New Britain schools Superintendent Nancy Sarra is inviting the City Council and school board to meet in monthly “open house sessions.”
Sarra made her invitation in an open letter send to the New Britain community on Friday.
“Earlier this week,” Sarra said, “I proposed an idea to our Board of Education members regarding improved communication with the Common Council. Their answer was a resounding yes.”
The letter came after Republican Mayor Erin Stewart was widely criticized for saying she would continue her longstanding policy of flat-funding city funding for the operation of New Britain’s public schools, despite strong indications that the Republican mayor’s low schools funding is associated with low academic scores in the city’s schools.
Stewart had sought to blame New Britain’s low academic scores on the school district, itself, saying, “what I will not do is blindly throw additional tax dollars into a massive bureaucracy that is failing our students,”
Those comments, in her official annual “state of the city” speech, draw widespread condemnation.
In response, Rep. Bobby Sanchez (D-25) said, “this new attack on the hardworking educators in our schools is part of a larger disturbing trend where if you’re looking for someone to take responsibility, you’re not going to find them at City Hall.”
“During Mayor Stewart‘s term,” Rep. Sanchez said. “New Britain has gone from middle of the pack to dead last in achievement and funding.”
Stewart had essentially admitted, in her comments, that she has flat-funded the city’s schools, saying, “Every year, the Consolidated School District of New Britain receives about $126 million of taxpayer money, and today, it is dead last, when every metric within the state of Connecticut education performance index.”
In her open letter, Sarra said that, “I propose that we host monthly, voluntary open house sessions for Common Council and Board Members, with established norms that will help with the key elements of a strong relationship and, most importantly, trust.”
“The purpose,” said Sarra, “is to share information based on facts and to have an honest, face-to-face dialog and answer questions and concerns both ways. The goal is to hear multiple and diverse perspectives,” adding,
I want your input around this venue to improve dialog and trust through respectful conversation. The topics to be discussed should be generated by all. If the issues are around staffing, then let’s start the conversation there. We may not agree on all points, but one thing we can agree on is that the discussion should be based on facts.
On Friday, Stewart said that she had, “reached out to the Superintendent and the President of the Board of Education to discuss the current situation of our schools in a public forum for everyone to see and participate in.”
On Sunday, Stewart made the surprise announcement that she would not be running for governor in 2022, as had been was widely expected.
Stewart is presently being potentially challenged in this 2021 mayoral election by perhaps three different Democratic candidates, Rep. Bobby Sanchez, community leader Veronica DeLandro and activist Alicia Hernandez Strong.
