Hartford Board of Education Chairperson Shonta Browdy is seeking legal counsel regarding Mayor Arunan Arulampalam’s decision to pause renovation projects at six schools in the city.
“I think that he is operating out of his authority,” Browdy said. “I think it is one of the worst things he has done since he has been in office. We have children in these school buildings and they deserve to be in adequate facilities just like everyone else. These six schools will not be an adequate learning environment for children.”
Browdy explained that the City Council, the state of Connecticut, the Hartford School Building Committee and Board of Education had all approved moving forward with renovations when the mayor halted them.
“It robs kids of being in the best physical environment that is state of the art and we see in other schools,” Browdy said. “They will be left behind and that is probably the most alarming part.”
A memo from the city’s corporation counsel states that the mayor has the authority to pause projects.
Last fall the mayor paused renovation projects at S.A.N.D. Elementary School, María C. Colón Sánchez Elementary School, McDonough Middle School, Parkville Community School, Moylan Elementary School and Batchelder School citing concerns about underenrollment and college readiness for many of Hartford’s schools, asking for a comprehensive review of the schools.
The Board of Education’s decision to seek legal counsel is occurring as health concerns are being raised by The Hartford Federation of Teachers and Hartford Federation of paraeducators at Moylan Elementary School, who cite a leaky roof and potential mold issues at the school.
Shellye Davis, the president of the Hartford Federation of Teachers who works at Moylan, said she became injured, twisting several ligaments in her leg, when she slipped on water in 2024 as a result of continuous problems with the leaking roof. State Sen. Saud Anwar had requested for the state Department of Education and state Department of Public Health to look into the issue.
Earlier this month a lawsuit In Hartford Superior Court was filed by Bridgitte Prince, a community activist, against the mayor for negligence concerning the conditions at Moylan School. An injunction in that lawsuit was denied on Jan. 8.
City officials are expected to file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
Prince said she visited the school last month and was shocked to see large buckets filled with water as a result of the leaking roof. She said during the visit a teacher showed her areas of visible mold and mouse droppings.
“My whole thing with this situation is these children are helpless and you bring them to a situation where the danger is real and the danger is imminent,” Prince said. “I am sickened by what I have seen and sickened by the fact that it was going on for as long as it was going on.”
Maura Fitzgerald, spokesman for the state Department of Health, said in an email that local health departments, not DPH, are responsible for investigating complaints of mold and mice in buildings.
Cristian Corza-Godinez, spokesman for the city of Hartford, said the health and safety of Hartford students and staff are “our absolute priority.”
He said the Hartford Department of Health and Human Services in partnership with the Hartford Public Schools Facilities Department launched an immediate coordinated response to address the concerns at Moylan Elementary.
“While our records showed no formal complaints for mice or mold at Moylan prior to this referral we took these allegations seriously and acted immediately,” Corza-Godinez said. While we are currently developing a sustainable 5-year plan of excellence for our schools and facilities, we remain committed to immediate action whenever health concerns arise. Our goal is to ensure that every student at Moylan, and across Hartford, has a clean, safe, and healthy environment in which to learn.”
Davis said a building is only safe if it is water tight.
“I don’t know how you put safety on pause when staff and students see buckets in the hallway,” she said. “It makes you feel like the city has given up on them. I am concerned about the health of students in all of these schools and they need to do mold testing.”
Not seeing eye to eye
The mayor and Browdy disagree on the future of the city’s schools, with the mayor highlighting a need for a five-year plan to evaluate all the schools in the district.
The study, the mayor said, would look at what “schools should remain schools and where we should look to consolidate.
“The piece of that focus around consolidation will answer the question for us, which is secondary, concerning which of these school construction projects should be continued and as soon as we have a good sense of that and as soon as the Board of Education has signed off on that, we will continue those school construction projects,” Arulampalam said.
In response, Browdy said the mayor does not have the authority to make a decision on the closing of schools.
Carole Gale, president of the Hartford Federation of Teachers, said the union also does not support closing schools or pausing renovations.
“Our immediate concern is for the health and safety of members, students and staff that work and learn in those buildings,” Gale said.
She added that the union also has financial concerns if the renovation projects are not resumed by the end year, explaining that the city could lose $3.5 million it invested in the projects.
Further, Gale said closing schools would have a negative impact in Hartford.
“When you look at school closures historically, research shows that tends to most negatively impact communities of color,” she said. “How that plays out in Hartford is the easier schools to close are neighborhood schools. The neighborhood schools are predominantly schools of color.”
The mayor said he chose to pause the school projects to take a comprehensive look at all the schools in the district and their future.
“When we accept the state dollars for millions for these six projects, then we are tied to ensuring those six buildings remain schools for the next 20 years and without a real plan forward, I don’t know we can make that kind of an obligation and create that sort of restriction for generations to come,” the mayor said.
The district has spent $3.5 million on renovations so far.
“Until we put together a real plan, I think it is irresponsible to put the city on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars,” the mayor said.
Arulampalam shared concerns about under-enrollment and student performance in the city’s schools. Enrollment in the Hartford school district has been dropping as more students seek placement in regional magnet or suburban schools through the Open Choice program, which is aimed at ending inequity of educational opportunity for Hartford students.
“Three decades ago we had three high schools in the city of Hartford and a much larger student population,” he said. “Now we have 11 high schools with the smallest student population and each of them is under enrolled. Not a single one can fill the football team. That is indicative of so many other resource challenges we have. None of these schools have enough social workers and school counselors and reading and math specialists.”
The mayor added that at the three historic neighborhood high schools, Weaver, Buckley and Hartford High, the college readiness rate for juniors and seniors is between 12 and 14%.
“Unfortunately some members including the board of ed chair seem more committed to political cowardice than engaging in tough conversations about where our schools should be,” the mayor said. “We have seen a real lack of political courage playing out in the public sphere.”
Browdy said the Board of Education is the only group not playing a political game.