Link to State Department of Education by clicking above...


NEW SUPERINTENDENT SELECTED - Jerome Belair, Assisant Superintendent (at right, with Dr. Pierson, 2007 "About Town")!  Education Sec'y in the Obama Administration?

EDUCATION: 


W.I.S. opened on time this Fall ('05); W.H.S. "Ribbon Cutting" May 13, 2006!  Video-tour streaming on this website now!
WestonArts at work on supporting Auditorium renovations;
compare to any other district in U.S.A.  (found while researching Whidbey Island, Washington); 
comparison of South Whidbey School District and Weston.  The northern part of Whidbey Island (Coupeville is there--Island County's capital) includes the Naval Air Station--how about their approach to inflation effect on school construction budget?
Everett WA has an interesting view...
Check out C.E.A. "calculator" website.
New Jersey moves on school funding...

Who Will He Choose?
NYTIMES OP-ED
By DAVID BROOKS
December 5, 2008

As in many other areas, the biggest education debates are happening within the Democratic Party. On the one hand, there are the reformers like Joel Klein and Michelle Rhee, who support merit pay for good teachers, charter schools and tough accountability standards. On the other hand, there are the teachers’ unions and the members of the Ed School establishment, who emphasize greater funding, smaller class sizes and superficial reforms.

During the presidential race, Barack Obama straddled the two camps. One campaign adviser, John Schnur, represented the reform view in the internal discussions. Another, Linda Darling-Hammond, was more likely to represent the establishment view. Their disagreements were collegial (this is Obamaland after all), but substantive.

In public, Obama shifted nimbly from camp to camp while education experts studied his intonations with the intensity of Kremlinologists. Sometimes, he flirted with the union positions. At other times, he practiced dog-whistle politics, sending out reassuring signals that only the reformers could hear.

Each camp was secretly convinced that at the end of the day, Obama would come down on their side. The reformers were cheered when Obama praised a Denver performance pay initiative. The unions could take succor from the fact that though Obama would occasionally talk about merit pay, none of his actual proposals contradicted their positions.

Obama never had to pick a side. That is, until now. There is only one education secretary, and if you hang around these circles, the air is thick with speculation, anticipation, anxiety, hope and misinformation. Every day, new rumors are circulated and new front-runners declared. It’s kind of like being in a Trollope novel as Lord So-and-So figures out to whom he’s going to propose.

You can measure the anxiety in the reformist camp by the level of nervous phone chatter each morning. Weeks ago, Obama announced that Darling-Hammond would lead his transition team and reformist cellphones around the country lit up. Darling-Hammond, a professor at Stanford, is a sharp critic of Teach for America and promotes weaker reforms.

Anxieties cooled, but then one morning a few weeks ago, I got a flurry of phone calls from reform leaders nervous that Obama was about to side against them. I interviewed people in the president-elect’s inner circle and was reassured that the reformers had nothing to worry about. Obama had not gone native.

Obama’s aides point to his long record on merit pay, his sympathy for charter schools and his tendency to highlight his commitment to serious education reform.

But the union lobbying efforts are relentless and in the past week prospects for a reforming education secretary are thought to have dimmed. The candidates before Obama apparently include: Joel Klein, the highly successful New York chancellor who has, nonetheless, been blackballed by the unions; Arne Duncan, the reforming Chicago head who is less controversial; Darling-Hammond herself; and some former governor to be named later, with Darling-Hammond as the deputy secretary.

In some sense, the final option would be the biggest setback for reform. Education is one of those areas where implementation and the details are more important than grand pronouncements. If the deputies and assistants in the secretary’s office are not true reformers, nothing will get done.

The stakes are huge. For the first time in decades, there is real momentum for reform. It’s not only Rhee and Klein — the celebrities — but also superintendents in cities across America who are getting better teachers into the classrooms and producing measurable results. There is an unprecedented political coalition building, among liberals as well as conservatives, for radical reform.

No Child Left Behind is about to be reauthorized. Everyone has reservations about that law, but it is the glaring spotlight that reveals and pierces the complacency at mediocre schools. If accountability standards are watered down, as the establishment wants, then real reform will fade.

This will be a tough call for Obama, because it will mean offending people, but he can either galvanize the cause of reform or demoralize it. It’ll be one of the biggest choices of his presidency.

Many of the reformist hopes now hang on Obama’s friend, Arne Duncan. In Chicago, he’s a successful reformer who has produced impressive results in a huge and historically troubled system. He has the political skills necessary to build a coalition on behalf of No Child Left Behind reauthorization. Because he is close to both Obamas, he will ensure that education doesn’t fall, as it usually does, into the ranks of the second-tier issues.

If Obama picks a reformer like Duncan, Klein or one of the others, he will be picking a fight with the status quo. But there’s never been a better time to have that fight than right now.
Sound familiar? 
State looks for $1.7M from city
By Elizabeth Benton, New Haven Register Staff
Friday, November 21, 2008 5:55 AM EST

NEW HAVEN — Thirteen years after High School in the Community opened on Water Street, the state is now seeking $1.7 million from the city, primarily due to a disagreement over the purchase price of the property.

New Haven paid $2.2 million for the property, which they then renovated into an inter-district magnet school. While the state initially reimbursed the city for that expense, in a 2007 audit of the $6 million project, the state determined the property to be worth only $700,000, according to School Construction Coordinator Susan Weisselberg.

The remaining expense was due to charges the state deemed to be not reimbursable.

Weisselberg and Chief Operating Officer Will Clark appeared before the Board of Aldermen’s Finance Committee Wednesday night seeking to include the unexpected $1.7 million in bonds the city plans to issue in March.

The committee approved the request, which will now appear before the full board.

According to Weisselberg, the state has 20 years to audit a project after its completion.

“It makes it really hard,” she said. “The project was done differently than the way we do things now. People who worked on it are not people who are here now. We were able to reconstruct a fair amount of it. Ultimately what it came to was the auditors viewing the acquisition price one way, we viewed it another way,” she said.

State education spokesman Tom Murphy said such reimbursement request are “quite normal and quite prevalent.”

“Every school construction project is audited at close out,” he said. “This is a common outcome in school construction. When you’re talking about a 40, 60 or $100 million project, $1.5 million or even $5 million is a real possibility.”

While the city and state differ over expenses for the older project, the city also is considering $25 million worth of new upgrades to the building, including window replacements, fa硤e improvements, energy efficiency upgrades and expansion for a full-size gym and a multipurpose space. Of that expense, all but $1.5 million would be paid for by the state. The city plans to submit that project to the state in 2009, dependent on economic conditions.
No Towns Willing To Take New London Students; City required to ask under mandate of No Child Left Behind 
DAY
By Jenna Cho    
Published on 10/6/2008 

New London - To comply with the federal No Child Left Behind Act, New London asked 18 school systems in the region last month whether they would transport and educate New London students - for free.

So far, there are no takers.

New London was required to contact neighboring school districts because its Harbor Elementary School this year became the fourth and last elementary school in the district not to make adequate yearly progress for two or more consecutive years under the law. That put Harbor on the list of schools that are in need of improvement.  Under NCLB, school districts with an in-need school must offer parents of that school the option to transfer to a different school within the district. But all the elementary schools in New London are in need of improvement, which means New London has no elementary school alternatives to so-called failing schools.

So on Sept. 2, New London Assistant Superintendent Christine Carver sent letters to school superintendents asking whether any of them would be willing to educate some of New London's 1,600 elementary students if a parent were to exercise his or her right to public school choice under NCLB. New London Superintendent Christopher Clouet said no parent has formally requested the school choice option this year.

”It doesn't say much about the quality of the teaching,” said Carver of sending the letters. “It really is just about the requirement of No Child Left Behind.”

Accepting New London's request would mean absorbing the cost of educating and transporting the New London children. Griswold, Ledyard, Lyme-Old Lyme, Montville, North Stonington, Norwich, Preston, Voluntown and Waterford have all declined to enter into what Carver, in her letter, called the “Inter-district School Choice Cooperative Agreement.”

Eight other districts have not replied, and Colchester is awaiting a board of education discussion on the matter, according to Carver.  Most urban districts in the state are caught in the same predicament as New London, said Susan Kennedy, chief of the state Department of Education's Bureau of School and District Improvement.

”It is very difficult to get surrounding districts to participate in taking kids,” Kennedy said. “Part of it is because there's no transportation that's guaranteed there. Many of these districts have no seats available. The timing is bad in terms of the economy; everybody's struggling. And so to take kids that are not naturally theirs presents some problems.”

Running out of schools able to serve as alternatives to failing schools is a symptom of the fact that adequate yearly progress is a moving target that keeps getting harder and harder to hit, said Kennedy. By 2013-14, 100 percent of students are expected to meet federal proficiency levels in reading and math standardized tests, which means most schools by then will be failing to make the yearly progress standard.

”These schools are improving,” said Kennedy. “The problem, this year, is that the threshold moved up.”

Kennedy said New London's request to other districts single-handedly satisfies the NCLB requirement that school districts offer public school choice, whether or not other districts agree to take on New London's students. When all its schools are failing, a district can offer supplemental services, such as tutoring to help struggling students but isn't obligated to, said Kennedy.  Michael Petrilli, vice president for national programs and policy at the education think tank Thomas B. Fordham Institute, called NCLB's provision for public school choice “basically toothless.”

Only about 120,000 students nationwide exercised their right to public school choice in 2006-07, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

”There's basically no way to force school districts to provide school choice to parents if they don't want to,” Petrilli said, “and in this case, if they don't have an ability to do so.”

Too expensive

For at least a couple of districts, cost was the main deciding factor in declining New London's request. North Stonington's Board of Education decided it could not foot the $13,747 annual cost of educating out-of-district students, said the district's superintendent, Natalie Pukas.  Out-of-district tuition in Ledyard is $9,200 a year for elementary students, and one school bus costs about $75,000 a year, said Ledyard Superintendent Michael Graner.

”Given the nature of our budget this year and certainly for next year,” said Graner, “it would've been a really substantial financial burden for our school district.”

