The NAACP New Britain Branch and the Black Democratic Club of New Britain opened the 2019 Black History Month with a Town Hall Meeting on education in New Britain.
About seventy people attended the event, led by Michele Stewart Copes and a panel that included NAACP Education Chair Gerri Brown Springer, schools Superintendent Nancy Sarra, Board of Education President Nicole Crawford Rodriguez (D), OIC Director Paulette Fox and State Representative Bobby Gibson (D-15).
The Education Town Hall meeting was held at Spottswood AME Zion Church.
Panel members and members in the public in attendance discussed a number of issues affecting New Britain students, and particularly students of color.
Sarra discussed the need for additional school funding from the city. Republican Mayor Erin Stewart froze funding for New Britain schools in her 2018-2019 city budget, which took effect without City Council approval.
Sarra said that, between city and state funding, it would take an additional $30 million per year of funding to provide an equitable education for New Britain students.
Panelists and members of the public at the meeting discussed that educational success for New Britain studentsrequires creative learning techniques, building relationships in the community to help students’ learning experience and summer educational opportunities.
Sarra said that, with students’ reality often including online interactive games, today’s children need to be reached using new learning techniques.
School district officials discussed strategies underway to increase the number of teachers of color in the New Britain schools, such as the Educators Rising program in the school system. The program encourages New Britain High School and DiLoreto School students to pursue an educational track toward teaching careers.
School officials also said that the district is creating a career ladder program for paraprofessionals to become teachers, recruiting teachers of color for the New Britain schools from other states and building a retention program by encouraging networking between New Britain educators of color.
Rep. Gibson discussed state legislation that he introduced, House Bill 5009, that would require that,
That section 10-16b of the general statutes be amended to include African-American studies in the social studies component of the prescribed courses of study in public schools.
Gibson said that the legislation would require all students to learn African-American history.
State Representative Bobby Sanchez (D-25), who is the new Chair of the state legislature’s Education Committee, was in attendance at the Town Hall meeting. Ald. Brian Keith Albert (D-2) and Ald. Manny Sanchez (D-AL) were in attendance as well.
The Town Hall meeting is the first of a four part series being hosted by the NAACP and Black Democrats during Black History Month in February.
The next Town Hall meeting will be at Bethesda Apostolic Church at 249 Stanley Street on February 8th on economic development and housing.
There will be a February 15th Town Hall meeting on criminal justice at St. James Baptist Church at 45 Daly Avenue and a February 22nd meeting on health care, Social Security and Medicare at a location to be determined.
