Students from Hartford Public Schools will be back in the classroom in the next couple of weeks. Entering the 2023-24 school year, Superintendent Dr. Leslie Torres-Rodriguez said there are dozens of teacher vacancies, but there is improvement from the prior school year.
“The challenging piece of that is that not 100% of our students will have access to a highly qualified educator, that’s what is most unsettling and uncomfortable and unacceptable,” Torres-Rodriguez said.
During the 2022-23 school year, there were 97 teacher vacancies. This year, the number of job openings is down to 60.
Rodriguez credits several factors in bringing down the numbers, including programs like Paso a Paso and Caribbean Connection, where teachers from the Caribbean Islands were hired, as well as several outreach efforts.
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“It’s a combination of the marketing, word of mouth, I mean we have incentives, we have referral bonuses and support for our new teachers,” Rodriguez said.
The school district is also addressing student absences. During the COVID-19 pandemic, chronic absenteeism was up to 49%. During the 2022-23 school year, the percentage of students missing several school days dropped to 37%.
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“Is it where we want to be? No. We want chronic absenteeism to be zero, however, we know that students, we found out, that there are root causes that get in the way,” Rodriguez said. “From students feeling like they are not engaged in what they are learning, they want to feel that sense of relevance, but also students that have to work.”
Last school year, school officials visited over 5,600 students at home.
“It’s not just a phone call, it is building a relationship and sustaining a relationship with that young person and their family,” Rodriguez said.
“If children have something to look forward to at school, like involvement with arts or any extracurricular activities like sports or music or something, they will be more likely to attend school,” former Hartford parent Samariya Smith said.
Hartford school officials are also addressing community violence. This year, there have been 28 homicides, including the death of 12-year-old Se’cret Pierce.
Rodriguez said students and families impacted by gun violence receive access to resources, as well as help in identifying warning signs.
“We want to make sure our students get an opportunity to understand what are the signs of potential distress or when they or a peer is not in the space they are used to being in,” Rodriguez said.
