Student Identified Priorities within New Haven Public Schools
Written through discussion and consultation with approximately 11 students attending High School in the Community, Metropolitan Business Academy, Wilbur Cross High School, and Sound School at the Citywide Student Council meeting on April 28, 2022.
Every month, student leaders from almost all high schools in New Haven meet at Hillhouse to discuss the problems that students face in schools. Every month, the grievances and concerns of students form a pattern that has remained familiar this past year. The students of New Haven Public Schools want to find ways to bring a long-term and stable resolution to these chronic problems: Students are struggling with the violence, fights, and explosive conflicts that seem to persist, without resolution. We are struggling with the lack of proper maintenance and accessibility, especially regarding gender-neutral bathrooms, in our schools. And we are struggling with mental health, which has sadly turned into a buzzword with no weight or decisive action put behind it.
We understand that the pandemic has put a heavy strain on school resources and New Haven’s already limited funding to serve a large number of students. However, that does not mean that these issues should go unaddressed and dismissed. We must find creative solutions to NHPS’s chronic underfunding, for the situation is dire. As of April, there is no long-term nurse present at High School in the Community. There is a notable uptick in fights and mental health problems present in Wilbur Cross with very limited and strained outlets for help. There are virtually no rigorous and accessible mental health resources at Sound School, and at Metropolitan Business Academy, mental health resources, like social work interns, seem to slowly be slipping away due to lack of funding during a time where students need it most.
New Haven Public Schools should focus more on and direct additional resources towards creating restorative justice programs that are created by and put in place by qualified mental health professionals, health services, and proper maintenance for the construction, maintenance, and free, private access of bathrooms, especially gender-neutral bathrooms. Directing additional resources towards mental health services and gender-neutral bathrooms is not a form of coddling, the highest-achieving schools in Connecticut are schools that are well-resourced. New Haven students have the right to a quality education, that can only be done when students are not worrying about where they’re going to get food, where they will lay their head down to go to sleep, or where they can find their next fix. Pointless suspensions, criminalization, and the militarization of our schools do absolutely nothing for students except add fuel to the fire and appeal to the senses of those who do not trust us to do the right thing, that directly contradicts New Haven Public School’s claim that they hold all students to a high standard.
To reiterate, we strongly urge that the Board of Education pay special attention to:
- Addressing and fixing NHPS’s chronic underfunding
- Directing more money and resources to research-backed and rigorous restorative and transformative justice initiatives and social and health services to address issues like poverty, fights, and addiction. This comes at a vital time that we must take advantage of as the Connecticut State Legislature seeks to release massive amounts of funding for youth mental health services in the midst of the mental health crisis and the terrifying rise in adolescent suicide.
- Directing more money and resources to school maintenance and the construction of private and accessible gender-neutral bathrooms which is in accordance with NHPS’s recent resolution that strives to ensure that all students, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identitiy, feel safe, affirmed, and supported in schools.
Keep your promise and listen to the voices of the students that you serve, for the grievances remain the same and continue to echo in its familiar pattern.
Thank you,
Dave John Cruz-Bustamante, Wilbur Cross High School
