Remember when the Hartford Public Schools ran ads to promote its school choice program and steer city students away from magnet schools? Now, Capitol Region Education Council (CREC) — which manages a number of magnet schools in the areas — will serve as the lead partner for the Clark School. The Clark Turnaround Committee reached this decision, unanimously, today.
No part of this process went smoothly, beginning last autumn. After parents protested the attempt to give Clark over to Achievement First, a charter network, Mayor Segarra stepped in to support the resistance.
During this months-long turnaround process, members of the Turnaround Committee claimed that an ultimatum was served up: vote for the Friendship School — a D.C.-area charter school system — or else Commissioner Pryor would step in and take over. There were denials that such an ultimatum had been issued, but multiple sources involved in the process claimed to have been told this or witness to it. The reality was that consensus was required; if no consensus was reached, then Commissioner Pryor would have been able to step in.
Then, there was the dog and pony show at the beginning of April in which the Board of Education voted in favor of…does anybody actually know what that was about? Even parents and community members who were brought out to rally beforehand were in disagreement over what their demands were, despite wearing shirts suggesting unity. One community member, wearing a t-shirt in solidarity, did not understand the issue, and wanted to see the public schools create technical school options. Some in attendance said the vote looked like a way to silence Jay Gutierrez, a union member on the Turnaround Committee. No deadlines had been missed, so was there even a practical reason for the school board to chime in?
For weeks, it was rumored that the Friendship School had moved on, no longer interested in partnering with the Hartford Public Schools. This was thought to be the case even as the Board of Education wasted that evening earlier this month voting for that charter school network to partner with Clark.
Dr. Jacqueline Jacoby, the “special assistant to the Board of Education,” issued a statement today saying, “The district is very pleased with the outcome of this collaborative effort on the part of all the parties involved, and most especially for our Clark students and their families.”
