For nearly two years, a group of Hartford school teachers have been working on a proposal which would incorporate a teachers advisory council onto the board of education.  The proposed council, Hartford Teachers Advisory Council (HTAC) would bring teacher voices, experiences, and real classroom concerns to bear on the decisions the BOE make that impact students and teachers every day (read more about the HTAC proposal here).

Having gotten wind of discussions around the HTAC proposal, and wishing to control the situation, Superintendent Torres-Rodriguez, after eight years of snubbing teachers, has suddenly determined that a teachers advisory council would be a great idea.

However, her version of a teachers advisory council undermines the purpose and intent of the teachers proposal and raises questions of the integrity of her proposal.

The superintendent, as part of her recent campaign to win the hearts and minds of the unknowing public, has recently created several committees to ostensibly solicit the input of HPS stakeholders in setting district objectives.  One of these committees is a “Teacher/Educator Advisory Committee” (see all the committees here).  To join any of these committees, interested stakeholders must submit an application by October 11, tomorrow.

The Teacher/Educator Advisory Committee will, according to the superintendent, provide a “platform for educators to share their perspectives, offer feedback, and engage in meaningful dialogue with district leadership,” and “Input and feedback gathered during each meeting will be shared with Central Office divisions.”

There is nothing in the superintendent’s description of her newly created teachers committee that indicates the BOE, the folks who vote on the direction of HPS, will be involved in these stakeholder meetings.  Instead, any input given by teachers to a committee headed by folks they do not trust, will go where teachers’ voices are known to die, district leadership in Central Office.  Great idea!

Last year, the superintendent arranged four “town halls” with teachers to ostensibly seek their input and concerns.  She didn’t attend any of them and was there ever a report created for teachers of what the district heard and what their response will be?  Was there ever a report presented to the BOE of what teachers spoke of during these meetings? (“Superintendent Schedules Four Employee Town Halls – Skips All Four”).

The HTAC proposal is intended to be free of central office shackles for integrity purposes and is intended to be a source of information for the members of the BOE, information free of central office censorship.  The superintendent cannot deny this proposal, nor can she usurp its intent and purpose for her own agenda.  BOE members are urged to adopt the HTAC proposal and teachers are urged to boycott the superintendent’s Teacher/Educator Committee due to its intent of undermining real teacher voice.