Specific documents were requested as follows :
In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act, I am requesting the following:
>>1.)Any list, document or report that shows all salaries in the Hartford Schools Central Office as well as School Administrators.
>>Any document, e-mails or reports regarding the assault on a Hartford School teacher on or about December 23, 2018 by a Cassandra DeCosta, a parent. To this date, the requested documents have not been provided although I have been told that they are readily available. I am sure the release will be an embarrassment to the Superintendent when people see the money being paid out in salaries for here staff and minions around her. It will also be interesting how they cover for an assault on a teacher at a time when access to the school is supposed to be controlled for the safety of the students. I have filed a formal complaint with the State of Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission for an investigation and hearing into the Superintendents violation of the law.
17 comments:
Good luck KB..HPS are frequent flyers .. state must turn a blind eye..
Two of Connecticut’s largest school districts have so far failed to comply with requests for public information as part of a statewide test conducted by news organizations to mark Sunshine Week 2019.
Both the New Haven and Hartford were among at least 41 school districts asked between Feb. 11 and Feb. 14 to provide copies of their Superintendents’ compensation packages as well as enrollment data for each of their schools.
The Hartford school district acknowledged the request within four days, which is required by law, but has yet to provide the documents requested...
https://www.ctpost.com/local/article/New-Haven-Hartford-schools-fail-to-comply-with-13696598.php
Where there is smoke there is fire.. New Haven is apparently trying to put some of them out..Too bad Hartford board does not take lessons from New Haven board ..they are stopping the $$$ spending tree in elm city telling Birks who used to be at HPS the following:
“You have directors and assistant superintendents to coach principals. If they’re not coaching and developing principals, what are they doing?” Joyner asked. “These consultants came in when business people tried to bring all of those practices from corporate America. But if you go to school, you get a six-year degree, you should be able to do the job. If you get promoted to assistant superintendent, then you’re the coach. If you’re not doing that, then what are you doing?”
“We need to be sure that the people we’ve hired in Central Office have the capability to coach the people they supervise,” Joyner responded. “This is almost like hiring a coach for a football team who can’t do it so you have another coach to coach the kids.”
Calling it a “mess,” Joyner added, “All these people get money with no connection to the community. It’s almost like a quid pro quo.” He said the money would be better spent on literacy tutors, textbooks, Chromebooks, daylong field trips for alternative-school students and more early-childhood and bilingual programs, among other ideas.Stop handing money to consultants you know (while not telling us) and start putting it into programs for kids, a fed-up school board commanded the superintendent."
https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/school_consultant_contracts_hr/
I have taken them to the FOI Commission before and won. It is not a difficult law to understand, they just choose not to comply. I am patient though and will eventually get what I am asking for
Is there a way to FOI information on the purposeful undermining of Hartford Public High School so it now has to be reconstituted? This means that all of the teachers need to re-apply for their jobs. However, the administrators, the ones who are primarily responsible for the dysfunction of the school (and the district in general) are guaranteed to a three year commitment. The principal is a first year principal who was an elementary school teacher before taking the job. Two of the new VPs (every administrator from last year is gone) are also in their positions for the first time. They're going to reconstitute the school with these inexperienced administrators leading the efforts. How many Hartford students' educations will be sacrificed on this experiment? This School was reconstituted only 10 years ago. The teachers had to reapply for their jobs then too. It didn't work so they are doing it again. Maybe they are not acknowledging what the real issues in the district are and maybe that is why the schools are unable to be effective. Maybe they continue this game because of the millions of dollars in State funding the district stands to gain in this chaos. In any case if I were a betting woman, I'd put money on this being another major debacle orchestrated by the Hartford Public School District. They're experts at wasting taxpayer money and neglecting the true needs of their students.
8:27PM
Probably not. Generally you need to ask for specific things you are looking for and not just a general fishing expedition. You could break it down as an example , for any correspondence or e-mails related to restructuring of Hartford High or any plan about restructuring. And be sure , they know how to play the game, if you don't ask for the right thing they won't supply you with anything. Also, they do not have to create documents for you, they just have to give you whatever already exists that you are asking for. Also, the Hartford Schools will hide behind FERPA, a federal law that protects student information. most of those claims are not legit, but they will try, especially if what you are requesting will be embarrassing to them if they give it out. Hope that helps
It is a hot mess because they are allowing people with little to no inner-city urban school experience to take away huge pay checks and decide which curriculums the children receive (which to date has only generated low reading and math scores ) and now put forth ignorant paradigms of non-evidence based rhetoric that has no consequences solutions for poor choices and behavior. They are repeating history of what transpired in Fla.. how to create a school shooting incident.. that Florida school district ,the super, every over paid fool that allowed that situation to boil over into a massacre are now being sued .They should all never work again in education or with any children for that matter.
