Not since redevelopment in Windham nearly 40 years ago have we seen such construction and re-construction the likes of which we are witnessing today. Not on the “major parcel” (Jillson Square), mind you, but Windham's schools.
Steven Adamowski, the former superintendent of Hartford Public Schools, arrived in August 2011 — not with a shovel or backhoe — but with a mandate from the state board of education to fix 20 years of neglect and to lift our schools out of the education cellar.
Adamowski, a one-man show, has begun transforming in a few short months Windham's school system into a competitive institution that, hopefully, will assure student achievement, a higher graduation rate, and students’ ability to meet life and workplace goals.
Will it work? Better then Windham's redevelopment project — an open space used by illegals to play soccer and for the occasional "prayer festival."
In the short term, a dramatic reconstruction of our schools will produce a dramatic improvement to our students’ achievement gap.
In the medium-long term, Dr. Adamowski's reconstitution will yield only minor improvement unless NCLB is tuned and made realistic. Teaching to the test and humiliating a school, its teachers and students for failing to make adequate yearly progress has not worked. The most important social legislation since Kennedy New Frontier and Johnson's Great Society has failed miserably. NCLB must be re-legislated.
Provisions for parent-student engagement beyond school must be introduced back into the scheme of everyday life. Our families must be reconstituted. We cannot have successful students going home to a dysfunctional home.
We need not only to fund schools, but to fund social services. A comprehensive problem can only be fixed by a comprehensive solution. Community schools, outreach programs that identify children who are struggling in school and intervene not only in the school but also by providing resources and education to the family, are critical to academic success.
Windham's teacher turnover —projected at 80% (See status WPS) over the next five years — must be addressed. Much of the turnover is accounted for by teacher job dissatisfaction and teachers pursuing other jobs. One reason for this is, not surprisingly, teacher compensation. Teachers in Windham are often paid less than in other kinds of schools — and depart accordingly.
But, there are indications that low salaries are not the only reason for the high level of turnover. Significant numbers of teachers who depart from their jobs report that they are hampered by inadequate support from the school administration, too many intrusions on classroom teaching time, student discipline problems, and limited faculty input into school decision-making.
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