Graner acknowledged the difficulty New London faces in improving student performance when the standards keep rising. He said New London offers strong bilingual programs and has been adept at educating English language learners.

”I have every confidence that New London Public Schools is providing the programs to meet the needs of the children,” Graner said.  
Stage is set for new Weston High School auditorium       
Weston FORUM
Written by Kimberly Donnelly    
Friday, August 08, 2008

The lights are dark and the stage is bare at the Weston High School auditorium. That’s normal for this time of year; what’s not normal is the fact that there are also no seats, no curtain, no floor tiles or carpet, no walls in some places, and lots and lots of dust.

“The demolition part is done,” said Tom Landry, town administrator. “Now they’re working on putting it back together.”

Renovation of the high school auditorium is the final piece in the town’s $80-million school and athletic facilities project that voters approved in 2001 and that broke ground in 2003. That project included new playing fields at Morehouse Farm Park and Bisceglie-Scribner Park, the new intermediate school, and renovation and additions at the high school.

Refurbishing the high school auditorium was not originally a part of the building project. However, when bids for a planned new auditorium at Weston Middle School came in millions of dollars more than expected, the focus shifted to making improvements to the existing high school performance space instead.

Work on the auditorium includes adding air conditioning, replacing antiquated rigging, lighting work, and floor replacement.

WestonArts, a nonprofit group, has raised about $300,000 in private funds to help supplement the costs of the auditorium project, specifically to replace the seats.

Mr. Landry said figuring out the cost of the project as a whole is tricky because so many different contracts are involved. Carlson Construction is the main contractor; Innovative Engineering Services of North Haven is the main design engineer; William Warfel is the lighting designer; Ducharme is responsible for the seating; two different fabric companies, J.B. Martin and Designtex, are involved; and Theatre Projects Consultancy is another designer.

In addition to the money raised by WestonArts, the money to pay for the project — which Mr. Landry ultimately pins down at about $2.1 million — comes from several different sources. Money that was originally bonded to build the middle school auditorium was “transferred” to pay for the high school roof replacement and auditorium renovation.

Mr. Landry said after the roof was completed, about $1.2 million was left to apply toward the auditorium. At a special town meeting June 11 this year, voters approved an additional $586,585 appropriation from the general fund, and there was money left in a capital account for the roof replacement that will be applied toward the auditorium.

The auditorium will not be completed by the time school opens at the end of this month. The building committee is pushing to have it ready by mid-October, in time for the high school’s Company to stage its fall performance.

No surprises here...Weston rank in the state -  #9 (math),#2 (science),#5 (reading),#7 (writing).
Sophomores Show Gains In CAPT Scores
By ARIELLE LEVIN BECKER | Courant Staff Writer
10:30 AM EDT, July 15, 2008

Connecticut high school sophomores showed gains in math, science and writing on the state's annual achievement test, while performance in reading was flat, according to figures released this morning.

Statewide, just over half of high school sophomores reached state goals in math on the Connecticut Academic Performance Test this year, a 4.9 percentage-point increase from sophomores in 2007.

Writing performance was up 4.8 percentage points, with 57.8 percent of 10th graders reaching state goals.

In science, 46.5 percent of students reached state goals, a 2 percentage-point increase, while 45.5 percent of students achieved goals in reading, the same as 2007.

State Education Commissioner Mark K. McQuillan described the scores as promising, but noted that many challenges persist, including wide achievement gaps between minority students and their white peers.

"We still have far to go, but this is a step forward for our state," McQuillan said in a written statement.

Overall, 35 school districts and the Connecticut Technical High School system showed performance gains on all four subjects. Seven districts recorded drops in performance for all four subjects.

The numbers varied widely by district.

In New Canaan, which topped the state in math and science performance, more than 90 percent of students reached state goals in math and writing, and more than 80 percent achieved goal in science and reading. In Hartford, which posted the state's lowest reading performance, 11 percent of students reached state reading goals.

Still, Hartford, like several other poor and traditionally low-performing districts, showed some gains. While the percent of students reaching goals in reading was down in the capital city, math, science, and writing achievement was up, though the district still ranked among the bottom 10 districts statewide in reaching goal in each category.

White, black and Hispanic students all showed gains in math, science and writing, but wide gaps persist. While 63.1 percent of white students achieved goal on the math exam, for example, only 14.6 percent of black students and 18.2 percent of Hispanic students did.

The scores come amid an increased focus on high schools by state education officials, who have proposed an ambitious plan to reshape secondary school education. The proposal, a response to concerns that students are increasingly graduating unprepared for college or the workforce, calls for added credit and curriculum requirements, including an independent project for seniors, end-of-course exams that students would have to pass to graduate, and an increased emphasis on students' connections with teachers and other school staff.
Fewer students in years to come?  Study projects 17% enrollment drop in Conn. schools 
DAY
By Jenna Cho    
Published on 7/5/2008 

In the world of population projections, there are always peaks and valleys that mark a cycle of population growth and decline.

But according to an analysis by the University of Connecticut's Connecticut State Data Center, the state is starting to see a “long-term decline in the school-age population.” The data center serves as a liaison to the U.S. Census Bureau. The state uses the data to create public policy and to decide where to spend money.

The study summary, released last month, projects a 17-percent decline between 2004-05 and 2020-21 in the total number of public-school students in grades 1 to 12 in the state. Public school enrollment in those grades peaked at 523,100 in 2004-05 and is expected to drop to about 432,300 in 2020-21, according to the study.

”Low fertility rates are the root cause of this decline,” the study release reads. “The boomer generation, now approaching retirement, had fewer children than their parents. … Each progressive generation is failing to replace itself.”

The state Department of Education's own projections, through the 2016-17 school year, also reflect a decline in student enrollment in preschool through 12th grade.

”The UConn study suggests that we may not recover from this decline, that the students that are graduating from the high schools now … will move out of state and not return,” said department spokesman Thomas Murphy. “And in some ways, they may be right. We've seen in recent years larger and larger percentages of high school graduates go to college outside of Connecticut and then fail to return.”

But Murphy also cautioned that trends over the past 60 years have shown recoveries from such declines. The state experienced a low of about 466,000 in public-school enrollment in 1988 but in 2006-07 saw the numbers climb back up to about 574,000, according to department records.

The 2008 graduating class was, at about 38,400, the largest the state has seen in the past 10 years, Murphy said. The decline in enrollment is expected starting this year.

”We should be mindful of the projections of the study and consider it a strong possibility, but there's nothing certain because these are projections,” Murphy said.

Orlando Rodriguez, the data center's manager and demographer, said the latest study was actually a re-emphasis of a study released in May 2007 showing enrollment projections in grades 1 to 12 between the years 2000 and 2030.

”In a sense, it's repackaged information,” Rodriguez said. “But the reason we brought it out is because we've been waiting for the numbers to start dropping.”

The data center saw that drop, of about 3,886 students, between 2006-07 and 2007-08. Rodriguez cited several factors as contributing to the decline, including lower birth rates, more people leaving Connecticut than staying and a stagnant job market.

The study projects enrollment to increase again somewhat after 2020, with an estimated 458,900 students in grades 1 to 12 in the year 2030.

The data center and state education department both looked at birth rates and factors such as migration and job opportunities. But Rodriguez said the data center and state numbers differ because the two used different methods of projection. The data center also tracked enrollment trends for a longer period, starting in 1990, he said.

Rodriguez said school districts should be cautious to spend money on construction projects when there may not be a need for larger school facilities in the future. A declining public-school population will have other social repercussions, he said.

”We're projecting that our elderly population is going to increase dramatically,” Rodriguez said. “So in terms of social services, we're going to have fewer children but more elderly.”

New London schools Superintendent Christopher Clouet said the data center's projections did not affect the school district's plan to convert two of its elementary schools into magnet schools because the magnet schools would draw a percentage of its students from outside New London.

Additionally, New London families already tend to have larger families than suburban families, he said.

”When they say the state of Connecticut will have a relative decline in students, I don't doubt that,” Clouet said. “I think the decline will be experienced differently in different types of communities.”
Magnet School Referendum Is Cause For Jitters; NL Lawmakers Fear Negative Vote Could Hamper Future State Funding 
DAY
By Kevin Dale    
Published on 4/5/2008 

New London — In July, officials from the city, school district and state gathered in the city's Science and Technology Magnet High School to celebrate what was portrayed as a legislative triumph.  In the waning days of the summer session, the General Assembly, after considerable lobbying from New London legislators, passed what has come to be known as the “magnet plan.”

The legislation designated New London as the state's first magnet-school district. But the true purpose behind the creative label was to give the cash-strapped city $58 million — 95 percent of the $61 million estimate — to renovate Winthrop and Nathan Hale schools into 600-student magnet schools.  But as the magnet plan heads to a resident-triggered referendum Tuesday, members of the city's legislative delegation nervously await the outcome of an election that they are surprised is even occurring. The rejection of the plan, they said, could harm their future efforts to secure state funds for the city.

“I don't think anybody thought this largess wouldn't be accepted,” said state Rep. Ted Moukawsher, D-Groton. “It's kind of inconceivable, but here we are.”

Echoing local supporters, Moukawsher noted the plan awards the city $10 million.  Under the reimbursement formula for nonmagnet schools, the city would have to contribute $13 million to renovate the two, roughly 40-year-old elementary schools; the magnet plan requires $3 million.

“It's astounding to me you want to prevent kids from having new schools at basically no cost,” said Moukawsher, echoing the “no-brainer” argument made by the plan's supporters.  State Rep. Ernest Hewett, D-New London, said he has been a little chagrined to have to inform the heads of the assembly's education committees — who backed the plan — that residents forced the referendum and could vote the plan down.

“Actually, I'm a little apologetic to them,” Hewett said. “I'm kind of hoping that it's passed. We would look pretty bad going back up there and making a pitch for New London.”

New London Superintendent Christopher Clouet has said the magnet plan came about because school officials needed additional state money to renovate the schools. He said the district couldn't ask the city to contribute $13 million, a figure equal to 17 percent of its total budget.

