When Superintendent Beth Schiavino-Narvaez announced September 8th that she was leaving the District this fall to take another job, it was a resignation … about which Hartford cannot afford any further resignation.  Instead, several imperatives come to mind.

While Hartford Public Schools have had revolving-door departures by superintendents for at least the past two decades, the sudden announcement from Dr. Narvaez nonetheless was startling; she had two years left on a contract just extended.

This latest shake-up should, however, only galvanize the community in its resolve to addres educational inequity.

In a news release following the announcement, Achieve Hartford! advised, “While the tendency right now would be to let the resignation of our city’s education leader lead to a resignation in our own hearts, our children demand the exact opposite from us right now.”  Our full statement is online here.

History tells us no messianic figure is going to suddenly appear – or necessarily stay – in the superintendent’s office in Hartford.

So it is incumbent on us as a community, therefore, to continue the efforts toward student success plans, mastery-based learning, teacher training, and college readiness to reduce the achievement gap so wide, still.

With families, community leaders, and dedicated partners, our community has to save itself.

Here are the superintendent’s September 8th announcement of her departure and the Hartford Couranteditorial assessing it.