Principals For A Day Take Look At Schools

April 13, 2005
By JORGE AMARAL, Courant Staff Writer

Calvin E. Woodland has had a long career as an administrator, counselor and professor in higher education, working at community colleges from Daytona Beach, Fla., to Newark, N.J.

But Woodland, the new president of Capital Community College in Hartford, got a taste of working with younger students Tuesday by serving as principal for a day at Greater Hartford Classical Magnet School.

He was one of 40 community leaders who shadowed the actual principals of Hartford schools during the annual Principal for a Day program. A variety of church, business and corporate leaders, police brass and even a hip-hop DJ, Kid Fresh, took the district up on its invitation and spent the day in the city schools.

"We want the people in Hartford to realize that education is everyone's business," Jacqueline Hardy, senior director of parent and community programs for the school system, said. "We have great things going on every day, but unless people get in there and see it, they'll never know."

The goals of the program are to improve the public perception of the schools, provide positive role models for the students, build and strengthen support for public schools, and provide an inside experience with Hartford schools, students, and staff, Hardy said.

Woodland and Timothy Sullivan, principal of the Greater Hartford Classical Magnet School on Woodland Street in the city's Asylum Hill neighborhood, both said they enjoyed the experience.

"For most of us not involved in public education, it gives us a firsthand look at the challenges at primary and secondary schools," Woodland said.

Some of the other guest principals were Cathy Carpino, president of the Hartford Federation of Teachers; George Bahamonde, president of the United Way of the Capital Area; Hartford police Deputy Chief Daryl K. Roberts; Hartford police Lt. Marc Rubera; city council Minority Leader Robert L. Painter; council member rJo Winch; Rosanne Druckman, executive director of the Hartford Consortium for Higher Education; board of education Chairman Robert Long; school board members Elizabeth Brad Noel and Michael Williams, and the Rev. James Walker.