“There just wouldn't be any appetite for it,” Clouet said.

The city's legislators said the plan's rejection could complicate future pitches for state money. The assumption underlying those requests, they said, is that New London, as a tax-poor city overburdened with needs, should receive extra help from Hartford.

“People are watching,” said state Sen. Andrea Stillman, D-Waterford. “It has so much support. For the residents to reject what is really a gift from the state in the form of this grant would be a very difficult thing for us to explain.”

In addition to the legislators, the plan enjoys the substantial support of the city's elected officials. The city's Democratic Town Committee has endorsed the plan, as have the city's three Republican elected officials: city Councilors Rob Pero and Adam Sprecace and school board member James Pearce.  But the city's Republican Town Committee appears to be split on the plan. After debating the merits at its meeting this week, the committee decided not to take a position.

Last week, Sprecace, the council's chief number cruncher, and Democratic Councilor Mike Buscetto III held a “nonpartisan” forum to persuade residents of the plan's financial upside. Armed with the slogan “Pay Less, Vote Yes,” Buscetto has stepped forward as a major backer of the plan.

Buscetto, a developer, has said he will be “intimately involved” with the schools' construction. In his appearance Thursday on the cable-access show “The Renshaw Report,” he pledged that the city's $3 million share would be covered through cost savings and wouldn't increase taxes.

“Put it on tape,” Buscetto said after host Murray “the Eye” Renshaw held him to the promise.

With the city's GOP taking a sideline role in the debate, it is difficult to gauge the extent of the plan's opposition, which appears to be led by Charles Frink, Bill Cornish and Evelyn and Demetrious Louziotis.  Those residents, who have been vocal critics of the plan, sponsored the 409-signature petition that challenged the City Council's Feb. 4 decision to approve the plan.

Cornish, a One New London party member and former city councilor, has been the magnet plan's most outspoken critic. He objects to a stipulation in the plan that requires the city's magnet schools, whether they are district-run or not, to enroll a combined 15 percent of students from outside New London.  The city must meet the target by June 2012 or facing having to repay the $10 million, according to the magnet-plan legislation.

The plan's proponents say the goal can be reached, and they point to the roughly 400 suburban students who already attend the city's magnet schools, including 300 enrolled at the Regional Multicultural Magnet School, which is not run by the district.

Cornish and his fellow opponents are skeptical that the elementary magnet schools will attract the 100 or so suburban students needed to meet the 2012 target. “Take the penalty off. Take the quota off for suburban kids,” he said.

During his appearance on “The Renshaw Report” Thursday, Cornish questioned the widely held belief that the Winthrop and Nathan Hale schools are in desperate need of repair. “I don't think they're falling down,” he said.

And Cornish took issue with the $61 million price, which school officials admit is the best estimate that can be made at this point.

“They can take that 'no-brainer' label and stuff it. It doesn't do anything for me,” Cornish said.

Supporters of the plan have been harshly critical of the opponents, characterizing them as a small but noisy group of naysayers.

“There's a few people that are pretty much against everything, or mostly everything,” Buscetto said. Clouet, in a January interview about the plan, accused some critics of being “part of an organized, generalized assault on the young.”

Moukawsher said, “There's an element in New London that seems to be critical — it's just knee-jerk reaction.”

He suggested the critics' overriding motivation is to deal school-district leaders what would be a bruising political defeat on a cardinal policy initiative.

“They're anxious — and desperate almost — to find something negative to say,” Moukawsher said. “The only way their politics or political situation can be advanced is through failure.”

Cornish said he remains unfazed. “There's been a lot of name-calling in this,” he said. “It doesn't bother me at all.”

How do residency, voting controversy, beach access policy relate to this issue?
Schools check students' residence
Greenwich TIME
By Andrew Shaw
Published February 2 2008

Reality or not, concerned taxpayers and parents believe there are many nonresidents attending Greenwich Public Schools taking up tax dollars and classroom seats.

But school officials hope that a proposed centralized residency verification system, combined with a recently acquired software program that tracks address changes with the post office, will help address the perception that there are scores of New York children attending schools on the western side of town.

"We're spending some money to address that perception," said John Curtin, assistant superintendent of research and evaluation. Curtin heads the residency verification process.

The Board of Education's budget includes $48,500 for a centralized system that will change the verification process, starting in July. Instead of a new student bringing in proof of residency to their neighborhood school, under the new system they will have to go to the Havemeyer Building to be verified with district staff. As part of the change, a full-time staff member will be added to help Curtin and his part-time staff member. The school budget still needs to be approved by the town.

Board Vice Chairwoman Leslie Moriarty said non-residency isn't the large issue some believe, but she added that the centralized system should help the district with a more standardized approach.

"We do want to make sure our tax dollars are being used effectively," Moriarty said.

The district's existing verification system has been criticized by some parents for not being effective, based on their anecdotal evidence of seeing New York license plates on cars carrying students.

Deanne Biddle, a mother of Western Middle School and Greenwich High School students, said she's seen the out-of-state plates and thinks the district can do more to check addresses, just as Greenwich uses strict guidelines when approving its beach passes for town residents.

"I have to wonder how many of the children really belong there," said Biddle, 46, of the crowded high school.

But school officials say the out-of-state car often is owned by a relative, or is registered to a business, or there can be a variety of other reasons. However, if a school has cause to believe a student doesn't live in town, an investigation is conducted.

Western principal Stacey Gross said she takes residency verification seriously and that teachers listen for verbal cues that a child doesn't live in town. The school also checks for returned mail, chronic tardiness or an inability to reach parents as warning signs.

The district investigations rarely lead to a student withdrawal, Curtin said. From 2001 to 2006, 78 nonresident students were forced to withdraw. Curtin estimated there are about 10 such students this year. It costs the town about $14,000 a year to educate a student, not including extracurricular activities, the teachers' time and opportunities taken away from legitimate Greenwich students.
Tesei backs early start on GHS art center
Greenwich TIME
By Andrew Shaw, Staff Writer
Published December 22 2007

First Selectman Peter Tesei broke with his predecessor yesterday and said he would consider funding construction of a new high school performing arts center three years earlier than former First Selectman Jim Lash.

The Board of Education wants $2.1 million in architectural and engineering money for the project in the 2008-09 budget year, and $23.4 million construction money in the following year.

Before leaving office, Lash proposed that the construction money be withheld until the 2012-13 budget year. Supporters of the project feared that plans for the project would be out of date by then, and that students need new facilities as soon as possible.

Tesei said students would benefit from having the facility built sooner rather than later, in an interview yesterday.

"One cannot ignore the importance of it," Tesei said of renovating the space. "It's not just about the auditorium. It's about additional space for musical instruction and programming that's needed."

But he cautioned that getting funds earlier would depend heavily on the project clearing zoning hurdles, specifically parking concerns. Lash, who was the head of the Capital Improvements Committee, which evaluates and prioritizes projects for the town, had predicted the project will encounter zoning issues during the architectural and engineering study, pushing construction back.

"I think it's going to take a full and complete hearing," with the Planning and Zoning board, Lash said in an interview earlier this month. "I don't think construction is going to be the thing holding up the phasing of the project."

Parents strongly opposed Lash's plan, though. PTA co-president Leslie Cooper said yesterday, "If they move the construction back, that's another 8,000 to 10,000 kids that won't have use of that new facility."

The performing arts space has been cited for lack of classroom, rehearsal and storage space and poor acoustics, among other issues. A study by Glastonbury architect Perkins and Will showed the auditorium has about half the capacity of those at nearby high schools in other towns.

Tesei said he's impressed with the work done so far by the architect and the community advocacy group, the Friends of the High School Performing Arts, who cleared a hurdle Thursday night when the Board of Education unanimously approved preliminary designs for the project. That clears the way for the board to ask the town to create a building committee to oversee the project.

Day 4 In Sheff Case Reveals Rift
By RACHEL GOTTLIEB FRANK | Courant Staff Writer
November 10, 2007

Testimony by the state's education commissioner on the fourth day of a hearing on the Sheff vs. O'Neill desegregation lawsuit revealed a testy relationship between Hartford's superintendent of schools and the state Department of Education over state efforts to quicken the pace of desegregation.

The Sheff lawsuit, filed in 1989, resulted in an order by the state Supreme Court in 1996 to end the racial, ethnic and economic isolation of Hartford's minority students. The court left it to the state and the plaintiffs to decide how to do that. Now the plaintiffs say desegregation efforts have fallen short, and they are in Superior Court appealing for help.

State Education Commissioner Mark McQuillan on Friday summarized an exchange of letters that began last summer between him and Superintendent Steven Adamowski in which McQuillan asked Hartford to submit documents showing why several of the city's magnet schools didn't have enough white students and how the district intended to remedy the problem.

"This was a repeated plea that went out," McQuillan testified, and the state was threatening to withhold millions of dollars if those documents weren't submitted by Oct. 1.

In letters back to McQuillan, the commissioner testified, Adamowski challenged the state's authority to withhold funding.

"I wrote back to say we really do have the authority to withhold funds," McQuillan said

In time, he said, Adamowski set conditions for the release of the documents that the state was seeking. One condition was the reform of the lottery system used to admit students to magnet schools. In Adamowski's opinion, the lottery system for admission to interdistrict magnet schools is illegal in the wake of recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings on the use of race for the assignment of students to schools, McQuillan said.

"He continued to come back to me to say it was the state's responsibility to develop a new lottery system," McQuillan testified. Finally, he said, Adamowski took the position that until he saw a new lottery system he would not release enrollment plans sought by the state.

McQuillan testified that he believes the lottery, which is run by the Capitol Region Education Council (CREC), is fair.

The U.S. Supreme Court decision released in June forbids schools from enrolling children strictly on the basis of race and threatened many voluntary desegregation plans throughout the nation. But at the time of the ruling,, experts said they believed it would have little effect on school desegregation efforts in Hartford. The key difference, legal experts said, is that the magnet schools and school choice plans that are a central piece of the Sheff efforts do not single out students by race. Rather, the plans attempt to achieve racial balance by selecting students based on where they live.

