Hartford School Superintendent Beth Schiavino-Narvaez December 8^th completed her last day on the job after a whirlwind hiring process, deliberate transition planning, listening tours leading to a five-year strategic plan, and efforts in line with her self-identification as an “equity warrior”.  She leaves for her family but recognizes the cost to the District in terms of leadership stability.

“I feel guilty about that,” the superintendent told us in a recent interview in her office.  “There’s been so much uncertainty throughout my entire time here … so much churn.”

Even before she was hired, in her first April 2014 meetings with stakeholders, Dr. Narvaez made clear her interest in confronting equity issues – and adapting her past approach of deploying assistant superintendents to promote and sharpen instructional leadership at the school level.

Gracefully, Dr. Narvaez last month took a clear look back on her Hartford experience during our interview, highlighting these points of emphasis during her leadership:

• Making a big bet on development of a strategic plan at the system-wide level and student success plans at the individual level, knowing the District would have to be explicit about adult expectations, too;
• Reversing the trends on chronic absenteeism and out-of-school suspensions, in part through restorative justice techniques (closely related factors), about which Dr. Narvaez declared early on, “We will not criminalize our children”;
• Advancing an acceleration agenda for the lowest-performing schools (“There was not a turnaround strategy here except to give schools to other people to manage”);
• Seeking to diagnose needs and build on strengths, crafting a community of practice with principals (comprising assistant superintendents of school improvement, including her acting successor, Dr. Leslie Torres-Rodriguez);
• Taking the job at a time when City funding had been flat for seven years and therefore seeking to change the climate (which elevated people to protect their agendas as “You see that happening in a time of scarcity”);
• Questioning the lack of planning that led to an unsustainable number of under-enrolled schools (“We started adding without taking away”);
• Pursuing the vision that “neighborhood schools can be a true – high quality – option for all families”; and
• Looking at consolidation and relocation:  The Equity 2020 planning effort began when renovated Clark and Martin Luther King, Jr. Schools still were on the table.  But those options evaporated fast.

A Positive View of Hartford

Rebutting the notion that she focused more on virtues than difficulties, Dr. Narvaez told us, to the contrary, that she did not do a good enough job of extolling the virtues of this hard-pressed school system.  “This is not an incompetent system – and not a system without capacity,” she insisted.

Asserting that Hartford is gradually changing the narrative of what is possible in urban education, she offered a vision for the future she will not realize: that Hartford hosts high-quality neighborhood and magnet schools and full-service community schools throughout the city.

Commenting on what’s next, Dr. Narvaez advised that “the next superintendent needs political cover to take on school consolidation; these are the toughest issues and they have not been addressed for decades.”

Citing “a little case study” for the good of the order: when Clark School had to close for environmental concerns, its student mergers gave Wish School a robust enrollment – and some 60 Clark families have elected to go to West Middle School.  Those developments showed that some school closings and consolidations can indeed work, Dr. Narvaez observed.

As to the Early Departure

“I was getting recruited to other districts and I said no,” Dr. Narvaez noted.  “For me, Hartford has been a really incredible experience.”

Yet, as she has stated, her husband and daughter come from the Pacific, which is why she accepted a job offer in the Department of Defense system, where she will be based in Okinawa.  Family first.

To put it mildly, Dr. Narvaez’s decision to resign, just two years into her tenure, notwithstanding a contract extension to 2018, was a big surprise.  Yet, plainly, from her first public meetings when she was applying for the job, through the deliberate work on transition and strategic planning, Dr. Narvaez has been all about sounding this District’s call for educational equity.

The Bottom Line

Continuing the focus on equity – and taking it to the next level – is now the job of those still here and those still to come.  As we mentioned in our Annual Letter earlier this fall, bold ideas on how to shift the concentration of need and resources in our neighborhood schools are what’s needed, or it won’t matter who the next superintendent is.  Without that focus on neighborhood schools, change will still come too slowly for our students and our region’s economy.

