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Union speakers urge board to redirect funds to classroom-facing roles amid vacancies
Summary
Union representatives told the board the district is expanding supervisory and managerial positions while student-facing teacher positions remain vacant; they cited roughly 10 vacant math teaching positions and questioned a proposed supervisor salary of $190,000, asking the board to publish the evidence behind personnel decisions.
During public comment at the July 27 New Haven Board of Education meeting, union representatives urged the board to prioritize classroom-facing positions over the growth of supervisory and managerial roles.
Miss Blato introduced remarks on behalf of the federation. Ashley Stockton, speaking on personnel-report items, told the board that student enrollment in NHPS is declining and that "there are approximately 10 vacancies in student-facing math teaching positions right now." Stockton challenged the district's decision to create additional supervisory roles rather than combining or reallocating existing positions. She noted a proposed reclassification and said, "This position will pay $190,000 for the upcoming school year," and asked the board to share the evidence supporting the creation or expansion of supervisory posts.
Stockton also criticized the district's reliance on a packaged math platform and questioned whether added management positions, supervisors and instructional coaches are the best use of limited funds. She described teachers's experiences of seeking professional learning they did not receive and argued that supervisors often have limited recent classroom experience.
Superintendent Doctor Negron responded in the personnel presentation, saying the literacy reclassification and other personnel moves are funded through reallocated dollars and that the personnel items on the agenda would not increase the district's standing budget. Mayor Elicker and Mister Wilcox told the board they believed New Haven still spends a smaller share of its budget on central-office positions than the state average. Board member Doctor Joiner said he would recuse himself from a math-supervisor vote because his daughter is a math supervisor, but clarified after conversation with the superintendent that the math supervisor assignment was not part of the personnel report before the board that night.
The board approved the personnel report after discussion. Union speakers asked the board to publish the data that justified supervisory hires and reclassifications so the public could review the rationale.