In the dispute between McQuillan and Adamowski, the state ultimately withheld $4.6 million from Hartford because the city did not submit the enrollment plans that the state demanded.

Another point of tension between McQuillan and Adamowski is the development of a joint office between the state, Hartford and the CREC to implement desegregation programs.

Since he took office last January, McQuillan testified, he has reorganized his office and created a special division to concentrate exclusively on Sheff mandates. The joint office between the state, Hartford and CREC is a separate office he is attempting to create. But Adamowski made clear to McQuillan that he thought the state should take the lead role in implementing integration efforts.

Throughout the hearing on the status of the desegregation projects under the Sheff ruling, Hartford's lawyer has pushed the point that it is the state - not Hartford - that is the defendant in the case, so the state should be responsible for all costs and implementation.

Before McQuillan was called as a witness for the state, Robert Genuario, secretary of the state Office of Policy and Management, testified about some of the funding dedicated to desegregating Hartford's schools, including $4.9 million in the state budget this year and $9.9 million in next year's budget. The money is earmarked for the development of new charter schools, expanding the Open Choice program through which city students enroll in suburban schools, funding interdistrict cooperative programs and operations of the joint office between Hartford, the state and CREC.

John Rose, Hartford's lawyer, asked Genuario if there was money dedicated to make up for lost taxes when the city buys private property for use as a school and whether the state was paying for all the staff in the magnet schools opened in Hartford as part of the integration efforts.

Genuario said that the state assists with salaries for staff through its main grant for education called the Education Cost Sharing Grant, and he pointed out that schools never pay taxes.
Spotty Sheff Enforcement
By RACHEL GOTTLIEB FRANK | And MAGDALENE PEREZ Courant Staff Writers
November 9, 2007

Over the years the state has helped develop a comprehensive plan to desegregate Hartford's schools, spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the efforts, appealed to suburban districts to open their schools to city students and offered training to suburban districts to help city students succeed, state witnesses testified Thursday in the Sheff vs. O'Neill desegregation case.

But cross-examination of those witnesses in Superior Court in Hartford revealed that shifts in management have resulted in spotty results and murky accountability since 2003, when the plaintiffs in the Sheff lawsuit reached a compromise agreement with the state on integration goals.

During those years, changes in oversight included five state education commissioners, multiple reorganizations of the state Department of Education, four Hartford superintendents, a transition from state control over Hartford schools to local control and the creation and disbanding of a magnet school office in Hartford.

The lawsuit, filed in 1989, resulted in an order by the state Supreme Court in 1996 to end the racial, ethnic and economic isolation of Hartford's minority students. The court left it to the state and the plaintiffs to decide how to do that, and sent the case back to Superior Court for monitoring. Now, 11 years later, the plaintiffs say desegregation efforts have fallen short, and they are in Superior Court appealing for help.

Marcus Rivera, a consultant for the state education department, testified that he helped Hartford create a plan for integration that included developing magnet schools, improving all of Hartford's schools and sending city students to suburban schools. After Hartford's school board approved the plan, the state left it to the city to implement it, he said.

But during his cross-examination of state witnesses Thursday, the city's lawyer, John Rose, pointed out that Hartford is not a defendant in the Sheff lawsuit and therefore not responsible for carrying out its mandate.

After his testimony, Rivera said he isn't sure how much of the plan he helped create was carried out, though he believes some of it was.

Some of the testimony suggested the state is not entirely to blame for failure to reach Sheff goals to enroll specific numbers of Hartford minority students in suburban schools through the Open Choice program. Rivera said that Hartford hasn't always cooperated.

For example, Rivera said, when there were openings in suburban schools for kindergartners and first-graders, then-Education Commissioner Betty Sternberg asked then-Hartford Superintendent Robert Henry to include information about the vacancies in a letter to Hartford parents that the district was required to send anyway as part of the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Henry refused to include information about the vacancies, Rivera said, telling the state, "We really would not like to have these letters go out because we want to keep all Hartford students in Hartford."

Under cross-examination by Sheff lawyer Martha Stone, Rivera said the state did not take it upon itself to send the letter to parents.

"What we were not able to do is get information into the hands of all parents that this was a choice open to them," Rivera said.

Stone pressed the point that the state had repeatedly made participation in desegregation efforts voluntary by asking districts to help, but never setting benchmarks for individual districts to meet.

When the state realized it would fall short of its requirement to place 1,600 Hartford minority students in suburban schools - last year 1,070 students were enrolled in the Open Choice program - Sternberg wrote a letter to superintendents "strongly encouraging" them to open more seats, Rivera said.

The July 2006 letter said that 469 new students must be added to the Open Choice program - a total of 18 in each of the 27 school districts governed by the Sheff compromise - to reach the state's ordered obligation of placing 1,600 students in the program by 2007.

Each district has decided to heed or ignore that recommendation on its own terms, Rivera said. While some districts have renewed seats for Hartford students, others have not opened a single new seat in years.
Schools: A Shift Of Views On Sheff;  Case Returns To Court Amid New Skepticism
By RACHEL GOTTLIEB FRANK | Courant Staff Writer
November 5, 2007

A decade after the state Supreme Court ordered the desegregation of schools across Greater Hartford in the landmark Sheff v. O'Neill case, the goal of integration remains elusive.

Magnet schools, the cornerstone of the state's plan to bring together white children and children of color using voluntary incentives, have fallen short. Hartford's schools still have a population that is predominantly black, Hispanic and poor.

Now, as the Sheff plaintiffs head back to court Tuesday to demand the state make good on its assurances, advocates of integration are facing increasing skepticism on the part of both state lawmakers and city officials over both the cost - and value - of continuing down the same path.

Tensions that have long remain hidden are now erupting, opening up a new and potentially contentious chapter in the effort to desegregate schools in and around Hartford.

"It's breaking out in the open now," said John Brittain, a former Sheff lawyer. "The current spat with the Hartford school system exposes the fragility of the infrastructure of the Sheff v. O'Neill process."

Lawyers for the Sheff plaintiffs declined to say what they will seek in court. The latest effort at compromise between the state and the plaintiffs - which failed to win legislative approval - called for the state to spend $112 million over the next five years to expand the array of magnet, charter and vocational-technical schools.

But one attorney said now that the issue is heading back to court, the plaintiffs won't be constrained by the compromises that they have agreed to in the past.

"There's new thinking we'll be presenting at the trial," said Matthew Colangelo, an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund who is representing the plaintiffs in the Sheff v. O'Neill lawsuit.

"We're saying it's been 11 years and not enough progress has been made and we think it's time for the court to get involved."

Forced Integration?

The question of whether the city's schools must be desegregated was settled by a state Supreme Court order in 1996, though the court left it to the Sheff plaintiffs and the state to figure out how to do it.

The state and the plaintiffs finally reached an agreement on a plan in 2003, and it was left largely to Hartford to implement its terms by building magnet schools and sending students to suburban schools through the state's "Open Choice" program.

The guiding principle of those efforts has been to make desegregation voluntary - sidestepping the politically explosive prospect of forcibly moving children from one school to another.

But the effectiveness of this approach is now being questioned.

"The notion that we're going to get a better result by voluntary programs is ridiculous," said state Sen. Thomas Gaffey, D-Meriden, co-chairman of the legislature's education committee. "We need to shift away from the model of remedy that the state has been pursuing for years. The district is as racially isolated today as it was 10 years ago. It suggests you need to do something different."

Gaffey advocates giving the education commissioner more statutory authority to enforce broad participation by area towns.

The best way to satisfy the court order, he said, probably would be to expand the Open Choice program, through which Hartford students enroll in suburban schools. This would give the commissioner power to order reluctant towns to open their doors to more students from Hartford.

"How open Open Choice is, is really debatable," Gaffey said, conceding that towns won't like being strong-armed into admitting more Hartford kids and that getting any major changes through the General Assembly would be difficult.

Hartford School Superintendent Steven Adamowski bluntly told the State Board of Education recently that it isn't fair Hartford has borne the brunt of making integration happen, while suburban participation remains optional.

As it stands, the state is withholding $4.6 million from the city-run magnet schools for failing to enroll enough white students, and won't release that money until the city submits a plan outlining its plan for a remedy. If the state doesn't release the money, Adamowski said, the district will have to begin laying off staff at the four magnet schools that don't meet the quota.

Adamowski told the State Board of Education and the education commissioner that a regional approach is needed. He strongly encouraged them to create a system of rewards and punishments to get the region's many "fiefdoms" to work with Hartford in developing models for integrated schools that are different from the traditional magnet school model.

But while there are growing questions about the effectiveness of voluntary solutions, the state will likely argue in court against involuntary participation, said Education Commissioner Mark K. McQuillan. "This state has historically and fervently relied on local control," he said.

That devotion aside, he said, programs that are entered into voluntarily are more likely to work.

"People will invest more of their energy and time to carry it out," McQuillan said. "Let's try voluntary measures now. If that fails then we may have to take more drastic measures that people may not want."

McQuillan said he wants to expand the Open Choice program and to press for the development of magnet schools in the suburbs.

He conceded that the assumption that suburban youngsters would be drawn to magnet schools run by Hartford was mistaken. By locating schools in the suburbs, officials said, the state could address the perception of some parents that Hartford schools are not safe.

"Suburban parents have some trepidation about sending their children into the inner city. Whether it's perceived or accurate, we are aware of it," said Tom Murphy, spokesman for the state Department of Education. "Having several schools in suburban communities as a choice will give an opportunity to allay those concerns."

McQuillan said he thinks that six or seven magnet schools run by suburban towns could work, focusing on young children in grades pre-K through 3. Parents who would otherwise pay to send their preschool-aged children to day care would find the offer of an all-day public preschool school program particularly enticing, McQuillan said.

Hartford Pulls Back

Beyond the question of how to make desegregation happen is a broader problem: Officials are growing more vocal about the burden Sheff presents - and even questioning the value of its goals.

