Amid heightened public criticism of the school district and the state of school building conditions, two community members spoke up this week to defend the superintendent and said she should be given room “to do her job.” During Monday’s meeting of the Board of Education, Beaver Hills resi dent and long-time education consultant Nitza Diaz was one of those community members who publicly defended Supt. Madeline Negrón’s work over the last three years leading the New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) district. The way to measure equitable leadership is by how someone responds to the problems they inherited, not by blaming them for having inherited those problems, Diaz said. “Sometimes I read things in the media that criticizes instead of unites us,” she added. Diaz said she has worked in education for 20 years. She said the recent heat Negrón has been facing regarding the school district is an indicator that “we are going backwards.” She agreed that the conditions of school buildings “are not the best,” but she said that should not mean that the community tells Negrón “pa fuera” — meaning, puts her out. Diaz also said it is important for the district to have a leader of color to represent communities of color. Negrón has made progress with chronic absenteeism rates and other achievement data, Diaz pointed out. She argued that the community engaging with “media criticisms” does not fix the buildings. “This is what I call pettiness. Pettiness in the sense that she’s not being allowed to do her work,” Diaz said. She concluded with her hope that the community will criticize less, allowing Negrón to “do her job.” Following Diaz, former Fair Haven Alder Jose Crespo — who now works as a special project manager for the Alliance for Connecticut Charter Schools — Zoomed into Monday’s Board of Education meeting to call for the community to give Negrón the opportunity to “do her job.” He also called for the community to consider the school district’s financial challenges while it works to address building concerns. He too noted “the absenteeism has dropped dramatically” under Negrón’s leadership and that the school district has seen academic gains and improvements in literacy and suspension rates while introducing more career pathways and internships for students. “Progress does not happen overnight,” he said, especially when working with limited resources and long-standing challenges. Nevertheless, he said, Negrón has been a stable leader for the district for the past three years. “We just need to give Dr. Negrón some time to be able to receive the resources and the staff that she requires,” he concluded. Another member of the public who spoke up during the board meeting was teachers union President Leslie Blatteau. Blatteau said via Zoom Monday that while NHPS’ facilities issues take time and resources to fix, “the additional reality is the work of the alders, the work of the community highlighting the crisis is incredibly welcomed,” she said. That advocacy, she added, will help the district make “forward progress securing the resources we need to address the unsafe conditions.” Watch the full testimonies at Monday’s recorded meeting below. The post Diaz, Crespo Defend Superintendent appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less