On December 9, Achieve Hartford’s “Transformative Education Governance Forum” brought together dozens of education stakeholders – public officials, students, teachers, principals, business leaders, community organizers, funders and social workers – to discuss the role of government in ensuring every school is of high quality and every child gets a high-quality education.  Sponsored by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, the forum focused on just how governance could be restructured to help the Hartford Public Schools transform into a high-performing, student-centered system for all.  Here’s what came out of it.

At the forum, attendees came to join together in an honest and shared assessment of what is working (and, in many respects, not working) with our current approach to school board governance.

We heard:

Paul Diego Holzer

A provocative call to action from Achieve Hartford!’s executive director Paul Diego Holzer  (at the 23:30 time stamp), outlined the urgency to reexamine our governance structure here in Hartford so as to better promote student success for all.

Tiffany Glanville and Richard Wareing

An insightful roundtable discussion with Board of Education Chair Richard Wareing and Vice-Chair Tiffany Glanville (at the 37:47 time stamp), offered an overview of the various obstacles currently facing the Board of Education and the limitations faced when addressing current HPS student, educator, and community needs.

Amy Anderson via Skype

Skype presentation from Amy Anderson of ReSchool Colorado, (at the 2:22 time stamp) unveils a learner-based (as opposed to school-based) model that includes providing each individual student with a “Navigator”/advocate to guide and track the student to and through a wide range of learning sites both in the class room and beyond.

Matt Matera

The forum also took in an in-person presentation from Matt Matera of Empower Schools, showcasing a highly collaborative approach at the 33:59 time stamp of this video, examining shared responsibility and governance among many key education stakeholders.

Mayor Luke Bronin

(Following an introduction by Achieve Hartford’s Paul Holzer) Wide-ranging Q&A remarks from Mayor Luke Bronin (at the 1:22:15 time stamp), including a forward-thinking vision on the need for collective leadership and responsibility in the greater Hartford region.

Journalism & Media Academy Students

A very moving student-led panel from Journalism and Media Academy seniors, sharing the profound impact that student-centered learning has on the lives of Hartford students – coupled with a direct call to action for the leaders in the room to do more to support student success. Please see the :40 time stamp.

Dr. Leslie Torre-Rodriguez (background)

Powerful comments from Acting HPS Superintendent Dr. Leslie Torres-Rodriguez and others, including addressing the need to transform HPS’s culture into an “emboldened culture of continuous learning”. Please see the :35 time stamp and hear it out.

The Bottom Line.

Can school governance in Hartford be reconsidered on a clean slate?  The jury is still out on this.  But last week’s Transformative Governance Forum revealed in stark detail that the need to improve (if not outright transform) is as clear as day for students and adults alike.  As State Board of Education Chair Allan Taylor put it, the attendees were engaged for the whole day – and it was not an easy one.

Just the idea of transforming Hartford school governance sends a chill up your spine – and requires you to have one!  As we here at Achieve Hartford! finalize our next steps, we offer the following guiding principles for any actions to be taken regarding governance in Hartford:

• Place Students at the Center.  Success for students must come by centering conversations about education (and education itself) around students AND by inviting students meaningfully into the conversation to help create what education could and should look like in the 21st century.
• Break the Mold.  Alternative models from Colorado and Springfield, MA, respectively, suggested break-the-mold attempts to shake up the system of governance, through collaborations among traditional authorities, teacher unions, and programs networked across schools. Unusual alliances are welcome; even more unusual ways to center on student needs may be needed.
• Bring in New Blood.  Should there be representatives from community organizations on Board of Education committees, as Board Member Tiffany Glanville suggested?  “We have a lot of problems and we could use all the help we can get,” Board Chair Richard Wareing advised.  There may be a real opportunity here.
• Elevate the Work Politically.  This is a pivotal time for Board of Education recruitment of new members – and training for those well-intentioned souls now on the job, who want to do it right but cannot be asked to continue flying blind.  And two seats remain unfilled.  Neither Mayor Bronin (in the case of his delayed, fifth appointment to the Board) nor the Democratic Committee (in the case of its obligation to fill the seat left open when elected Board Member Beth Taylor moved out of the city) has yet to appoint.  It’s time.
• Do More than Stick a Toe in the Water.  Can student exposure be increased to the adult workplace world, as described by Journalism and Media Academy seniors who have interned at the CT Public Broadcasting Network CPBN) this year?  “This is a real-life building; you have to be serious,” JMA’s Ashley Floyd said.  Several other students concurred; working with deadline assignments, and just being expected to fulfill them on time without being treated as children, was a real eye opener.  How can that be expanded and enhanced for all students?

