Memo RE: Current Events with Attached Draft

    EDK MEMORANDUM 

PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL 

TO: Sheff Legal Team 

FROM: Dennis Parker 

RE: Current Events 

DATE: March 26, 1999 

  

Attached is a memo which I am distributing at John’s request. John wanted feedback 
as to 1) whether his involvement with the groups is potentially a conflict of interest and 

2) whether members of the Sheff team should support the coalition’s efforts. 

The press conference went well yesterday. After the conference, Phil and I spoke with 
Kenny Green and Fernanda Jacobs about the possibility of introducing legislation this session. 
Both were extremely enthusiastic and offered to assist in any way they can. Phil and I agreed 
to get them language by next Tuesday as some of the bills to which the language might be 
attached, may be introduced as early as next Wednesday. Anyone who has comments on what 
Marianne’s e-mailed around, should get in touch with either Phil or me as soon as possible. 

We should try to have a telephone conference call early next week to discuss these and 
other matters (particularly relating to further development of a plan). Diane will be in touch 
soon to make arrangements. 

Thanks. 

 



  

DRAFT #5, 3/22/99. NOT FOR PUBLICATION. WORK IN 

PROGRESS. - FOR REVIEW AND COMMENT. DISREGARD 

GRAMMATICAL ERRORS FOR NOW. 

DRAFTED BY PROFESSOR JOHN BRITTAIN BASED UPON INTERVIEWS 

EDUCATE OUR CHILDREN NOW 

HARTFORD PARENT NETWORK 

Community Renewal Team 

555 Windsor Street 

Hartford, CT 06120 

March 30, 1999 

The Honorable John G. R§land 

Governor of the State of Connecticut 

210 Capitol Avenue 

Hartford, CT 06106 

[Legislature too?] 

Re: Complaint about Lack of School Improvement in Hartford and a 

Denial of Educational Opportunity 

Dear Governor Roland: 

We are a group of organizations representing parents, guardians and 

advocates for equal educational opportunities for the children in the Hartford 

Public Schools. Many of the people associated with our organizations in the 

early months of 1996 first called for a “Declaration of Emergency” to protest 

the unsuitable conditions in the Hartford schools. In response, the Hartford 

Common Council adopted a resolution on May 13, 1996, which expressed 

the sense of this emergency, and the lack of confidence in the Hartford 

Board of Education. Specifically the May 1996 resolution found that the 

Hartford School system: 

> “was destroying the hope and aspirations of our children... 

> has proven incapable of improving the test scores of 

children...[and] 

 



  

The Honorable John Roland Page 2 

March 30, 1999 

> the existing bureaucratic structure of the Hartford School 

system is incapable of self correction... .” 

Following in the spring of 1996, the State Commissioner of Education, 

Theodore Sergi, promised that the State would intervene in the Hartford 

school system. This intervention later led to an evaluation of the Hartford 

school system by the Commissioner of Education and the Northeast 

Regional Laboratory at Brown University. 

Next in the fall of 1996, the Commissioner of Education’s evaluation 

produced “48 Recommendations” on improving education in Hartford, 

which the Connecticut General Assembly and Governor later enacted into 

Pubic Act 97-4. According to Commissioner Theodore Sergi at the time, 

“The core initiatives reaffirmed the goals of Hartford’s own strategic plan 

and rely heavily on its existing school governance team school structure.” 

Further, Commissioner Sergi recommended that the Hartford Board of 

Education “outline clear consequences for schools that are failing to make 

progress in improving student achievement..., and adopt a system wide 

“updated personnel evaluation policies and procedures with appropriate 

training by September 1997... .” 

In the meantime, the Connecticut Supreme Court had issued its landmark 

school desegregation decision in Sheff v. O'Neill in July 1996. In the next 

1997 legislative session, the General Assembly passed legislation to abolish 

the elected Hartford School Board and appoint the State Board of Trustees 
for the Hartford Public Schools. Embodied in the take-over legislation were 

the 48 Recommendations and the “Strategic Plan” adopted by the Hartford 

School Board in 1993. These goals became the mandate for the newly 

appointed State Board of Trustees to achieve a quality level of education in 

Hartford. 