In a presentation to the State Board of Education on ways Hartford is working to close the achievement gap between urban and suburban children, Adamowski questioned the very premise of the Sheff lawsuit.

"There is no research to suggest that minority students will do better by sitting next to a white student," he said.

The original lawsuit, filed in 1989, asserted that the racial segregation of Hartford schools violates the state's constitution. Adamowski's comment resonated with some, including Hartford school board member Andrea Comer, who believes it is demeaning to assume that children of color need to share a classroom with white students in order to learn well.

But it drew a sharp response from some advocates of desegregation.

"We're disappointed that it's 2007 and the superintendent wants to debate whether it is a bad thing for Hartford's minority children to be taught in racially segregated schools," Colangelo said.

"As a social science matter, the answer has been clear for decades," Colangelo said. As a legal matter, he said, the case was settled years ago.

In his presentation to the state board, Adamowski outlined a strategy for improving the city's schools that does not specifically address the court's order, although the Hartford school board's new policy for redesigning failing schools directs the superintendent to "give consideration" to the Sheff goals of reducing racial and economic isolation.

"This is high stakes for the state," Murphy said. "The superintendent's reform package has not connected Sheff with the strategies for improvement. We've got to find some common ground."

In the past, Hartford's superintendents have publicly embraced the lead position in fulfilling the requirements of the Sheff lawsuit, even if they grumbled behind the scenes about cost. Adamowski's public arm's-length posture from both the state and the tenets of the court order represent a dramatic shift in the landscape.

Lawmakers are also asking questions about the direction of desegregation efforts.

Legislative leaders this summer didn't put the $112 million plan to expand magnets up for a vote in part because they questioned the effectiveness of the approach, and in part because Hartford's mayor and superintendent urged rejection until the state develops a more comprehensive plan to integrate schools.

On the eve of the case's return to court, Mayor Eddie A. Perez, chairman of the school board, lobbed his pitch into the arena, saying that while the city remains committed to the Sheff goals, the state shouldn't dump the burden on Hartford.

"The state wants to monitor us and have us implement Sheff. We want them to implement Sheff and we will assist them," Perez said. "It can't just be Hartford's burden."


Drug-Resistant Germ Nothing To Lose Sleep Over, Experts Say 
DAY
By Amy Renczkowski   
Published on 10/19/2007 

Local health officials are urging parents and students not to panic about the potentially deadly antibiotic-resistant staph infection found this week in some schools around the state.

“It's out there, but it's not something to be scared of,” said Sue Congdon, epidemiologist at Ledge Light Health District.

At least three high school students — in Weston, Berlin and Newtown — have been diagnosed with Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus infection, or MRSA. Three students at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven also were confirmed Thursday to have contracted the infection.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, MRSA is a type of bacteria that causes staph infections and is resistant to treatment with usual antibiotics.

A student from Virginia died from a similar infection earlier this week.

The state Department of Public Health reported Thursday that about 900 cases of MRSA are reported in Connecticut each year, while hundreds of other cases never become serious enough to require reporting. 
Officials at the local Ledge Light and Uncas health districts said they aren't aware of any cases of MRSA in the local high schools, so they are concentrating on educating the community about prevention.  Congdon said Ledge Light sent out information about the infection to school superintendents in areas the health district covers: East Lyme, Groton, Ledyard, New London and Waterford. Some schools are taking it upon themselves to notify parents and students about methods of prevention.

Robert Bacewicz, principal of Robert E. Fitch High School in Groton, said the school sent out a letter Thursday reminding students to be mindful about washing their hands and keeping clean. He said there have been no cases of the infection at the high school. High schools in Montville and Stonington also reported no cases of MRSA.

“We're taking precautionary measures all the time,” said Thomas Amanti, principal at Montville High School.

Amanti said the school nurse keeps administrators well informed about the latest techniques in disease prevention.  Deborah Buxton-Morris, emergency preparedness coordinator and public health nurse at Uncas Health District, said MRSA spreads through skin-to-skin contact. Buxton-Morris said schools should be careful to sanitize athletic mats and remind students about showering and changing their clothing.

“We don't need to create a panic. Just focus on good hand washing and good hygiene,” Buxton-Morris said.

Congdon added, “If you have a wound, clean it and cover it.”

The Centers for Disease Control reported that MRSA caused more than 94,000 life-threatening infections and nearly 19,000 deaths in the United States in 2005, though these were associated with health-care settings rather than community outbreaks.  Most of the victims were patients who underwent invasive medical procedures or had weakened immune systems.  MRSA in health-care settings commonly causes serious and potentially life-threatening conditions, such as bloodstream infections, surgical site infections or pneumonia.

Buxton-Morris said the infection also affects a lot of children and those with weakened immune systems.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell said in a press release Thursday that her office is working with the state Department of Education and the state Department of Public Health to track cases of infection and to provide information about MRSA to school districts and the public.  
Deadly Germ, But It Can Be Beaten
By WILLIAM HATHAWAY | Courant Staff Writer
October 18, 2007

The antibiotic-resistant infection contracted by high school students in Weston and Newtown is turning up more often in communities across Connecticut as it sparks fear across the nation.

Doctors across Connecticut have been reporting more cases of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus infection, or MRSA, that have been contracted by people outside of hospitals. The number of serious blood-borne MRSA infections acquired in the community has increased from 38 in 2001, to 99 in 2006, state officials said.

But infectious disease experts also said that although the strain can kill the elderly and others with underlying health issues, in otherwise healthy people it is highly treatable and rarely life-threatening.

Weston High School officials alerted the community to the problem this week, telling parents in a letter that one student had a confirmed case of MRSA and that they were waiting for results of tests on a second student. A similar letter was sent to parents of students at Newtown High School. Officials also posted the letter on the school's Web site.

Although the Weston students were not seriously ill, the news came amid widening concern about the growth and severity of such infections.

The letter from the high school began circulating Tuesday - the same day a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association documented the high toll of MRSA in hospitals and the day the death of a Virginia high school student from the infection became national news.

Ashton Bonds, 17, a senior at Staunton River High School in Moneta, died Monday after being diagnosed with MRSA, his mother said. Protests after Bonds' death led officials in Virginia to shut down 21 schools.

As news of a similar infection in Weston spread Wednesday, officials took several steps - including a press conference - to address community concerns.

There are no protocols that require schools to publicly report MRSA infections, but Weston school district officials said they wanted to be proactive in order to ease fears.

"Yesterday's New York Times and CNN raised a lot of concern," Westport-Weston Community Health Director Monica Wheeler said. "The coincidence of that tragedy in Virginia just made everybody say, `What is going on?'"

Parents' reactions have been mixed, said interim Superintendent of Schools John Reed in Weston.

"There certainly are parents very comfortable with the steps taken, and there certainly are parents concerned," he said. "Some have asked if we're closing the school, and some have said we should close it."

But the state health department has not recommended such steps, Reed said. The district is following the state's advice. School officials have taken some actions, including wiping down surfaces and switching the type of cleaning agents used at the school. Students also are being encouraged to wash their hands and use antimicrobial hand gel that is already available in classrooms, Reed said.

The origin of the Weston High School student's infection has not been confirmed, but school and health officials believe the student was infected off school grounds. Weston school officials would not say whether the infected student had returned to class, citing privacy laws.

As documented in the JAMA article, the MRSA strain kills thousands of people in the nation's hospitals every year, usually elderly and those with severe underlying health issues. The strain is responsible for more than 94,000 serious infections and nearly 19,000 deaths a year nationwide, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But experts also say that when acquired by healthy people in the community - as opposed to those infected at hospitals - the bacterial infection only rarely causes serious illness and is treatable by other classes of antibiotics.

As many as 40 percent of people may carry staphylococcus aureus bacteria at any one time, according to some estimates.

When staph does appear, it is usually as a skin infection, characterized by reddish skin surrounding a boil topped by a black scab. The infection is often mistaken for a spider bite. Occasionally, the bacteria can enter the blood stream, where it can become life-threatening.

Ever since the introduction of penicillin in the 1940s, staphylococcus and other bacterial infections have developed resistance to several forms of antibiotics. As the JAMA study illustrates, these strains continue to raise havoc in hospitals.

But while rates of hospital-acquired MRSA infections have been relatively stable in recent years, community acquired infections have been rising steadily in the state and across the country.

Connecticut reported 952 cases of MRSA infections in 2005, but Hadler said the actual number could be much higher because many cases are not particularly serious.

In fact, MRSA infections are so common in the community now that most doctors who see such infections don't bother treating patients with the class of antibiotics that include methicillin, said Dr. Kevin Dieckhaus, chief of infectious diseases at the University of Connecticut Health Center.

The bacteria often spread through contact with pus-filled boils. In schools, athletes are often susceptible to infection.

"The infection is usually spread by person-to-person contact, and sometimes we see outbreaks in sporting teams, such as wrestlers or football players," said Dr. Robert Lyons, chief of infectious diseases at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford.

Simple hygiene, such as washing hands, can help stop the spread of the infection, said Monica Wheeler, community health director at Westport Weston Heath District.



THE FULL REPORT
Report: Program Underused; Suburban Schools Could Absorb More Hartford Children, Say Sheff Supporters
By ROBERT A. FRAHM | Courant Staff Writer
September 28, 2007

A long-running program allowing Hartford schoolchildren to enroll in nearby suburban schools has been underused but could be a crucial means of promoting school desegregation, says a report being released today.

Fewer than 1,100 black and Latino children from Hartford are enrolled in predominantly white schools in nearby suburbs under Project Choice, but those suburban schools appear to have the capacity to enroll thousands more, the report says.  Despite slow growth in recent years, the program has produced encouraging academic results and has potential to help meet goals established in the Sheff v. O'Neill school desegregation legal case, says a report sponsored by a group of Sheff supporters known as the Sheff Movement Coalition.

The report, called the "Project Choice Campaign," calls on the state to take a more aggressive role in expanding the program and prodding suburban schools to enroll more Hartford students.

