenda.  While Items 3.3 to 3.5 are listed as the reports of the several committees of the Board, they are ignored by this Board.  However, their reports are included in the agenda packet provided as you enter the building.

Item 3.1 is the Report of the Chair, or as Chairman Rigueur prefers to call it, the  ‘the most important report.’

Item 3.2 is for the reading of the Report of the Superintendent.  Here the audience receives a rhetorical overview of the progress of HPS and a lipsticked version of the continuing failures of HPS.

Business Agenda:

Most of this portion of the agenda is normally for the Board to approve whatever policy, contract proposal, or appointment that the Superintendent had previously brought to them at an earlier committee meeting.  Issues that have been previously “vetted,” often times by as few as one member of the Board.

This month, Item 4.1 is a 3-year contract “proposal” by International Alliance Group (IAG).  These are the folks that serve as legal “host” for international teachers hired by HPS, teachers who are rewarded for their service in amounts exceeding that of homegrown teachers with similar credentials and experience.  Under their previous 1-year contract, IAG was paid for the hiring of 4 teachers by HPS.

Item 4.2 is for the Board to approve a lease for a new Central Office home at 280 Trumbull St, a 2-year, $1.4 million lease, necessitated by the remodeling of Bulkeley High School.  It was previously stated here that the city of Hartford was footing the bill for this lease, that was incorrect. 

Despite the City, on February 27, asking for a resolution to be passed by the City Council authorizing “the City to enter into a new lease” for the sake of HPS at the location, it was revealed during the Board’s March 13th Finance & Audit Committee meeting that HPS had included the cost of the lease in the 2023-24 HPS budget.

It is not entirely clear as to why the City is asking its Council to approve $1.4 in lease payments, while HPS asked the Board to approve the same amount for the same purpose in the budget.  HPS is also seeking to be reimbursed for that cost from the state, a request that they admit is not guaranteed, but if approved, will recover 95% of the cost.  And if the Council approves the $1.4 million?  Is this a timing issue, where the City bankrolls the lease initially and is then reimbursed by HPS?  This deal has the appearance of money laundering.

Item 4.3 on this month’s agenda has the Board approving two policy changes.  The first is the school’s Theory of Action policy.  This policy is the roadmap for how HPS will accomplish its “core beliefs and commitments.”  This is where the Superintendent tells the community that they are taking “comprehensive” action, but then adds the word “if” before defining each of the 4 main goals of the policy.  I should have used the word “if” when writing on the lease deal.

The second policy to be reconfigured and adopted at this meeting is the policy concerning the structure and conduct at the Board’s Regular Meetings, Board Bylaw 9321.2.  At long last, the Public Comment section of the agenda will be called what it is, “Public Comment,” and not “Dialogue.” 

It was previously discussed in committee meetings that Public Comment would be divided into 2 parts, the first, taking place at the start of the meeting, would only be for comments concerning items that are on the night’s agenda, while all other comments would be held until after the Business section of the agenda. 

This doesn’t appear to have made it through final editing, but the Public Comment section will be increased by 30 minutes to 60 minutes, with additional time, if needed, taking place after the Business section.

Item 4.4 on the agenda will be for the First Reading of two policies.  The first will be HPS’ steps to catch up to the rest of the progressive world, as they draft an Equity Policy.  If you are looking at the agenda on BoardDocs, you will notice that the attachment for these 2 policies is actually an attachment for next year’s school calendar.  You can view the policies here as they were presented at a March Policy Committee meeting.

The second policy up for a First Reading under this agenda Item, is the district’s Alternative Education Program.  This is the policy HPS follows where they move far too many students along in grade level or to graduation despite their low academic achievement.  This policy and this practice is ripe for state and/or federal audit and much of it should be illegal.

Item 4.5 on the agenda is the First Reading of next year’s school calendar, something you would think that not even this crew could screw up.

Consent Agenda

This agenda section deals with needed Board approvals for items subjectively considered to be routine, with no discussion or debate required.  This month, an increase in a previously awarded contract to Aveanna Healthcare of $15,000, and the Minutes of last month’s Regular Meeting need Board approval.  Once the minutes are approved, they are posted on BoardDocs for posterity, or until they become publicly damaging, I suppose.

The Board will then exit stage left and enter into Executive Session, where the Superintendent will privately discuss with the Board issues of high sensitivity and confidentiality, such as her performance evaluation.  However, this month, under the cone of silence, they will be discussing the union contract of The Hartford Federation of Child Development Associates. 

According to the agenda document, this union has been working without a contract since 2018 and negotiations for a new contract did not start until 2022.   There’s got to be a story here.

But anyhoo, after the raising of the cone of silence, the Board will once again grace the stage and approve said union contract.

The gavel will then be struck once, not twice, not three times, but once, to signal adjournment.