This group asserts that the Strategic Plan and 48 Recommendations have not 

been implemented with the sense of urgency nor in accordance with the 

Action Plans. The Action Plans were developed in April 1997 by the Joint 
Partnership for School Improvement, a combined group of Hartford and 
State Department of Educational officials along with parent and community 
representatives. This Partnership is the official coordinating body to 

implement Public Act 97-4, the Hartford school improvement legislation. As 
a result of the school improvement legislation and the development of the 
Action Plans, this group believes that the State Board of Trustees is 

 



  

The Honorable John Roland Page 3 

March 30, 1999 

responsible for directly implementing the Action Plan. Yet, the Board of 
Trustees has failed to accomplish any substantial progress with the Action 
Plans. 

The 48 recommendations or the Strategic Plan required the Hartford Board 
of Education and later the Trustees to implement: 

intradistrict school choice’ 

school governance teams 

decentralization 
accountability 
reallocate financial resources out of central administration and 

into the schools for supplies, curriculum development, staff 
and other 

6. community use of buildings 

G
o
 

The Trustees have refused to implement the above and other required 

changes, and in collusion with the entrenched Hartford schools bureaucracy, 

they have thwarted every attempt at real reform. 

Our organizations renew the call for urgency to adopt more comprehensive 
reforms at a far quicker pace to improve the performance of low performing 

schools throughout the city. More specifically, we are Educate Our Children 
NOW and the Hartford Parent Network.” To assist us, we invited Professor 
John Brittain from the University of Connecticut School of Law to provide 

legal counsel and advice. 

The Hartford schools have opened twice for a new school year since the 
appointment of the Trustees. We are frustrated and deeply disappointed 
with the slow pace and token amount of change thus far by the Board. As a 
result, we believe the Trustees have not fulfilled their mandate to adopt 
measures that are likely to lead to substantial improvement in the quality of 

education in Hartford. The recent test scores for Hartford demonstrate the 
total failure of the Board of Trustees to undertake any meaningful reform. 

The Trustees have proven incapable of meeting its moral obligation to 

provide the children of Hartford with a high quality education required for 

  

i See generally the 48 Recommendations or the Strategic Plan. 
Other organizations will be invited to join in this challenge: HART Education Committee, the Ministerial 

Alliance Education Committee, the NAACP, La Casa de Puerto Rico and the Hartford Federation of 

Teachers. 

 



  

The Honorable John Roland Page 4 

March 30, 1999 

citizenship and economic participation into the 21% century. The cumulative 
dropout rate form seventh grade through grade twelve is sixty-one percent. 
The vast majority of the inmates incarcerated in Connecticut’s 16,742 prison 
beds are high school dropouts, and fifty percent of these inmates come from 
Connecticut’s three largest cities (Hartford, New Haven, and Bridgeport.) 
We insist on reform NOW so our children do not face incarceration later. 

We believe that all children are capable of learning at the highest level. Yet, 
we do not feel that the Trustees for the Hartford Public Schools have 
demonstrated a belief in the children to learn, nor a sense of urgency to 

correct existing problems. Every day of every week, the public educational 
structure and system of Hartford is continuing to destroy the natural 
curiosity and the spirit of Hartford’s children. The Hartford public schools 

have the worst test scores, the most violence and numerous dilapidated 

buildings. As a result, we demand that the State Board of Trustees: 

Y. Adopt high education standards and high expectations for what every 
child should know and be able to do by the end of each year at grade. 

The administration must communicate these standards and 

expectations to every school, every classroom, every teacher, every 

student, and care giver adult for every child. 
2 Revise the school curricula to correlate with the high standards and 

expectations. 
3. Implement the structural changes as the practice in every classroom 

with instruction and assessment until the students begin to meet the 

higher standards. 
4, Invest a sufficient percentage of the total budget in staff development. 

5. Require that every child will continuously receive instruction until the 
child reads and writes at grade level. 

6. Establish a public school choice program, which rewards highly 
populated schools, and mandates reforms for schools with insufficient 

enrollment. 
7. Evaluate the effectiveness of each Hartford school, and hold 

principals and professional staff accountable with consequences in the 

failure to make significant improvement in the first year. 
8. Expand high quality public and private early care and education 

programs for all children for ages three to four. 
g, Increase the budget expenditure to the statewide average for the 

textbooks, teaching supplies and materials and library books. 

