Teachers, NAACP and parents urge Hartford council to reverse mayor’s pause on school construction

Hartford — Teachers, union leaders and civil‑rights advocates urged the Hartford City Council on Dec. 8 to press the mayor to lift a recently announced pause on six approved school construction projects, saying the halt threatens student safety and could jeopardize state funding already allocated to local renovations.

"Unpause this pause," said Carol Gale, a Hartford teacher and president of the Hartford Federation of Teachers, who described standing water in stairwells and mold problems at Moylan Elementary and said the city has already spent $3,500,000 on renovations for three of the paused schools. Gale warned that "if school construction does not begin again this school year, the city will lose the 95% state reimbursement that was already approved."

Corey Betts, president of the Greater Hartford NAACP, questioned the process used to impose the pause, asking whether the Hartford School Building Committee — which Betts said assumes project responsibility after state approval — had been bypassed. "Was the Hartford School Building Committee bypassed? And if so, under what authority?" he asked the council, urging legal clarity and fuller community engagement.

Staff and union speakers described repeated, tangible safety problems. Lisa Crowley, a speech pathologist at Moylan, recounted an evacuation after a fire alarm tied to water and electrical problems and said custodial staff must set out buckets whenever it rains. Shelley Davis, president of the Hartford Federation of Peer Educators (AFT Local 2221), described children attending class in winter coats and said deferred maintenance becomes an ever‑growing liability.

Several speakers stressed that state approval and voter support had already secured funding for the projects. Michael Downs, president of the Hartford Federation of Substitute Teachers, said the pause raises legal questions about who controls project decisions after state designation and warned that delaying the work risks losing the state funds that make the renovations possible.

No formal action on the pause was recorded during the public‑comment period. Multiple speakers asked the City Council to obtain a legal opinion and to use its oversight role to ensure the School Building Committee and other statutory processes are followed before projects are delayed.

Council President TJ Clark recessed the meeting for a brief break and said regular business would follow; the council did not take an immediate vote on the construction pause during the session's public‑comment portion.