A letter sent to a student’s family by a Hartford magnet school said the student should consider going to another school because of her low grades. Now Hartford’s superintendent is telling principals not to push out low-performing students.
There have long been rumors that Hartford’s magnet schools exited students with poor grades to inflate the schools’ overall performance measures. Now some said there’s proof that this has been happening.
“They have the ability to pick and choose which students they’re able to educate,” said Matt Conway, executive director of RiseUP, a local tutoring group. “And it’s leaving the neighborhood schools with less resources to educate and support the students that need the most resources and the most support."
Conway said that a student had been attending the Sport and Medical Sciences Academy magnet school, but she started to struggle with her grades, so she was referred to RiseUP for tutoring in April. Conway said he met with school officials in May and they agreed to do more to help the student, but no action was taken.
"[I] never heard back from the school on any of that until the mother ended up getting the letter from the school asking her to transfer the student to another school,” said Conway.
See the letter below:
Conway made the letter public, which sparked criticism about the school’s tactic. Within weeks, Hartford’s superintendent sent a letter to all school principals reminding them of her expectations.
“All students have a right to be educated in the school in which they enroll,” wrote Superintendent Beth Schiavino-Narvaez. “A student who is failing to meet academic performance standards should not be encouraged to transfer to another school.”
See the superintendent's letter below:
Conway said he’s hopeful that the school will now give the student the help she needs.