 



  

The Honorable John Roland Page 5 

March 30, 1999 

10. Appoint three Hartford residents with at least two parents to the Board 

of Trustees. : 

In conjunction with the adoption of a school improvement plan, the Trustees 

must empower the community to join in a collaboration to redefine the role 

of the school. The unifying mission for this collaboration is to connect 

Hartford’s children with the fundamental resources necessary to ensure their 

health, success and well being through Hartford’s schools. All children need 

and are entitled to five basic tools of life: 

a personal one on one relationship with a caring adult 

a safe place to learn and grow 
a marketable skill to use upon graduation 

a healthy start with a potential for a healthy future P.
O 

O
P
 

The failure of the Hartford public school system has wrecked havoc on the 

on the lives of Hartford's residents, and created stress on Hartford families 

with school age children. Inaction by the Trustees has contributed to a 

permanent underclass among Hartford’s youth. Unemployment, gangs, 

drugs, suicide, shootings and violence all are the outcomes from the failure 

by the Board of Trustees to act. 

[Need a good closing demand. Should we say:?] 
The lack of educational leadership displayed by the Board of Trustees is so 

unacceptable that we demand a reconstitution of the Board with the 

immediate resignation of the Chairman and two other board members to be 

replaced by three Hartford residents, two of whom are parents. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Educate Our Children Now 

  

By: Yvonne Duncan Grissett 

 



The Honorable John Roland 

March 30, 1999 

Hartford Parent Network 

  

By: Shirley West 

Hartford Branch of the NAACP 

  

By: Russell Williams 

Addendum: Dennis Moynihan suggested these changes after the printing of 

the last draft. 

P.4 

3. Implement the reorganization of school personnel in order to provide 

for intensive small group instruction of students at risk of academic failure 

in reading, writing or math, regardless whether the child meets special 

education criteria. 

6. Establish a public school choice program, which gives parents real 

choice and enables them to select schools for their children based upon a 

demonstrated record of academic success. 

Also, reverse the order of #2 and #3. In other words place the “Implement 
...(the changes) before “Revise the school curricula... .”  



  

TO: 

FROM: 

RE: 

DATE: 

NUMBER OF PAGES (INCLUDING THE COVER SHEET) 8 

IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE THE NUMBER OF PAGES INDICATED ABOVE, 
PLEASE NOTIFY US IMMEDIATELY AT 212\219-1900. 

FAX COVER SHEET 

John Brittain 860/570-5242 

Sandy DelValle 516/496-7934 
Juan Figueroa 212/431-4276 
Chris Hansen 212/549-2651 

Wes Horton 860/728-0401 

Marianne Engelman Lado 212/802-5968 
Willy Rodriguez 860/541-5050 
Martha Stone 860/570-5256 

Phil Teleger 860/728-0287 
Elizabeth Sheff 860/527-3305 

Dennis Parker 

Current Event 

March 26, 1999 

 



* ok 4 oh REPORT xx AS OF MAR 26 "98 Gi. ale 

COMMAND #208 

  

DATE TIME TO/FROM MODE MIN/SEC PGS STATUS 
001 3/26 16:0 860 570 5242 EC--S 03705 008 OK 

002 16:11 15164967934 G3--S 05” 13 008 OK 

003 16:16 2124314276 EC--S 02" 18 008 OK 
004 16:19 2127304652 EC--S 11710 008 OK 
05 16:31 8607280401 EC--S 02720 008 OK 

06 16:33 212 8025968 EC--S 03744 008 OK 

007 16:37 203 541 5050 EC--S 03740 008 OK 
08 18:42 860 570 5256 EC--S 02718 008 OK 

009 16:45 860 728 0287 EC--S ©3759 008 OK 

010 16:49 527 3305 EC--S 03705 008 OK 

FAX COVER SHEET 

TO: John Brittain 860/570-5242 
Sandy DelValle 516/496-7934 
Juan Figueroa 212/431-4276 
Chris Hansen 212/549-2651 

Wes Horton 860/728-0401 
Marianne Engelman Lado 212/802-5968 
Willy Rodriguez 860/541-5050 
Martha Stone 860/570-5256 

Phil Teleger 860/728-0287 
Elizabeth Sheff 860/527-3305 

FROM: Dennis Parker 

RE: Current Event 

DATE: March 26, 1999 

NUMBER OF PAGES (INCLUDING THE COVER SHEET) $8 

IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE THE NUMBER OF PAGES INDICATED ABOVE, 
PLEASE NOTIFY US IMMEDIATELY AT 212\219-1900.