What’s Going on With Hartford

In Hartford This Year 1000 Less Students Attended Integrated School
Hartford

In Hartford This Year 1000 Less Students Attended Integrated School

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Hartford’s Open Choice and magnet school systems are often lauded as the gold-standard when it comes to voluntary integration, but it turns out that over the past year things aren’t going as well as previously reported. On Tuesday, the Hartford Courant published data that shows that the number of students attending schools with a “reduced-isolation setting”… Continue reading In Hartford This Year 1000 Less Students Attended Integrated School

Is Our Bar For Successful Desegregation That Low! Are We Really Celebrating Hartford For Desegregating Less Than Half Of The City’s Kids In Twenty Years?
Hartford

Is Our Bar For Successful Desegregation That Low! Are We Really Celebrating Hartford For Desegregating Less Than Half Of The City’s Kids In Twenty Years?

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Is the glass half empty or half full? The classic litmus test for optimism. I mention this common rhetorical question because right now I think I may be low on optimism after reading a recent article from The American Prospect, a left-leaning bimonthly magazine, lauding Hartford’s record on desegregation: Hartford, Connecticut, is struggling. Teetering on the brink… Continue reading Is Our Bar For Successful Desegregation That Low! Are We Really Celebrating Hartford For Desegregating Less Than Half Of The City’s Kids In Twenty Years?

Gwen Samuel: “We Parents Don’t Need Other People’s Permission To Raise Our Children!”
Hartford · In the State

Gwen Samuel: “We Parents Don’t Need Other People’s Permission To Raise Our Children!”

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Wanted to share with my readers the latest by parent rights advocate and founder of the Connecticut Parent’s Union, Gwen Samuel, where she takes on the normalization of stereotypes about black parents — Check it out: ” The Struggle is still so real – sigh… The stereotypes and prejudgments about Black, brown and poor parents… Continue reading Gwen Samuel: “We Parents Don’t Need Other People’s Permission To Raise Our Children!”

On The Other Hand: Amidst Budget Crisis, Millions Leave District Through Large Salaries To Out Of Towners
Hartford · In the State

On The Other Hand: Amidst Budget Crisis, Millions Leave District Through Large Salaries To Out Of Towners

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The budget crisis in Connecticut will be hitting cities hard if state leaders don’t figure out a solution, but that doesn’t mean that the state is totally to blame for the situation places like Hartford are in. A recent blog post by Keven Bookman who manages the Hartford based page We The People wrote something… Continue reading On The Other Hand: Amidst Budget Crisis, Millions Leave District Through Large Salaries To Out Of Towners

The Other Side Of Open Choice: Hartford Mom Speaks Out On Racism Her Sons Faced In Suburban School
Hartford · In the State

The Other Side Of Open Choice: Hartford Mom Speaks Out On Racism Her Sons Faced In Suburban School

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The Open Choice program, which allows students to enter into a lottery for seats at schools outside their home district, was devised by the state as a way to fix racial segregation in schools. The goal of the program is to help kids in places like Hartford, by giving minority students access to high performing… Continue reading The Other Side Of Open Choice: Hartford Mom Speaks Out On Racism Her Sons Faced In Suburban School

PDK Poll Results Illustrates Exactly Why Hartford’s Desegregation Plan Has Yet To Work
Hartford · In the State

PDK Poll Results Illustrates Exactly Why Hartford’s Desegregation Plan Has Yet To Work

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Twenty years after Connecticut State Supreme Court ruled that Hartford Public Schools had to immediately desegregate, more than half of all Hartford- area students still go to racially isolated schools — how is it that we haven’t followed through with the promise of Sheff v. O’Neill? Obviously, there aren’t any simple answers to this question: Why hasn’t Connecticut… Continue reading PDK Poll Results Illustrates Exactly Why Hartford’s Desegregation Plan Has Yet To Work

Gwen Samuel Reflects On Her Struggle Being A Black Parent Advocate: Demanding Parent Choice Is Not That Simple When Dealing With Real Life
Hartford · In the State

Gwen Samuel Reflects On Her Struggle Being A Black Parent Advocate: Demanding Parent Choice Is Not That Simple When Dealing With Real Life

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Wanted to share with my readers Gwen Samuel’s latest, where she reflects on what it’s like being a black mom, advocating for parent choice — thought it could be helpful for others in the struggle. Gwen is a Meriden mom, whose been fighting for kids since 2010 when she lead the charge for the state… Continue reading Gwen Samuel Reflects On Her Struggle Being A Black Parent Advocate: Demanding Parent Choice Is Not That Simple When Dealing With Real Life

Sheff Judge Rules State Can’t Fill Empty Magnet Seats: Now What?
Hartford

Sheff Judge Rules State Can’t Fill Empty Magnet Seats: Now What?

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This week Sheff v. O’Neil, the state’s seminal school desegregation case, was back in court — and the judge’s ruling doesn’t look good for students on the waiting lists in Hartford. Superior Court Judge Marshall Berger ruled this week not to allow the state to fill empty magnet schools seats with Hartford students — The Connecticut Mirror… Continue reading Sheff Judge Rules State Can’t Fill Empty Magnet Seats: Now What?

Teacher Voice: My Students Think That ‘Being an Author Isn’t Really for Black People’
Hartford · In the State

Teacher Voice: My Students Think That ‘Being an Author Isn’t Really for Black People’

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In Connecticut, our schools don’t reflect the ethnic makeup of our state — according to data collected by the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCAN), 40 percent of Connecticut students are children of color, yet only eight percent of teachers are minorities. That’s a stark contrast. One that has a huge impact on how students… Continue reading Teacher Voice: My Students Think That ‘Being an Author Isn’t Really for Black People’

A Parent Reflects On Fredrick Douglas’ Fourth of July Speech: Gwen Samuel Calls Out Status Quo For Their Silence
Hartford · In the State

A Parent Reflects On Fredrick Douglas’ Fourth of July Speech: Gwen Samuel Calls Out Status Quo For Their Silence

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I wanted to share with my readers a recent blog post published by parent advocate Gwen Samuel. (If you haven’t already, you should check out her other blog posts too – she writes at RealTalkGwenSamuels.com) In her most recent post, she reflects on Fredrick Douglas’ famous July Fourth speech, “What To The Slave Is The… Continue reading A Parent Reflects On Fredrick Douglas’ Fourth of July Speech: Gwen Samuel Calls Out Status Quo For Their Silence