State
Board of Trustees for the Hartford Public Schools
Keypoints
State Board of Trustees for the Hartford Public Schools
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Special Act 97-4 declared an educational crisis existed in the
Hartford public school system. The
act dissolved the local board of education and established a state board of
trustees to take managerial and administrative control of the school system
beginning June 1, 1997.
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The board’s term expires June 30, 2002, following a two-year
extension approved by the Connecticut State Board of Education in October 1999.
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Special Act 97-4 gives the board of trustees specific duties and
responsibilities all in order to: 1)
increase student achievement; 2) enhance the quality, adequacy, and equality of
educational opportunities; and 3) allocate and manage resources efficiently and
effectively. The act also provides
the board of trustees with unique collective bargaining powers.
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State monitors were created by Special Act 97-4 to oversee
progress made by the board and school district to improve operations and
increase student academic performance. The
monitors prepare quarterly progress reports, which are distributed to the
legislature, governor, State Board of Education, and the board of trustees.
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Major improvements have been made to the district’s
administrative operating systems including finance/budgeting, purchasing,
personnel, and technology. The
trustees have also implemented several key policies intended to increase student
achievement; major programmatic initiatives intended to increase student
performance have been made as well.
% A structure is in place to monitor implementation of recommendations made in an independent operations audit required by Special Act 97-4, upon which the board has placed a high priority. Steady implementation progress has been made, although the full board does not receive regular status updates.
% A structure is in place to monitor implementation of the Hartford Improvement Plan as required by Special Act 97-4. The plan’s 48 recommendations have been condensed into a broader planning document; a complete implementation status report has not been developed since mid-1998 as a result.
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The board of trustees began addressing elementary and middle
school accreditation in late 1998. Progress
and planning have been incremental, with six schools currently undergoing
initial work. A fully comprehensive
strategy for accreditation of all schools has not been developed to date.
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The current system supports various ways to involve parents in
their children’s schools, rather than a single mechanism as required by
Special Act 97-4. The board has a
parental involvement policy; the structure to implement the policy is changing
under the new superintendent.
% The
advisory council established by Special Act 97-4 has helped develop several
major board policies and assisted in the search for a permanent superintendent.
At present, the council seems to lack a clear focus or agenda and its
meetings are not conducted in a routine, organized manner.
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The state monitors are diligent in documenting quarterly progress
made by the board of trustees and the Hartford public school system.
The monitor process adds a level of accountability to the system and the
quarterly reports document progress from a qualitative and quantitative
perspective. No annual report is
prepared showing the system’s cumulative progress.
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Steps have been taken to develop legitimate operating systems,
settle all collective bargaining contracts, develop a long range facilities
plan, make capital improvements to schools, and develop a comprehensive set of
policies and regulations. Standardized
academic programs are currently being implemented districtwide.
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Written procedures are needed for many administrative operations.
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Visits by committee staff to randomly selected schools revealed
the schools to be clean, although some schools showed signs of wear.
No preventative maintenance plan is in place.
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Formal reporting to the board on the implementation of its
policies is not standardized.
% The board’s primary focus has been on implementing an organized system of operational/administrative structures and controls; focus should now be on implementing board policies outlined in its new policies manual, along with oversight of the district’s recently initiated academic programs.