Last week Real Hartford was privileged to attend the education expo, though from observation, many others did not have the time or awareness of this event. During the first hour of the three hour school choice fair, there were few attendees. For us, that meant easier access to the booths, no waiting in line, and all the pizza we wanted (we opted to skip the pizza).

The goal was simple: get basic information on a handful of the elementary schools in district. We have excellent b.s. detectors, so this would also include gauging competence and honesty.

Disqualified from the Start

  • Any school that has had its repugnant discipline practices reported on in the last three years. We know people make errors in handling situations, but we have more trust in those with longer records of doing the right thing.
  • Schools that have lied about children’s racial identity or have coerced children into making those changes themselves on paperwork. This practice tells children that lying is acceptable.
  • Schools with a S.T.E.M. focus (not our thing)

Promptness

You can’t win if you don’t play. You don’t learn if you don’t go to school.

Those are messages we get all of the time.

If a school can not be bothered to show up on time for a choice fair, it is automatically out of the running. There were several tables empty or only just setting up well over thirty minutes into the event. We’re not going to name names here, but if you were not present, you were ruled out immediately. That included a few schools we were hoping to learn more about.

Warmth

There is distinct different between willingness to engage and genuine warmth.

We were not planning to stop at the Breakthrough Magnet School booth, but they definitely snagged us with eye contact and non-invasive questions.

America’s Choice at SAND School was approachable enough. When asked questions, the representative for the school answered but made no attempt at conversation.

Betances Early Reading Lab Magnet School was another we were not aiming to get information from, but the rep there grabbed our attention. There was a heavy push on the reading curriculum — not wholly unexpected — but we did get answers to our other questions.

The Clark School engaged when we began to ask questions, but there was no especial friendliness or invitation to take the materials at the table. We had to assert ourselves to look at an adorable scrapbook showing kids doing, well, basic school stuff.

If the Burns Latino Studies Academy were not on our list of schools to ask questions about, we would have walked away after a few seconds. To be fair, one school rep was tied up in conversation, as was another, but it took awhile to get anyone’s attention. They were more attentive than the Apple store at West Farms, so we stuck around. Because we had burning questions. Once we cornered someone, we definitely got the most friendly response, what felt like the most sincere conversation. If we had to pick school officials we’d be willing to grab coffee with, Burns would win this one, hands down. What also won them points: Burns had a few of their students present. These were children we recognized from around the neighborhood and who we know are involved as leaders at the school. They were engaging us in conversation while the school reps were talking to other adults; the kids were definitely not speaking from any script either.

Teaching the Whole Child

We were interested in a well-rounded, liberal arts education, with a definite emphasis on arts, literacy, and real world experiences. We wanted to know that this would be child-centered, not a discipline-obsessed warehouse for preparing future automatons.

SAND could not tell us much about what it was about, just that it has “everything.”

Breakthrough buried the lede. They told us about character development, which is important, but waited awhile until getting to the good stuff. Meals are served in classrooms, “family style” (a term that probably needs clarification given that families do not all dine in the same fashion), using actual plates and tablecloths. We were told that classrooms had kitchens in them. The vegetation around the school is cared for by students and it’s on a large chunk of land. We talked about how children are taught mindful breathing techniques to calm themselves down. One of the better aspects of this school was only learned later while reading the brochure: k-8 Spanish instruction (very important). They do have uniforms, but definitely more options about the color pants/skirts students are allowed to wear. We’re not sold on the uniform bit in general. We were assured that Teach for America did not have a presence here, though this is where the school’s principal got her start. Our concern is that Teach for America is typically used as a stepping stone for those on their way up the corporate ladder. It seems the Breakthrough principal is the rare exception whose experience with the program actually turned into a longer commitment to education.

Betances talked about the importance of literacy, but gave us nothing concrete other than that all teachers were to be certified in teaching reading. Or something like that. Nothing in the spiel grabbed our attention until we started asking questions. Betances is in walking distance of the Connecticut Science Center, Wadsworth Atheneum, and Hartford Public Library. We were told children go to these venues on field trips and that once each month the science center comes to the school to teach. We found in the brochure that another district school’s name was misspelled, which could have been overlooked given the tricky name, but for a place that prides itself on reading: no. Maybe the schools do not design their own brochures. Anyway, we also saw in this brochure: random capitalization, empty buzzwords (“rigorous curriculum,” “metacognitive skills”), and the fact that there are “cameras in every classroom” to “allow for observation and learning opportunities for students and teachers.” No, absolutely not.

Clark, like SAND, was not free with the information about curriculum. The brochure had little to say as well. The collaborations with UConn’s Husky Sports Program was not of interest to us. There was no telling what the uniforms would be, other than that these are required. Our best guess is the vagueness here, like with SAND, is due to the Commissioner’s Network push. It felt like those putting together the brochures were just phoning it in with these two. It felt, frankly, sad…as if these schools had already been given up on.

