Memo from Stone and Brittain to File Re: Interview with Mary Carroll, May 11, 1991; Correspondence from Stone to Carroll

    PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL 

May 17, 1991 

TO +: Sheff files 

FROM: Martha Stone/John Brittain 

RE : Interview with Mary Carroll, May 11, 1991 

Mary Carroll, Director of Project Concern, has been involved 
with Project Concern for about twenty years. She has seen the 
program reach its height back in the late seventies, and watched 
it decline over the last decade. 

I. CUTS IN THE PROGRAM 

The program used to have 55 paraprofessionals which have now 
been reduced to six. These persons used to ride on the school 
buses with the children, would check up on absences, etc. There 
is a continued need for their presence. 

There is no longer any money in the program for parent 
activities or in-service training which would be valuable to the 
program. 

11. TRANSFER TO CREC 

Her position is that CREC can serve no better than the HBOE. 
Although HBOE has not given its full support of the program over 
the years, generally the level of support has been sufficient to 
keep the program going. 

III. FUNDING OF THE PROGRAM 

The state now provides about 90% of the funds for the 
program. It is now a line item for next year ($965,000) in the 
Governor's budget under "interdistrict grant.” The state used to 
pay a per pupil cost. Now they pay $750 per pupil to CREC and 
CREC returns it to Hartford. ($250 from Chapter I,,8250 from the 
Kennelly bill and $250 other.) This is basically a maintenance 
budget. The program asked for more money but the request is 
being cut back. The state pays 50% of the transportation costs. 
Fach receiving district gets 50% of ECS (Educational Cost 
Sharing) for each Project Concern child. 

 



  

Hartford gets 1.2 million which is put in the general fund, 
not in the school system's budget. 

The program used to be funded under Chapter I which was 
difficult because Mary was always being forced to fit the kids in 
from the validated districts only. Another problem this funding 
mechanism caused was a limitation on studies conducted by 
Iwanicki and Gabel. Because part of their evaluation always had 
to include Chapter I, they could not really study the entire 
range of relevant questions. 

IV. CONSTRAINTS ON THE PROGRAM 

Financial constraints as well as space constraints in 
suburban towns have been the two major problems. 

Transportation costs are particularly high and the state's 
failure to fully fund this limits the numbers of students who can 
participate. Glastonbury stopped taking elementary students 
because of the cost of transportation. Granby takes only junior 
high and high school. 

Because of space constraints, the following towns are 
decreasing their enrollment: Manchester, Plainville, Simsbury, 
South Windsor. 

Newington has indicated because of their fiscal problems and 
the referendum they may not participate next year. 

Vv. SUBURBAN PARTICIPATION 

Canton 
Farmington - Bill Streich*x* 
Glastonbury - Steve Teagarten¥* 
Granby 
Manchester - Wilson Deacon¥* 
Newington - Bill Ward*¥* 
Plainville - Jim Richey 
Simsbury - Joe Townsley¥* 
South Windsor - Joe Wood 
Suffield 
West Hartford - John Battles 

Avon, Wethersfield, East Hartford, Rocky Hill, Bloomfield 
and Windsor are not participating. 

 



  

VI. EXCLUSIONS 

Special education and bilingual students are excluded from 
the program. Certain districts within the City are also excluded 
from being feeder schools because of the limits on the no. of 
buses and the need to keep the length of the bus ride manageable. 
(The longest bus ride is 50 minutes.) 

VII. COMPOSITION AND SELECTION PROCESS 

Mary sends approximately 1,100 random letters to students in 
the validated districts. 60% come to her office and fill out 
applications. They can accommodate only 100 new students per 
year, or 1/6 of the demand. 

This year there are 727 students in the program. 87% are 
black, 11% are Hispanic, 2% other. Historically the Latino 
participation has been low. 

The random selection letters eliminate many students whose 
parents may not know how to read. Ideally, there should be a 
staff person from the program who recruits within the community. 

 



  

errors COLA connecticut civil AN 4 
liberties union foundation 

32 grand street 

hartford, connecticut 06106 

telephone: 247-9823 

  

  

May 17, 1991 

Ms. Mary Carroll 
Project Concern 
128 Westland Street 
Hartford, CT 06120 

RE: Sheff v. O'Neill 
  

Dear Mary, 

I want to thank you for taking the time to talk to me and 
John. We felt it was an extremely informative meeting. As a 
follow-up to our conversation, I would greatly appreciate it if 
you would send us the following materials: 

1. Mahan, Thomas W., The Impact of Schools on Learning: 

Inner-City Children in Suburban Schools 
  

  

2. Mahan, Thomas W., Project Concern 1966-1068, A Report on 
the Effectiveness of Suburban School Placement for 
Inner-City Youth (1968) 

  

  

  

3. Ninety-First Congress, Second Session on Equal Education 
Opportunity. "Hearing Before the Select Committee on 
Equal Educational Opportunity of the United States 
Senate.” - 19790 

4. Connecticut State Department of Education, “Reaction to 
Racial Imbalance Guidelines for Hartford Public 

Schools.” April 20, 1970 

5. State Board of Education Minutes (Capital Region 
Planning Agency Endorses the Expansion of Project 
Concern) January 7, 1970 

   



  

10. 

li. 

12. 

13. 

-'3 wm 

Gable, R. and i Iwanicki, B., A Synthesis of the 
Evaluation Findings from 1976-1980 (May 1981) 

  

  

Gable, R. and 1Iwanicki, E., Final Evaluation Report 
1986-87 Hartford Project Concern Program (December 1987) 

  

  

Crain, R., et al., School Desegregation and Black 
Occupational Attainment: Results from a Long Term 
  

  

Experiment (1985) 
  

Iwanicki, E., and Gable, R., Almost Twenty-Five Years of 
Project Concern: An Overview of the Program and Its 

  

  

Accomplishments (1990) (and sources cited therein)   

List of program, staffing cuts which have been made 
since late ‘70's, early ’'80's. 

Copy of grant proposal submitted to the State for next 
year 

Chart tracing state and local funding since inception of 
the program 

Chart tracing total enrollment and. new student 
enrollment by town over the last ten years 

I would be glad to have someone pick these materials up if 
it is too inconvenient to send them. Thank you. 

MS/amt 

Sincerely, 

Poa... Sve 

Martha Stone 
Attorney for Plaintiffs