On Tuesday, Hartford Board of Education will be considering a resolution to de-magnetize the Journalism & Media Academy on Tower Avenue.
JMA was originally intended as a neighborhood school, as part of Weaver High, just down the road where Tower and Granby Street intersect. In 2013, the Connecticut State Department of Education wanted JMA to become a magnet school to serve the Sheff mandate.
Three years later, the Sheff mandate has not been met, and as a side effect, there are empty seats in the school. There are Hartford kids waiting to get into the school. They are waiting solely because those empty seats are held for white and Asian students.
When the decision was made to magnetize it, the plan was to have 400 students enrolled by this school year. The actual number of students at JMA is around 200.
The resolution would direct Superintendent Schiavino-Narvaez to get the process with the State Department of Education going, so that JMA would lose its magnet school status. This would convert it to a district school intended to serve Hartford residents. The resolution states this should go into effect in less than one year — July 1, 2017. It would also be renamed the Thomas J. Snell Weaver Journalism & Media Academy and would be housed in the renovated Weaver High facility.
The Board meeting with take place at the SAND School, 1750 Main Street, at 5:30 p.m. on August 16. The public is welcome to attend.