Filling the Opportunity Gaps Schools across the country are looking for how to address what is being touted as the learning gaps resulting from a year mixed with virtual, hybrid and in-person models of instruction, mask wearing, physical distancing, and isolation. There are definitely gaps that need to be addressed, however, they can be reframed …
Author Archives: HFT
A Grounded Perspective / Una Perspectiva Fundamentada
The workforce in Hartford Public Schools is a diverse body, and during this challenging time, we are concerned professionally and on a personal level about the impact of the Coronavirus. We understand that the community is being impacted quite dramatically and ultimately are concerned about our friends and family. As it is very challenging to …
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Securing a Vaccination Plan to Benefit Our Schools
Unions representing teachers and support personnel, superintendents and parents today are thanking state officials for adopting their proposed parallel vaccination plan presented last week for Connecticut’s school communities. The Board of Education (BOE) Union Coalition’s recommendations were included in directives announced this afternoon by Governor Ned Lamont. Click here for the coalition’s letter to …
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“Rewarding to Win on Issues that Matter” to Our Members
Despite the challenges posed by a deadly second wave of COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) infections, union members over the past three months made significant progress at the negotiating table. We’re highlighting a contract victory for our latest collective bargaining report resulting from workplace activism in spite of the limitations imposed by the pandemic. The win reinforces …
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Calling for Uniform School Quarantine Policies
Board of Education (BOE) Union Coalition leaders are urging Governor Ned Lamont create a clear, uniform policy regarding how school districts should handle quarantines and leaves in our public schools. Labor leaders in a January 8 letter said that too many districts are not following procedures established by health experts for responding to COVID-19 exposures. …
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Return to Full In-person Learning
With COVID numbers decreasing and a national push to return students to classes, we all seek to know when and how that transition will occur in Hartford. To that end, I reached out to the superintendent last week on behalf of all the HPS unions and asked if she had plans for increasing in-person leaning. …
The Opportunity Gap, not the Achievement Gap
The following is a statement delivered to the Hartford Board of Education by HFT President Carol Gale I am reading the book, “How to be an Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi. As a result of that reading I stand before you to put my learning on how to be an antiracist into practice and to …
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Hartford Adminstration Exploring a shift to a longer school day or year
From today’s Hartford Courant…
Discussion of the Insurrection for AFT Members
With impeachment underway, the foundations our democracy under attack, and the inauguration of Joe Biden only a few days away, we’re navigating a crisis the likes of which our country has never seen. We want to make sure our members understand what the next few days will look like and what we’ll be focusing on …
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The Bonds That Unite Us
“One country, One destiny” was embroidered into the inner linings of Abraham Lincoln’s jacket on the night he was assassinated; it is also etched on the lapel flag worn by Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi during the reconvening of Congress on the evening of January 6, 2021. After the violence that descended …