Efforts to place Hartford children in desegregated schools have fallen far short of goals established in a 2003 court-approved settlement in the Sheff case.  With the state spending millions of dollars creating and supporting magnet schools as the centerpiece of its racial integration efforts, the suburban school choice program has been largely overshadowed, today's report says.

Unlike magnet schools, which can take years to develop fully, the city-to-suburb program "is the most efficient means of placing students in integrated school placements," says the report written by Erica Frankenberg, a graduate student at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education.

"The slow growth and low suburban participation rates in Hartford's Project Choice program stand in sharp contrast to similar programs in Boston, Minneapolis, and St. Louis," Frankenberg wrote.

If the program were to expand, "I'm sure many parents would benefit," said Norma Richards, whose son Cedane, a second-grader, has been part of the choice program at Noah Wallace School in Farmington since kindergarten.

"In kindergarten, he was the only black child in the classroom," she said. "If he had two or three more children from the choice program, he'd probably feel more comfortable."

Of 27 suburban districts in the program, 10 provide less than one percent of their seats to Hartford students, and no district provides more than 3 percent, the report said. A review of state data suggests "there is significant room available in many suburban districts" for additional Project Choice students, the report said.  However, the capacity of districts to take Hartford students "is a moving target," said Robert M. Villanova, superintendent of schools in Farmington. He agreed there appears to be room to expand the program throughout the Hartford region, but said, "Capacity is determined to some extent by the will and desire of people who live in the community."

In Farmington, there has been strong support for Project Choice, he said. According to the report, Farmington schools enrolled 95 Hartford students last year, just over 2 percent of the town's overall enrollment. 
Project Choice is an outgrowth of a student transfer program that began more than 40 years ago and was then known as Project Concern.  Project Concern survived financial problems in the 1980s and '90s and nearly closed down after being hailed as one of the nation's first voluntary school integration programs. The program started with 266 Hartford children bused to schools in Farmington, Manchester, Simsbury, South Windsor and West Hartford.

Along with magnet schools, the suburban choice program was part of a court settlement four years ago to comply with a 1996 state Supreme Court ruling ordering the state to desegregate Hartford's schools. However, enrollment in the choice program stagnated, and many of the magnet schools failed to attract enough white students, causing the settlement to fall far short of its goals.  After the settlement expired earlier this year, the two sides agreed on a new settlement that calls on the state to speed the pace of integration, but the legislature has balked at approving the agreement.

Still, lawmakers did approve a budget that includes additional money for integration programs related to the Sheff case, including Project Choice.

"What has to happen is Project Choice has to be marketed more effectively," said state Sen. Thomas Gaffey, D-Meriden, co-chairman of the legislature's education committee.

Suburban participation in the program is voluntary, but Gaffey said the state Department of Education should be given authority to require suburban districts to set aside a specific number of seats for Hartford children.  Today's report calls on the state education department to "play a lead role as the champion for expansion ... of Project Choice" and says the department should establish goals for the number of Hartford children each suburban district is expected to enroll.

Although state financial support for Project Choice has increased, the report said the extra funding is not enough to provide teacher training, academic support and other services to assist students, the report said.

George A. Coleman, deputy commissioner in the state Department of Education, had not seen the report but agreed that "in many ways [Project Choice] is underutilized."

He said the state hopes to begin discussions with local districts about their level of participation in Project Choice, magnet school programs and other efforts to promote integration.

'Where did kids go?' schools ask - Numbers down for 10 districts
By Eric Stevick
Everett, WA Herald
November 23, 2007

An enrollment drop in 10 of 14 Snohomish County districts has school leaders wondering where the students have gone.

Enrollment declined across the county by more than 300 students, slipping to 107,445, according to head counts taken by the districts last month.

What's most perplexing is the dip is occurring while hundreds of new homes across the county are being built and moved into.

"We are all sort of in the same arena of scratching our heads," said Arlene Hulten, a Lake Stevens School District spokeswoman.

The districts expect enrollment will rebound as families with school-age children move into the new homes.

For now, it may be that some families are passing up Snohomish County on their way to cheaper housing in surrounding areas.

"The general trend is that there is small growth in Whatcom and parts of Skagit counties and there is a reduction in San Juan and Snohomish counties," said Jerry Jenkins, director of the Northwest Educational Service District. "I would suppose that the likely cause would be housing costs and that young people with families can stretch their dollars further."

Other factors are also suspected, including a slower birth rate in the county five years ago. Ten of 14 districts had a smaller kindergarten classes than a year ago.

Statistics kept by the U.S. Census Bureau showed a drop of more than 1,500 school-aged children between the ages of 5 and 9 in Snohomish County between the years 2000 and 2006.

More students also are choosing online schools instead of the traditional classroom.

The Edmonds School District surveyed families earlier this year and found more than 40 students who said they were planning to enroll in an online school this fall. Edmonds is now considering starting its own online program.

"That has happened a little bit," said Nathan Olson, a spokesman for the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. "In terms of a percentage, it's probably not much, but it is happening."

The state does not have statewide enrollment numbers for fall.

Projecting enrollment accurately is key for each district as more than 70 percent of its budget is based on the number of students in classrooms. Districts receive more than $5,000 from the state for each full-time student.

Housing, birth rates, population trends and job losses all figure into projections.

The Monroe School District was one of two districts to see enrollment growth in large part because of its new online school for freshmen and sophomores. The school is called Washington Virtual Academy. October enrollment was 264 for the virtual school and the plan is to add a grade each year until it is a ninth- through 12th-grade school. Students have enrolled from across the state with most from outside of the county, said Rosemary O'Neil, a school district spokeswoman.

The Monroe district also added 95 more students to its home-school program this fall, increasing enrollment there to 727.

The district grew from 6,795 in 2006 to 7,174 in 2007, an increase of 379 students.

"The only growth was in the alternative programs," O'Neil said.

Similarly, the Marysville School District saw a slight increase in enrollment only because of a fast-growing online program that also attracts most of its students from outside the county.

"It was done out of a concern for recapturing some of the students who were dropping out," said Larry Nyland, the district's superintendent.

Everett School District, which opened a new elementary school in its fast-growing south end, saw enrollment increase since 2006.

In most districts, enrollment was flat with slight losses.

In Lakewood, for instance, the October head count was exactly the same as last year.

The Edmonds School District experienced the most dramatic loss, dipping from 20,725 to 20,352.

The loss of students can be costly. Edmonds estimates it lost about $1 million in state revenues because of declining enrollment. It won't fill some vacant positions but won't have to make layoffs either, according to a district memo.

Charter Schools without a building?
Virtual schooling growing at K-12 level
By BILL KACZOR, Associated Press Writer
Fri Sep 7, 8:03 AM ET

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - As a seventh-grader, Kelsey-Anne Hizer was getting mostly D's and F's and felt the teachers at her Ocala middle school were not giving her the help she needed. But after switching to a virtual school for eighth grade, Kelsey-Anne is receiving more individual attention and making A's and B's. She's also enthusiastic about learning, even though she has never been in the same room as her teachers.

Kelsey-Anne became part of a growing national trend when she transferred to Orlando-based Florida Virtual School. Students get their lessons online and communicate with their teachers and each other through chat rooms, e-mail, telephone and instant messaging.

"It's more one-on-one than regular school," Kelsey-Anne said. "It's more they're there; they're listening."

Virtual learning is becoming ubiquitous at colleges and universities but remains in its infancy at the elementary and secondary level, where skeptics have questioned its cost and effect on children's socialization.

However, virtual schools are growing fast — at an annual rate of about 25 percent. There are 25 statewide or state-led programs and more than 170 virtual charter schools across the nation, according to the North American Council for Online Learning.

Estimates of elementary and secondary students taking virtual classes range from 500,000 to 1 million nationally compared to total public school enrollment of about 50 million.

Online learning is used as an alternative for summer school and for students who need remedial help, are disabled, being home schooled or suspended for behavioral problems. It also can help avoid overcrowding in traditional classrooms and provide courses that local schools, often rural or inner-city, do not offer.

Advocates say those niche functions are fine, but that virtual learning has almost unlimited potential. Many envision a blending of virtual and traditional learning.

"We hope that it becomes just another piece of our public schools' day rather than still this thing over here that we're all trying to figure out," said Julie Young, Florida Virtual's president and CEO.

Florida Virtual is one of the nation's oldest and largest online schools, with more than 55,000 students in Florida and around the world, most of them part-time. Its motto is "Any Time, Any Place, Any Path, Any Pace."

Struggling students such as Kelsey-Anne, who suffers from attention deficit disorder, can take more time to finish courses while those who are gifted can go at a faster speed.

Casey Hutcheson, 17, finished English and geometry online in the time it would have taken to complete just one of those courses at his regular high school in Tallahassee.

"I like working by myself because of no distractions, and I can go at my own pace rather than going at the teacher's pace," he said.

For all its potential, virtual schooling has its critics and skeptics.

"There is something to be said for having kids in a social situation learning how to interact in society," said state Rep. Shelley Vana. "I don't think you get that if you're at home."

But virtual students get a different kind of social experience that is just as valuable, said Susan Patrick, president and CEO of the North American Council for Online Learning in Vienna, Va.

"We should socialize them for the world that they live in," she said, suggesting that people spend much of their time interacting via computer these days.

Many policymakers approach virtual learning with dollar signs in their eyes, expecting big savings from schools that do not need buildings, buses and other traditional infrastructure.

"We should not, as stewards of public money, be automatically paying the same or even close to the same amount of money for a virtual school day as we pay for a conventional school day," said Florida Senate Education Committee Chairman Don Gaetz.

Florida Virtual this year is slated to get $6,682 for every full-time equivalent student, just slightly less than the average of $7,306 for all of the state's public schools. Young said her school has expenses that traditional schools do not.

"Our data infrastructure is our building," she said.

Teacher unions have opposed spending public dollars on some virtual schools, mainly those that are privately operated or function as charter schools.  Indiana lawmakers this year refused to fund virtual charter schools. Opponents argued they are unproven and would have siphoned millions of dollars from traditional public schools.

