(Photo credit: screen image of Greater Hartford Branch NAACP website) Letter sent via e-mail from President Imam Abdul-Shahid Muhammad Ansari of the Greater Hartford Branch of the NAACP to the Superintendent of Hartford Public Schools; and cc: to administrative staff of Hartford Public Schools, Board of Education members, City Council & Mayor of Hartford, NAACP-CT President … Continue reading The Greater Hartford Branch of the NAACP Demands a Halt to All School Closings
Author: robertcottojr
Why did the NAACP propose a moratorium on charter schools? Will the Connecticut NAACP support this moratorium on charter schools? (Updated)
Update: The NAACP Board has approved the moratorium on new charter schools. Read the Tweet below and a statement from the NAACP here. Last July, the NAACP (national conference) proposed a resolution that called for a moratorium on new charter schools. This weekend, the NAACP will vote to support (or not) this resolution. So why … Continue reading Why did the NAACP propose a moratorium on charter schools? Will the Connecticut NAACP support this moratorium on charter schools? (Updated)
Resources on Bilingual Education in CT (work in progress)
Moylan Mentor Program, Spring 2016. Public Hearing on Bilingual Education, latino and Puerto Rican Affairs Commission, January 2014. Creating a Dual-Language Magnet School for the Hartford region. by Jack Dougherty, March 15, 2013. Hartford Public School resolution for Dual-Language Feasibility Study, Robert Cotto, December 2011.
A note on leadership succession in Hartford Public Schools 2016
Last week, Superintendent Beth Narvaez announced that she had accepted another position abroad and will leave the Hartford Public Schools within the next few months. The news was surprising to me and others in community. As the district moves forward, it's helpful to review the Board of Education's rules regarding "leadership succession." Many, but not all, … Continue reading A note on leadership succession in Hartford Public Schools 2016
A Resource Guide: Adequate and Equitable Funding of Public Education in CT
(Source: CT Mirror 2016 budget tool) This resource guide is for parents, teachers, students, and educational leaders that want to understand issues about funding public education in Connecticut and other states. Specifically, this guide intends to provide insight on the ideas of equitable, or fair, and adequate, or sufficient, funding of public education. Below we … Continue reading A Resource Guide: Adequate and Equitable Funding of Public Education in CT
A few changes in my schedule
In September, I'll start working on a Ph.D. degree in education leadership and policy at UCONN. My advisor will be Preston Green, III, who studies educational equity, K-12 school choice, privatization, and school finance, some of the areas that I've written about too. So I will be at Trinity College part-time and focusing on fewer projects. You can still find … Continue reading A few changes in my schedule
Documents Related to the Heating & Physical Condition of Hartford’s MLK School
[gview file="http://commons.trincoll.edu/cssp/files/2016/06/notes-on-boilers.docx"] [gview file="http://commons.trincoll.edu/cssp/files/2016/06/SCL-Boiler_0999-9FPZ72_0.docx"] [gview file="http://commons.trincoll.edu/cssp/files/2016/06/BoilerRecommendationFollowupLetter_0999-9FVWRY_0.docx"] [gview file="http://commons.trincoll.edu/cssp/files/2016/06/King-110172-14R-021-305Text5RevisedFinal.pdf"] [gview file="http://commons.trincoll.edu/cssp/files/2016/06/MLK.pdf"]
What You Need to Know about Hartford’s Martin Luther King School: Part 1
Recently, I saw a former Hartford politician who asked me, "Did you figure out what to do with MLK?" The person got a mean side eye and a question. What happens when you wrecklessly expand privately-managed state charter schools, interdistrict magnet schools, destabilize the other schools with other neoliberal education "reforms", and resist raising revenue for public … Continue reading What You Need to Know about Hartford’s Martin Luther King School: Part 1
Hartford-Area Parents Get Results of School Choice Lotteries: Joy and Frustration
Hometowns of Students that Attend 1 Interdistrict Magnet School Last week, parents in the Hartford area learned of the results of local and regional school choice lotteries. As our readers may already know, the Regional School Choice Office (RSCO) conducts a few lotteries each spring to determine school assignment in inter-district magnet school and … Continue reading Hartford-Area Parents Get Results of School Choice Lotteries: Joy and Frustration
Achievement First – Hartford Charter Renewal: The Accountability is Still Always Flexible
The Hartford Courant's Kathy Megan reported that yesterday the State Board of Education (all gubernatorial appointees) granted a three-year approval to the Achievement First - Hartford charter school (rather than 5 years) and a one year probation for ongoing problems of violating teacher certification laws, poor culture and climate, and excessive suspensions of children. As I've … Continue reading Achievement First – Hartford Charter Renewal: The Accountability is Still Always Flexible
Learning from the City 