It’s a safe assumption that the blood of America’s early patriots does not flow through many currently living or working in Hartford.  If the early patriots had the spirit and fight of current residents, we’d be speaking with an English accent and singing God Save the Queen rather than God Bless America.  Hartford’s somebody-else-will-do-it and somebody-has-my-back attitude toward public participation results in self-inflicted and public wounds in many spheres, none worse than in the education sphere.

Like the attitude they apply to voting, Hartford parents and other community members see no immediate satisfaction, no immediate gratification, in protesting their child’s failed education due to the fault of district leadership.  They shine with pride when their child receives a Hartford school diploma, but there is no mass, organized shock when a child cannot attend a college of choice because of their inability to read or write at an acceptable level.  There are no protests against the district when Hartford’s police chief states publicly that many applicants bearing Hartford diplomas cannot read or write well enough to pass the police entrance exam.  There are no protests against a district which awards diplomas based not on an assessment of student ability, but an assessment of the numbers the superintendent will need to create more smoke and mirrors on her resume.   Where are the protests?

Oh sure, you’ll point to the many school funding protests which have occurred in Hartford over the last two years as evidence of an involved public.  Many of these occurring ever since Connecticut Senators Doug McCrory and Jeff Curry, leaders of the legislature’s education committee, promised in the spring of 2023 that passed House bill HB5003 will prevent school districts from reaching the oft stated financial fiscal cliff.  However, despite the many falsehoods coming from state leaders and falsehoods involved in school funding protests, these funding protests divert public attention from more serious problems of public involvement in Hartford and to more serious problems faced by Hartford schools. 

Hartford Public Schools has a spending problem, a problem with phony and unqualified district leadership, a problem with academics being ignored and schools turned into community centers, and a problem with legitimate board of education oversight.  Where are the protests?

With so many community-based organizations, non-profits, and a community organizer, leader, or advocate at every street corner (a more acceptable form of prostitution), why can’t these folks get thousands, or at least hundreds, of Hartford parents to protest the district practice of advancing every student toward a diploma regardless of whether that student can read or write about green eggs and ham.  These folks do not realize that the reason for their existence is due in large part to the failed education system, yet none direct their attention to that issue.  The reason for this is that some, like Hartford Parent University, owe their existence to HPS funds.  There are some involved in education who will spite your child’s future for a fat bank account.

Where is the parental fight against a district which has been sued for at least eight years of special education malpractice and then the leader of the district shamelessly requests the board of education give her a bonus?  Which leads us to a spending problem, not a funding problem.  Where are the parental and community voices when the district spends millions of dollars every year on propping up mail-order non-profits looking to take advantage of urban school district funds without ever providing evidence that their work has improved the future of Hartford’s children?

Hartford parents will stick a schedule of Pratt Street salsa events to their refrigerator with a smiley magnet but will never give a thought to monthly board meetings where they could go and demand accountability from those in care of their children’s education and future.  Here they could protest the lack of classroom resources, scripted curriculums which ignore what kids need, unhealthy foods, and lack of district supports for teachers trying their best to influence your child’s future.

When the state’s special 119K Commission reveals that Hartford has a greater percentage of at risk and disconnected young people than any other Connecticut location, where is the parental voice and fight for answers as to why this district has failed so many young people?

These flower-on-the-wall criticisms also apply to Hartford teachers.  Last month I attended a teacher rally at Weaver High School which attracted about 20 teachers, most of them members of the Hartford Federation of Teachers (HFT) executive committee which set up the event; twenty teachers out of a total membership of more than one thousand.

The HFT president and her team work triple overtime to protect and benefit Hartford teachers who in turn choose not to fight with numbers and unity.  In private, teachers could provide you and me with shock and awe stories of what is happening at Hartford schools, but when the cannon needs to be loaded with that ammo, teachers go AWOL.  For those worried about reprisal from the black widow, you should take comfort in the fact that there is safety in numbers.

This has not been a blanket criticism of Hartford parents, teachers, or community members, there are some with the Bunker Hill mentality who speak up, show up, and fight.  Yet their numbers are so low that it’s like a military commander asking the assembled army for volunteers for a special mission.  The whole line steps backwards leaving a lone “volunteer.”  Yeah, that mission will not go so well.

You want a solution to Hartford’s education problems?  Look in the mirror.  Now load your musket and march to the front lines.