Florida Virtual's Young said she plans to recommend that her state follow the example of Michigan, which passed a requirement that students complete some type of online experience to earn a high school diploma.

If "we do not give them an opportunity to take an online course, we're doing them a tremendous disservice," she said. "It's become the way of the world."


Weston High may soon switch to solar power
Norwalk HOUR
Jeremy Soulliere
Saturday, September 1, 2007

Weston High School could be going solar in the near future.

The town's Building Committee, together with the Hartford-based law firm Shipman and Goodwin, is investigating the possible grant funds the town could receive if it were to place a photovoltaic array, or solar panels, on the roof of the school, said committee member Don Gary.

"They're experts in writing RFP's (request for proposals) and evaluating where you can get the grant money," he said about the newly-hired firm.

The grant money evaluation, along with the creation of an RFP for the proposed project, were approved by the Board of Selectmen two weeks ago, Gary said. The board had appropriated up to $5,000 for the assessment, he said.

"At the end of this $5,000 we'll know what we can design for that roof," Gary said.

Gary, who approached the selectmen with the solar panel idea, said the high school's flat roofing could hold anywhere from 800 to 1,000 solar panels, a photovoltaic array that would likely cut the school's electricity bills by 50 percent.
"We'd be able to cut the electricity probably in half," said Gary, who noted the school has no shading.

An 800- to 1,000-panel arrangement could cost the town anywhere from $7 million to $8 million, Gary said, but up to 85 percent of that cost would likely be covered by grants. The panels, he said, would pay for themselves in about five years.

"It just makes sense from a financial point of view," Gary said.

Beyond the financial savings, the town would be helping to combat global warming with the new "clean" energy option, he said, which would be generating roughly 1.25 million of the 2.6 million kilowatt-hours of electricity used at the school per year.

"It's the right thing to do because every kilowatt-hour in Connecticut causes a little less than a pound of carbon dioxide to be put in the atmosphere," Gary said. "That would save over a million pounds going into the atmosphere per year."

First Selectman Woody Bliss said the proposed project would need approvals by the Building Committee, the Board of Education, the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance. But, given the estimated cost savings and the environmental advantages of going solar, he said, it "looks very, very promising" that the town boards would give the solar panels the green light.

"I think we need to be leaders in trying to break the mold in how we get our energy," Bliss said. "Right now it's all about burning oil."

Bliss said Weston, which has already committed to a campaign calling for municipalities to acquire 20 percent of their electricity from clean energy sources by 2010, is looking to assess its energy options wherever it can.

"We are committed to that," he said.

Healthy discourse: Area parent group hopes engage others in exploring school lunch reform
Greenwich TIME
By Christina Hennessy, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 10/28/2008 01:00:00 AM EDT

Given the choice of a snack for their next day's lunch, Emma and Abby Straight were not opposed to some cucumber slices.

"Can I peel it?" Emma, 7, asked her mother, Nicole, who was spooning pineapple chunks into reusable containers.

"Just be careful," her mom said, as she helped her other daughter, Abby, 6, roll up a sandwich wrap around grilled strips of chicken.

It was a typical night in the Straight's Westport home, since the girls often opt to bring lunch from home, rather than eat the lunch offered by their school.

Straight and other Westport mothers who are concerned about the kinds of meals students are eating in school will gather at the Westport Public Library's McManus Room from 9:30-11:30 a.m. today for a screening of "Two Angry Moms." The documentary, produced and largely financed by Weston resident Amy Kalafa and her husband, Alex, examines the food offered to children in school and the changes being made around the country to create more nutritious school lunch programs.

Kalafa, 50, who has a daughter in high school and another who is a college graduate, is expected to attend the screening.

A holistic health and nutrition counselor who has produced films and television programs for the past 15 years, Kalafa also directed the film, which was released a year ago. She worked with Susan Rubin, the founder of Westchester (N.Y.) County-based Better School Food, a coalition of educators, health professionals and parents. The group has worked for many years to increase awareness about the link between food and children's health and learning.

"The whole reason I made the film was because there I was in Weston, feeling like a freak, wondering if I was the only parent who was worrying about this," Kalafa says of the food being served in the schools. "This was all very fringe when I started. I felt very isolated."

Since then, she and Rubin have been profiled by leading national publications, as well as featured on television news and radio programs.

Their hope is to get the schools to replace foods loaded with artificial ingredients and additives, such as sugary drinks, chicken nuggets, chips and other snacks, with healthier foods, including fresh fruit and vegetables. Kalafa says she also hopes communities will push school officials to work with local and area farms and farmers' markets to create sustainable agricultural communities.

Straight, 35, who owns Time to Eat, which offers cooking classes to busy moms, says while she sees positives on the school lunch menu, such as grilled chicken on a whole wheat bun and tossed salads, she thinks there can be further improvement.

"We are not the food police," Straight says of Parents for Change, the group organizing the screening. "When people hear lunch reform, they think nuts and twigs."

Instead, she says she'd like to see fewer mozzarella sticks and french fries and more healthful options. Further, she and others are urging schools to purchase locally grown products and create school gardens, so children gain a better understanding of food, from seed to table.

"It's not about withholding delicious food," she says, adding that it is more about making nutritious food delicious and appealing.

The film highlights some school systems that have not only eliminated junk food and processed snack options, but also have worked to create these links with area food producers.

Attempts to reach Westport schools' lunch provider, Chartwells, were unsuccessful, though the districts' Web site lists the elementary, middle and high school menus nutritional values for such foods - at the elementary level - as chicken nuggets made with whole-grain flour, turkey and cheese on whole wheat wrap, French toast sticks, pizza dippers, and a bologna and cheese sandwich. The Web site also provides a link to the student wellness policy. That policy calls upon the district to provide students with nutritious and affordable food choices in school.

In recent years, the work to improve children's culinary choices has been linked to growing obesity rates among the youngest U.S. residents. And before that, health officials were looking to the link between a high-fat diet and cardiovascular disease.

Fifteen years ago, the U.S. Department of Agriculture began working on its School Meals Initiative for Healthy Children. Although school lunches were meeting the recommended dietary allowance, there was concern that too many calories were coming from saturated fat. As a result of that initiative, schools had to limit the amounts of fat and saturated fat in their menus.

The initiative was considered the largest change in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs since their inception in the late 1940s, according to the department.

Straight and Kalafa see this time in history as a moment to push ahead even further with reform.

Straight says she would love to see some of the items that make it to her dinner table - couscous, edamame and hearty soups, for example - reflected in school lunch menus. She says she does not want to "buck the system," but rather work with school officials to make changes.

"The idea of kid food is a made up concept," she says. "We are assuming what kids will or will not eat before asking them."

Kalafa sees opportunities to raise better food consumers, students who understand what is in their food, where it comes from, how it is being prepared and how their diets affect their ability to learn and play in school. She also hopes area schools work on coming together to increase their purchasing power and support the local and area farmers and businesses attempting to make thriving local food systems.

Rather than being "angry," Kalafa is hopeful that this movement is spreading across the country, empowering parents to take a better look at what their children are eating.

"How do you get kids to eat healthier foods?" she asks, "By them not knowing that the food (they are eating) is actually good for them. Instead, they see food that is beautiful, tastes great, has texture, has beauty and it has flavor."
Filmmaker hopes documentary spurs action on school lunches
Stamford ADVOCATE
By Lisa Chamoff, Staff Writer
Published August 20 2007

WESTON - In Amy Kalafa's ideal world, the processed pizzas and chicken nuggets normally found in school cafeterias would be replaced with meals made from scratch, and fruits and vegetables grown by local farmers or students.

While working on a documentary, Kalafa, a Weston resident and veteran independent filmmaker, learned it happens in some parts of the country.  But in most others, bags of chips, cookies and snack cakes sit tantalizingly in bins at the end of the lunch line, and most of the meals arrive frozen in the kitchens.

That's why she's angry.

Kalafa's recently completed film, "Two Angry Moms," chronicles how school lunches became so unhealthy and what some districts are doing to turn around their food programs.  She hopes the film will mobilize parents to take action this school year.

"We really want people to see the film in community groups, hold discussions and formulate an action plan," said Kalafa, 48, who has two daughters, including one who will enter Weston High School at the end of the month.

The other "angry mom" is Susan Rubin, a nutritionist and mother of three from Chappaqua, N.Y., who created the Westchester Coalition for Better School Food, made up of parents, educators and health professionals.

Kalafa decided to make the film and was introduced to Rubin. She followed Rubin and the efforts of her coalition for more than a year.  The pair came up with the name "Two Angry Moms" one day while tossing around ideas. It seemed to fit, especially when they discovered that a former Texas secretary of agriculture once said it would take 2 million angry moms to change school food programs nationwide.

In the film, Kalafa visits five schools that have what she describes as model food programs.

One of these, the Katonah-Lewisboro School District in New York, employed a chef from the Culinary Institute of America, who had workers creating some menu items from scratch. On one of the days that Kalafa showed up, the cafeteria was serving baked chicken with olive oil and herbs, cauliflower and roasted sweet potatoes.

"Kids were buying it and they were liking it," Kalafa said. "Surprise, surprise."

Kalafa filmed at a school in California that began stocking its salad bar with produce from local farmers. Another served kid-designed meals with locally grown vegetables.  Kalafa said she and Rubin have heard criticism about the documentary from those in the food-service industry.

"There's a perception the film is down on food service and that's totally not true," Kalafa said. The idea is to "help them make it better."

Holly Betts, the new food service director for Weston Public Schools, said school food is becoming more nutritious.  The district, which contracts with Whitsons Culinary Group in Islandia, N.Y., is promoting whole-wheat breads and pasta, and fresh vegetables, Betts said. They limit most foods that are high in fat and offer fruit each day.  Betts recently attended a convention by the School Nutrition Association in Alexandria, Va., where vendors showcased new products.

"Booth after booth after booth, it was trans fat-free and fat-free," Betts said. "Ultimately, we will see a whole-grain chocolate-chip cookie."