The board meeting last night was a disgrace. Restorative justice is a tool
which is effective for mundane petty problems and personality conflicts however when the consequences are not real for violence at school in any form, weapons brought to school, drugs and booze brought to school including Pot your school district is lost and you are setting up all the children in that system for low standards ,failure and a life not based in reality ..they are being lied to by adults who fail to act and protect the well being of the school and the souls entrusted to it they are the poorest form of educational leadership to ever hit Hartford schools it is vulgar to even think of them as educators.
Kevin what happened to the post on the police officer and her claim of discrimination?
The underlying problem, for years now, has been the same. Highly paid, in fact, overpaid, central office administrators running a school system of which they have absolutely no experience at running a classroom. They have no understanding of, and could never survive, working in a classroom. Their “classroom ignorance” leads to policies and procedures of which they craft and mandate. The burden of these irrational demands are now put on the backs of the school administrators and teachers, not to mention the accountability. School administrators now have to ask central office administrators for permission to suspend students. In high schools, students who never show up for a class and do zero work in a marking period do not receive a score of zero on the report card, but rather a score of 50. Just one of the few insane policies that teachers and school administrators have to follow. What a great way of preparing students for the future!!!
12:46am, Gentry? it is there, search the archived posts
A lot of our problems at HPS regarding discipline are tied to the idea that people who plan prisons look at number of suspensions to predict need. We have mistakenly taken that idea and decided that if we do not suspend students, we will not be supporting the school-to-prison pipeline. What's happening is that, now that there are no consequences, students are running wild and hurting people. We are doing them a disservice by teaching them there are no consequences. So instead of learning from their mistakes at school, they'll learn as adults, when it can ruin their lives. It reminds me of when I first started teaching and people said there was a connection between books in the home and how well students read. We did a big push at HPS to get students books to take home. Of course, it wasn't the prescence of the books that was making the difference, it was the fact of those homes having parents that read.
Hartford Schools has the resumes, I am sure of experienced administrators who could turn this district around. God knows, they keep advertising every three months. I refuse to believe that they have looked at the names or at the experience that has applied though, too busy giving inside promotions.
Everyone who works in our district knows what is happening.
The problem with the Hartford schools is that it is not out there with this money that it is using to pay idiots at the top, luring and keeping talent.
They should be canvasing districts in CT and Massachusetts for talent. It is a pathetic shame that Hartford Public has been reconstituted- that is a crying shame. This is not a teacher issue, but an admin issue.
You have the responsibility to work with the community, to build the morale, to walk the damn halls, to talk to the kids, etc.
You lost your flagship, even Classical Magnet is under water......really?
The state needs to come in, audit your asses, get rid of the coaches...the damn admin should have 5 years teaching experience and the ability to coach/evaluate...
What about the parents that were bused in to the last Board of Ed meeting to yell at and disparage white teachers, when the topic on the agenda was to beg the board for help to address the ongoing behavior issues of students that affected safety and learning. The super just sat there and let it go on. Total chaos! Someone overheard a Parkville parent scheming with the principal, in her office, about organizing the parent protest. The staff had held a no-confidence vote and lost by 1 vote. Then the Kindergarten teacher gets dismissed and oh by the way she's the building union rep and held the no-confidence vote. Coincidence? I think not. Target?
I have limited details on this which I will be posting this weekend, if you can provide me more info, please contact me. Any idea how the bus was paid for? I will also be posting the video of the meeting and the nastiness that ensued
If she retaliated against a union officer regardless of lost NCV ..she is done..
@ April 20, 2019 at 12:30 AM - Not in this district. Here it happens all of the time.
I believe the person responsible for busing in that of the parents is Millie Arciniegas of the Parent University. She did something like this last year when Leslie decided to close Batchelder school. She takes all of her ignorant enrollees in that program and has them speak. The only reason she’s the executive director is because she does Leslie’s bidding. Get rid of Leslie tand you get rid of her and that useless program
Tell the rep to stop at Buckingham and ask HFT to file an unfair labor practice charge with the Labor Board.
It is a violation of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) for management to harass, threaten or punish you or your steward in retaliation for your union activities. Second, under the NLRA, Union Reps or Stewards are considered equals when they are engaged in representational activities with management. This “equality rule” applies when you are in a grievance hearing, investigating a complaint, organizing etc. As long as the individual is acting in the capacity of union rep he/she is considered an equal and has the right to put management in their place provided the rep is not talking about their own individual job performance. The equality rule does not apply 24/7 for reps to mouth off to management it is union specific and if the rep is acting as an employee does not apply. Sounds like you need HFT pronto.
Union REP's plotting against Principal's or parent's... not surprised! i used to work at a school where the union REP literally black mailed the Principal with a picture.
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