Overall, our Transformative Education Governance Forum revealed that, if we truly want to prepare our students to be 21st century leaders to engage in a robust post-secondary workforce pipeline, we must all do better and must demand more from our governing bodies – including the Board of Education.  But we also must be willing to do things differently to get there.  Stay tuned for more discussion on transforming governance!

Democratic City Councilman Jimmy Sanchez grew up in the north end of Hartford, in a small, Puerto Rican enclave; later, his parents moved to become homeowners in the south end.  He went to the old Barnard Brown School and the old Vine Street School (later named for Hartford’s first African American mayor, Thirman Milner – and now perhaps a school on the chopping block).  So what priorities does he see for Hartford schools, based on his experience?

Councilman Sanchez’s parents pulled him out of public school and sent him to parochial school – but his travels in the Marine Corps, especially to Japan, have made him anything but parochial (please see his bio online here).  Here are some of his perspectives about school improvement in Hartford:

• When his parents sent him to St. Joseph Cathedral School in his neighborhood, Mr. Sanchez landed in the Fourth Grade with Second Grade skills.  He was branded with “F” scores; indeed, he and his brother were termed “mentally retarded” back in the day.  “Little did they know, we just didn’t know the alphabet,” he said in an interview last week.  Lesson One.
• Lesson Two: he graduated from South Catholic High School, joined the Marine Corps and traveled the world.  He saw, in Japan, the importance of discipline, not just for academic subjects, but for what he terms etiquette – good habits, like saving money.  Emphasizing financial literacy, he warns against the cultural tendency to spend every dime you have – and recalls when he was a transit coach operator early in his career.  He encountered students who did not even know how to count out the right coins to pay their fare.
• So today Councilman Sanchez is all about emphasizing early childhood education, including spelling, grammar, punctuation, diagramming sentences, and understanding math.
• He appreciates the re-start of the school closure, consolidation, and relocation planning in Hartford, concerned about the level of community involvement in the consultants’ various proposed scenarios.  “Buildings do not educate children,” he declares; it’s what happens within them and at home.  “I am not against magnet schools,” he adds.  “What I am against is taking the right of the neighborhood child away.  There is a huge neglect in the North End and that neglect has traveled down to the South End.”
• Indeed, given the numbers of students who are bumped by the choice lotteries into low-performing schools, he believes, “There is no choice in this system for many, in my book.”
• As the original Hartford Public High School was knocked down rather than honored for a place on the National Historical Register, he argues, other landmark Hartford schools need to be preserved (the Dr. Martin Luther King School, the original Weaver High School, and the Burns Latino Study Academy come to his mind).

Recognizing that the City Council has a major role in financing public schools, Councilman Sanchez would set as a priority the improvement of neighborhood schools – and the presentation of disaggregated magnet school performance data, so that Hartford students’ progress is not masked by “the suburban lift” of those achievement scores.  Moreover, he questions why the regional public safety academy is in Enfield – and why Hartford has such a low proportion of Spanish-speaking teachers.

“Education is the basis of all things in life,” he said in a recent interview.  As unemployment, health, environmental quality, and housing deeply affect school quality, those issues must be faced, as should what he calls the “etiquette” he witnessed in Japan.  There, teachers are respected and education is valued – and the good habits that come from the discipline of working hard are part of the culture.

The Bottom Line.

The life lessons of Councilman Sanchez are worth heeding.  While many in Hartford do not see members of City Council as responsible for education outcomes in the city, their leadership can be invaluable, and we hope to involve them more in school improvement strategies.

Editor’s note: This article is part of a continuing series on the views of City Council members, with links to the earlier articles here.