But some low-fat and fat-free foods are far from nutritious, she said. In one cafeteria she saw containers of low-fat yogurt sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup and aspartame.

"I don't want my kid eating that," Kalafa said. "I don't think that's healthy. Yogurt? Yes. Artificially sweetened yogurt? No."

Kalafa and Rubin are encouraging people to hold screenings of the film to encourage discussion. They are selling screening kits with 10 DVDs for $275, and single DVDs will be available for $25.

Rebecca Velasquez, a social worker at Springdale Elementary School in Stamford, plans to show the film to the district's Wellness Committee, of which she is a member.  Velasquez saw the documentary last spring and has been bringing up suggestions from it during meetings of a nutrition subcommittee.

"I really feel the documentary has a lot of value," Velasquez said.

People may sign up to host a screening by visiting www.angrymoms.org. Kalafa and Rubin are soliciting donations of "lunch money" to help fund production of the film, which cost about $500,000 to make.

Kalafa said she hopes to get involved with the Weston School District's Wellness Committee and make changes in her town. But so far the committee has they have not asked the "angry mom" to join.

"I'm awaiting my invitation," Kalafa said.
 

A Ruling On Race: Court Rejects Diversity Plans; Little Effect Seen In Hartford
By ROBERT A. FRAHM | Courant Staff Writer
June 29, 2007

 A U.S. Supreme Court decision forbidding schools from enrolling children strictly on the basis of race threatens many voluntary desegregation plans throughout the nation, but experts believe that it will have little effect on school desegregation efforts in Hartford.

That is because Hartford's court-approved desegregation plan in the Sheff v. O'Neill case differs from the voluntary plans in Louisville and Seattle that were overturned in Thursday's 5-4 Supreme Court ruling.

The key difference, legal experts said, is that the magnet schools and school choice plans that are a central piece of the Sheff efforts do not single out students by race. Rather, the plans attempt to achieve racial balance by selecting students based on where they live.  That strategy "falls firmly within what is permitted" by the Supreme Court, said Dennis D. Parker, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who is part of the legal team representing the plaintiffs in the long-running Sheff case.

State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said that Thursday's ruling "should have no impact on state programs to reduce racial isolation in Hartford public schools." Under the Sheff plan, "no student is forced to attend a particular school based on race."

The Supreme Court rejected voluntary plans in Louisville, Ky., and Seattle, saying that assigning children to schools by race violates constitutional guarantees of equal protection.

"The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority. Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia joined the entirety of Roberts' 41-page opinion.

However, Justice Anthony Kennedy, who voted with the majority, left open the door for schools to pursue racial balance as long as individual students are not selected on the basis of race. He cited alternatives such as strategic site selection of new schools or attendance zones designed to tap into demographic patterns.

"A district may consider it a compelling interest to achieve a diverse student population," Kennedy said. "Race may be one component of that diversity."

Some civil rights leaders had feared that a ruling against the Seattle and Louisville plans would mark the end of an era of school integration efforts that began with the court's landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954 that outlawed deliberate school segregation. However, Kennedy's opinion leaves open, with some restrictions, opportunities for schools to pursue desegregation.

Although the ACLU's Parker called the decision "a significant step backward," he said, "The bottom line is that five justices [counting Kennedy] did agree that diversity and reduction of racial isolation is a legitimate governmental interest."

Theodore M. Shaw, director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said, "We got rained on today, but there's a silver lining." He said that Kennedy, who joined only part of Roberts' lead opinion, didn't go "as far as many people thought he might go."

Kennedy's assertion that racial balance remains a legitimate goal was seen as pivotal by legal experts.

"What Kennedy essentially is saying was, `I don't have any problem with race-conscious policies as long as they don't classify individual students by race,'" said Jack Balkin, a Yale University law professor and constitutional law expert.  Still, the ruling strips school boards of a tool to offset the impact of racially divided housing patterns. Both sides say that the practices used in Louisville and Seattle are common throughout the nation.

Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer dissented. Breyer said that the ruling would "threaten the promise" of the 1954 Brown decision.

Some, however, hailed Thursday's ruling. "There can't be a dual system of school assignments based on race or ethnicity," said Edward Blum, a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. "Racial quotas and preferences never produce diversity - they produce animosity, bitterness and perpetuate the belief that minority students just can't hack it."

The ruling reflects the influence on the high court of Alito and Roberts, both of whom were appointed by President Bush. Three years ago, before their appointments, the court ruled that universities could consider race in making admissions decisions.  Thursday's ruling comes just as Connecticut has tentatively agreed to take aggressive new measures to speed the pace of integration in Hartford's mostly black and Hispanic public schools.

Under a proposed extension of a 2003 settlement in the Sheff case, the state would spend millions of dollars more over the next five years to subsidize magnet schools, charter schools and other programs designed to bolster integration. The extension still must be approved by the legislature.  The original four-year settlement, due to expire this week, fell far short of its goals, including targets to more fully integrate magnet schools and to increase the number of Hartford schoolchildren enrolled in predominantly white suburban schools.

Plaintiffs in the Sheff case in 1996 won a state Supreme Court ruling ordering the state to desegregate Hartford's public schools, in which more than nine of 10 students are black or Hispanic.

Because some towns have large minority or white populations, magnet schools have tried to achieve racial balance by setting specific enrollment quotas for individual towns. That approach has had mixed success. Many recently established magnet schools in Hartford have had difficulty attracting enough suburban white students but have been more popular among minority students from both Hartford and its suburbs. However, some older regional magnet schools - notably those operated by the Capitol Region Education Council - have been able to attract racially mixed student bodies.

"We've never had to use a lottery that was race-based," said Bruce Douglas, the council's executive director. "We've been able to draw a large number of suburban students to our schools. ... This court case is not a significant concern to us."

In Seattle, the school system allows students to choose among high schools and then relies on tiebreakers - including race - to decide who gets into schools that have more applicants than openings.

In the Louisville case, a mother claimed that her son was denied entrance to a neighborhood school because he is white. The metropolitan district was under a court desegregation order until 2001, but since then it has continued to use an assignment plan using racial guidelines.

In Connecticut, while most observers said that the ruling would have little effect on the Sheff case, it was less clear what impact it would have on schools under orders to comply with the state's long-standing racial balance law.  That law says that the racial makeup of any public school must be within 25 percentage points of the overall racial makeup of the local school district.

Since 1980, when the law's regulations took effect, the state has required several towns to redistrict schools or adjust attendance policies to comply with the law.  Blumenthal, the attorney general, said that Thursday's ruling raises questions about how the state law might be applied, but that each case would have to be evaluated individually.

"We know of no particular racial balance plan in the state that would be invalid under the Supreme Court's ruling," he said.

Some towns, including Manchester and West Hartford, are under pressure from the state to improve racial balance at some schools.  In light of Thursday's court ruling, "we will definitely re-examine the entire racial balance plan we submitted to the state," said Margaret Hackett, chairwoman of the board of education in Manchester, which was cited two years ago because one of its 10 elementary schools was out of compliance.

West Hartford officials said that plans to reduce the racial isolation at two south end schools are based not on designating enrollment by race, but by boosting achievement at the schools and drawing families of all races from throughout West Hartford. The district will continue to work on improving the schools with an eye on how the court ruling will affect other integration efforts, said Jack Darcey, chairman of West Hartford's board of education.

Note:  the opinion expressed below does not represent that of this website
We Keep Succeeding At Failure
Hartford Courant
Rick Green
June 29, 2007

As we nod off again, give thanks to the Supreme Court for its 5-4 decision telling us not to bother with race when trying to create equality in education.

No, this inequality isn't about "extreme" issues like race. It's not about income either, since our cities are repositories of impoverished minorities.  So relax, there's no need to disrupt our antique education system, which preserves and enhances divisions based on race and class.

If you believe this hokum, then you probably think more money will solve our education problems. These divided, inferior schools will be our downfall, preventing us from having an educated, competitive workforce.

Back in 1965, a team of Harvard researchers visited Hartford, warning city officials that they "will have lost the ball game" if the region's growing racial imbalance wasn't addressed. Now, it's the first-ring suburbs that are up for grabs.

More recently, Trinity College researchers found that Connecticut's efforts under the Sheff v. O'Neill decision to create racially mixed magnet schools in the Hartford area have failed.  In West Hartford, schools have grown more segregated. Neighboring Bloomfield, at 95 percent, has a higher percentage of minorities than Hartford. Windsor and East Hartford will be there soon.

I heard Gov. M. Jodi Rell Thursday morning on the radio, touting a budget that gives an additional $260 million for public schools. Sure, let's just give Hartford - and what the heck, Greenwich and Avon, too - more money.  That might be useful, if most of it wasn't funding preservation of the same old divide.

"Segregation is harmful," John C. Brittain said when I called. A lawyer in the Sheff v. O'Neill lawsuit, Brittain was repeating - for the zillionth, drowsy time - that racial and economic isolation are destructive. Business leaders, worried about a nonexistent future workforce, agree.

The problem is us, the way we run this ant farm of a state with all our school boards, police departments, planning and zoning commissions and accompanying political fiefdoms.

"Rather than continuing to try and make these separate schools for rich and poor work well," Richard D. Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation in Washington, D.C., told me, "we might try instead to give every kid the chance to go to a middle class school."

Dozens of school districts around the country already choose to balance enrollment based on income. St. Joseph College Professor Carlota Schecter told me her research proves the point we continue to ignore: Poor kids do better when they go to school with middle class kids. This is dangerous, sleep-disruptive thinking.

Schecter looked at the vocabulary of preschoolers in West Hartford, comparing children from different backgrounds, and found "children in economically integrated programs made significantly greater gains."

Yawn. We're still building new schools in Hartford and the suburbs, reinforcing racial and economic divisions, even as we pour additional millions into special programs, including the governor's new initiative dramatically expanding preschool.

"Racial segregation, particularly in education, leads to other segregation and disadvantages in the broader community," Brittain said, before I drifted off. "Look at Hartford."

No, look at West Hartford, Bloomfield or Windsor: They're Hartford back in 1965.