The Burns brochure also had little to say, but the school rep we spoke with filled in the blanks for us, especially about the Spanish classes for those entering school speaking only English. There was a lot of excitement about the Hartford Performs program, along with the partnership with Billings Forge and Inner City Outings (Sierra Club). (Other schools have the Hartford Performs partnership, but only one other mentioned it to us) We were told that there is an increasing attempt to reach out to the general neighborhood, which almost sounded to us like a blatant move away from the bus-em-everywhere model. That won some more points with us.

Straight Shooters

We asked SAND, Clark, and Burns if they knew anything about what changes would take place in their schools if the Commissioner’s Network does indeed scoop them up. SAND and Burns get points for being straight with me. Clark, not so much.

The rep from SAND said that it could remain neighborhood-oriented, but there are other models and possibilities. Basically, there are too many unknowns right now.

The rep at Burns told us direct she did not know and said that we should speak to the principal who was also at the education expo.

But the rep from Clark, who seemed sweet but did not introduce herself, said this would be wonderful because it would mean a lot of money. Beyond that, she could not say what this would entail. Alright, moving on.

Breakthrough and Betances are not being considered for the Commissioner’s Network, so we really wanted to just get answers about teacher turnover. Betances seemed to think that most teachers being there for three or four years minimum was good. And maybe, comparatively, it is, but that should not be gold standard. We might have said that we weren’t interested in educational amateur hour. The Betances rep assured us that most teachers who leave go to other schools in district, so they aren’t just dropping the profession entirely at high rates.

The rep from Breakthrough was definitely not being a slick salesperson, but she seemed like she wanted to be giving the right answers. Not that there was any evasion or exaggeration. When we mentioned that the school was near the river, we were given a confused look. Maybe the rep was new

Swag

This is just as legit as measuring schools by test scores.

The SAND school, from what we saw, had the best array of branded items. We thought the mascot was overly aggressive for an elementary school, but we can overlook this because the blue plastic cup emblazoned with its logo changes color with temperature. Sure, it’s probably loaded with toxins, but we are charmed by something reminiscent of those Hypercolor shirts from the 90’s. SAND was giving out those bags with drawstrings which are really painful to wear as backpacks but work alright if carried as a tote. We like the idea of having a SAND bag ad personally would have designed it to play on the pun a lot more. There were other things on the table — maybe keychains and pencils. Then, the brochure. We already talked about this to an extent, but something struck us about the photos inside of it: all the children pictured appear to be male. This is not an all boys schools. And while we cringe at those who try to make things appear more diverse than they are by ensuring that the one [person not in the majority for whatever situation] gets in the photo, we struggle to buy that there are so few girls at a public school that none could be captured. Our hope is that we’ve judged poorly and that at least one of the students is a not-so-girly girl.

Breakthrough had pens. Its logo is a train pulling what we think is a school and a home, but it could be pulling other train cars. We like trains. In retrospect, we should have asked train-specific questions. The Breakthrough brochure is the thickest and most informative, though it also uses the phrase “academic rigor” which makes our skin crawl a little. We want our high schools and universities to have academic rigor, but applied too early, it seems like the results would be rigor mortis of the psyche. Let the kids be kids. Perhaps they can do that on the green roof garden. One of the brochure’s pictures shows children wearing costumes: butterfly, monkey,  rabbit, ducks, etc. Another photo shows students planting flowers. So, for the most part they might get to just be kids?

Betances had fridge magnets with busy design and an almost unreadable phone number. The magnet tells that the school has a Facebook presence and that it is a “bucketfilling school,” whatever that means. The students are pictured doing school-oriented things: sitting in straight lines divided by gender, working on science projects, and reading books.

Aside from the brochures, we have no memory of what Clark offered as takeaway. The brochure had a few odd photo choices: these were cropped in such a way that we were not sure what exactly was going on. What was the scene? What were we supposed to feel like was happening? Another picture showed three boys sitting on a classroom carpet, looking up at the camera. In front of them was a piece of paper with a single word on it: “rage.” Everything about this felt jumbled.

There were actual snacks at the Burns table, fully distracting us from any school swag. Okay, we saw a t-shirt but did not ask if that was to take or just look at. Though the brochure was not extremely informative, there was more care in choosing how the school was portrayed in it. Music, sports, and academics were all represented with images. Except for one shot, the kids do not look posed for pictures.

Conclusion

None of the schools we checked out, including the “better” ones, told us anything about test scores. None boasted of rankings or achievement. This was a relief, as we went in expecting certain schools to try to appeal to a sense of academic competition. We were reluctant to have to explain to strangers that we prioritize respectful environments where students learn for the sake of learning, over those aimed at making obedient workers out of youth. That was an awkward conversation we were fortunate to avoid.

Were there any clear winners? No. We got enough information to rule one of the five schools out, but we need to make visits to get a feel for the environment of each school. We also need to know more about how the Commissioner’s Network situation is going to play out. Fortunately, we have time on our side with that one.