Check out this Channel 8 piece. Nice work on the interview Tim!
Blue Ribbon Budget Panel Reports to BOA
The final recommendations to the New Haven Board of Aldermen from the Blue Ribbon Citizen’s Panel on the Budget is ready. Its a worthwhile read. Thanks to all the panelists and city staff that contributed to its construction.
Is the official Drop Out Rate sanitized?
Support Youth Rights Media’s documentary on the Drop Out Rate in New Haven. New Haven was recently labeled a “drop out factory.”
Youth Rights Media Premiere
Pushed
In this new documentary, youth pose urgent questions about the local impact of the nation’s largely invisible “dropout crisis.” Along the way they ask how many of our city’s students really graduate from high school, and do we really understand why others
fall short of completing? Their search for answers yields inspiring, puzzling, and often troubling results.
Friday, June 19, 2009 at 7pm
Yale University Art Gallery
1111 Chapel St
New Haven, CT
Please RSVP to: lmc@youthrightsmedia.org or 203.776.4034
Directions:
Direct access to the Gallery Auditorium from High Street.
Parking is available on the street or in the lot on York Street
between Chapel and Crown.
Urgent Action
Contact the Police and Fire Pension Fund Commissioners to let them know you are outraged by people trying to game the system. Tell them they cannot afford to squander the pension fund when it is underfunded by 100s of Millions of dollars!
Read this article from the New Haven Register.
Background about the story from the New Haven Independent here, here, and here.
If someone is innocent, then they should continue in their job. The possibility of false accusations is a terrible reality for any police officer. That is why we have a judicial system, of which the police are an integral part. If this person is guilty, he should be fired and not given special treatment — which is all too common in New Haven (CJ Cuticello and Billy White). Check out this outrageous practice in Long Isand.
Contact the Board and tell them we want this to stop!
RETIREMENT BOARD – POLICE AND FIRE FUND
| Name | Address | Phone |
|---|
- Bishop Theodore L. Brooks, 271 Stevenson Road, New Haven, CT 06515 203-387-3899
- Wendy Mongillo, 12 Oliver Road, New Haven, CT 06515 (203) 387-7948
- Richard Epstein, 59 McKinley Avenue, New Haven, CT 06515 Home Phone: 203-397-2299, Cell Phone: 203-982-4838, email
- John DeStefano, Jr., Ex-Officio Representative, 150 Judwin Ave, New Haven, CT 06515 203-946-7660, email
City to Name New Asst. Super for Portfolio Schools
The New Haven Register reports “New York City school reformer Garth Harries [to be appointed] to the new post of Assistant Superintendent for Portfolio and Performance Management”. From the article, it seems like this would be a great addition to the educational reform needed in New Haven. I wish this person success. To complement the City Administration, this new trend of hiring experts to run the city is an encouraging development – especially if we can truly leave behind this “mom and pop”/”friends and family” style politics and cronyism. We can only hope that bringing in this new person from the outside does not meet with the same resistance/interference from politicos in the City Administration (and BOE) that are notorious for needing to control everything. This “business as usual” B.S. has already interfered with at least two outside experts hired by the city – the police chief and Michele Whelley from the new EDC. I hope Mr. Harries brings some antacids with him.
Former Mayor Disapproves Rubberstamping
Read Mayor Daniels’ OP-ED piece in the New Haven Register. I believe he is right about the reason the citizenry does not show up at meetings. It is not because people don’t care, they believe the process has already been decided before hand. It is the citizen’s responsibility to speak up and to be better organized. There are small ways for busy people to be heard and the people are beginning to do so on a fairly wide scale.
Citizens Budget Commission – NYC
The NYC Citizens Budget Commission provides an interesting website reviewing NYC finances. Their mission: “The Citizens Budget Commission is a nonpartisan, nonprofit civic organization devoted to influencing constructive change in the finances and services of New York City and New York State government.” Check out their Myth of Uncontrollables, which directly confronts the notion of “its all fixed costs,” the mantra of the New Haven BOA and Administration.
Car Free in America?
Read this NYTimes piece about walkable cities. Local efforts include Safe Streets and more safe streets.
Cities such as Portland, OR can serve as a model for attracting young people and new businesses.
Freedom of Information Commission Hearing – Part 1
There was a hearing at the State Freedom of Information Commission today. You can read the background in the New Haven Independent and The New Haven Advocate. Here is the sanitized version of the city’s projections. The attached version is different then the one Jeffrey saw in July 2008 and the one he requested under the FOIA. Notice that the City’s projections keeps taxes completely unchanged for five years. I don’t think anyone believes that taxes will remain completely flat for five years. Things inherently cost more each year. More updates forthcoming.
One Thing You Can Do Right Now To Improve Education
Write an email to our state delegation. With one click, you can email them all. The link is just on our right hand side of this page. Here is the letter Jeffrey sent:
Help make Education actually educate our children!
Dear New Haven Delegation:
I am writing you from New Haven. As a progressive democrat, I am outraged by a system that continues to provide barriers to reforming education. For too long, we have accepted failing schools over special interests and have made excuses for non-performance. For instance, why on earth would we turn away some of the most talented young people in the world from teaching in our classrooms? Although not the first source for progressives, read this maddening WSJ article that is spot on: Teach for (Some of) America, Too talented for public schools: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124061253951954349.html#articleTabs=article.
Right now, you are in a position to start eliminating some of these barriers through your powers on the CGA. You can promote data transparency (S.B. 1014) which would allow a better understanding of which schools work and which fail. For too long, we allow people to manipulate fungible numbers. The second opportunity to be a true progressive for transformative education lies in letting smart people teach, no matter what undergraduate education they have pursued. S.B. 939 allows a friend of mine, someone who got a full scholarship to Yale Business School (SOM) due to academic achievement, and who has worked as some of the top companies in the world, to work in the classroom. He loves math and would enjoy teaching in New Haven schools but has not been able to do so despite several unsuccessful attempts to navigate the process. This is shear madness!
Here is a summary of each bill:
The first bill (S.B. 1014) promotes data transparency in schools by requiring that the Connecticut State Department of Education allow nonprofits and universities to use education data the state already collects to improve instruction and help parents make smart choices.
The second bill (S.B. 939) helps improve teacher quality. It removes roadblocks keeping excellent math and science candidates from teaching without a specific college major, instead giving them the option to prove their subject knowledge through a rigorous exam. This bill also establishes a teacher certification pathway so that Teach for America can continue to provide its teachers the long-term professional development and support that has proven so effective. The bill also aids interstate reciprocity for experienced teachers.
Thanks,
Jeffrey Kerekes
