A friend once said to me: “Hartford has some of the greatest minds the world will never know.” I’ll never forget that statement, and it should drive all of us to do everything we can to make sure that every kid in Hartford has the opportunity to learn and develop to his or her full potential.
Over the past year, I’ve talked with hundreds of parents and teachers about how we can improve Hartford schools. We’ve got work to do, and we had a good conversation at Thursday night’s education debate, where three Hartford mayoral candidates — but not Mayor Segarra— came to discuss these important issues. Video is below.
We covered a lot of ground at the debate — strengthening and supporting neighborhood schools, improving parental involvement, better supporting English Language Learners, and being creative in addressing under-enrollment. Among other things, I spoke about the need to:
* Allow Hartford kids to fill vacancies at magnet schools
* Give priority to families who live near schools
* Support the superintendent’s focus on lifting up the worst-performing schools and serving kids with special education needs
* Require every magnet school to have an ELL program
* Consider using space at under-enrolled schools for workforce training, adult education, and other services
* Advocate for mental health and homelessness programs so that our students and families get the support they need to get the most out of their education.
* And more…