I will be taking a break from late night political events in the near term as I take care of my son and expecting wife while she is on bed rest. I can’t help but be worried however. I’m not worried about my unborn son or wife, they’ll be fine. Modern medicine is amazing.
I’m worried about what I, as a father of two, am going to do in just a few short years when it comes time for my children to start their educational careers. How can I in good conscience send my children off to school in a town that exhibits one of the worst examples of efficiency in cost and achievement. How can I delude myself into thinking my children will get a good education in East Hartford schools?
There is an obvious escape, which would be simply moving away from East Hartford to a town which has better schools. I like most of East Hartford’s residents don’t have that option however. I, like most residents, have the economic realities of living in CT (one of the highest cost of living states) weighing down upon my shoulders each day.
I don’t think I should have to move to another town for the sake of education. I think it’s about time East Hartford changes from the undesirable smudge next to Hartford into a shining beacon a revitalization. It’s time that East Hartford throws off it’s burden of failing schools and and the associated crime and economic stagnation they bring.
Monday I presented my thoughts on a solution to the East Hartford Republican Town Committee. Soon I hope to present my thoughts to all of you.
I hope that all the residents of East Hartford will stand with me when the time comes to dismantle this system that has been failing us for generations.
More to come…
Tags: Board of Education, East Hartford, Fatherhood, School Choice
February 14, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Dear Thoughtful Father,
As an older parent (having a child of 18 in an out of state college), and being an officer in a Connecticut RTC, also a fiscal and social conservative— I taught in Willimantic for 36 recent years. I must tell you that I admire your research and your quest for knowledge and information. That need to know will serve your children and your model will help them develop an intrinsic life long learning attitude.
And what can you do to help each of them daily in his growing and learning, beyond the read and spend time together, watch our for strange television idea infusion and show that your family culture is more important than that we see portrayed on signboards and in malls.
Be careful in your zest for righting the wrongs of educational bureaucracy, that you do not give your own kids the idea that daily school in EH is poorly planned and that the rules do not apply to them, and that you know better than staff they interact with.
Students who know the parent is interested and does stand by their teacher perform so much better than those who say- my father says this school sucks and I don’t need to listen to you.
You can believe that the attitude comes through so easily, and then the student is not dedicated to learning- he is dedicated to feeling superior to the petty rules that regulate when you have hundreds in a public area.
So while you seek the improvement – and I know there is always lots of room for that- just be careful that your young students feel dedicated to the job of learning in whatever class they are taking.
Yes- EH demographics have changed and heaped many new trials on the schools. Right or wrong, the challenges arrive daily. And right or wrong, money is spent to make up for homes/parents who are not engaged in parenting and school readiness.
Yes, work diligently on changing ed. mandates for social purposes that belong in the home. Work for society accepting that parents have a responsibility to send a child to school set to learn.
Just be careful with all the love that shows in thoughtful fathering – you do not undermine your children’s love to learn attitude with rants about what’s wrong with EH education. They are too young to separate your quest for improvement from not valuing their daily work in their office.
Please take the comments in the spirit they are given- from one who loves learners and knows there is much to be improved.
February 17, 2008 at 9:36 am
Jon -
Best wishes for your wife and soon to be born baby.
You have, in your brief time as a political participant, brought a keen mind and rational insight into local problems. That will serve the town well, provided you remain thoughtful, instead of just sounding like another noisy gong.
You have implored all to use arguements and fact to support judgements, yet when it comes to local education, you simply rely on test scores when our system is so much more complicated.
I trust you have read the Cambridge Report. We have an achievemet gap in minority groups. We have poverty. We have transingency. We have kids coming to our system without any substantive base of eduction to build upon. We have absentee parents.
I don’t believe any of this applies to you and your family. That means I whole heartedly believe your children will succeed and thrive in our school system.
How do I know this? I am you and my children are thriving in the East Hartford School System. It’s hard work checking their homework every evening after I come home from a long day at work, but being involved as a parent is the magic elixor.
Jon, visit Goodwin School. Set up an appointment with Principal Daniel Broudeur. Ask to speak with teacher Ben Upson. Let them tell you what your children will see and experience during their years at Goodwin School. Ask for a copy of the PTA roster and telephone some parents who have children at the school. They particpate, so ask them what they think.
Speak to Principal Pauline Fusco at Sunset Ridge and see the passion she has for teaching our children. See what she says.
I believe once you experience the school system, you will come away with a better understnding of why the system spends as it does (very high special education needs among other things).
Jon, continue to ask questions since the answers will surprise you.
February 17, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Both of these comments couldn’t be more accurate. Jon, I know your new and you got passion, which I respect, but tone down your know it all attitude, quite frankly its somewhat arrogant. Real day-to-day politics and education is much more complicated than some theory or quote from a book.
February 17, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Agree, agree and agree.
Much of the low scoring students (who may opt out of taking the test or bubble any oval – if they feel like it) and the multitude of problems for staff to deal with are costing most of the big bucks. The difficulties some young students can manifest are more strange than you could invent.
Yes, research mandates and needs and find out more. There are decisions made that can never have the reasons shared. If you take a few years and make a study of educational law- it is quite a strange tangle. I point you to Thomas Mooney’s Practical Guide to Connecticut School Law. Shipman and Goodwin law firm have a good website with Q and A.
While Connecticut says that all resident students are welcome and in need of education by tax payers, I have a strong feeling that if several cities were to make that partnership with federal authorities to report illegal aliens who are arrested, the big city school populations would have a shrink factor saving quite a bit of money (including the need for state grants paid by all). So I am back to a recommendation to secure those borders and deal with what is here first.
February 17, 2008 at 11:01 pm
It seems you gotten some good advice from the previous commentators. I wish you all the best with your family and newborn to be…..John