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Town-Gown Partnership

Hartford synergy: A beautiful relationship: Local universities and the city's children

Hartford Courant Editorial

July 09, 2011

The Hartford area is fortunate to be the home of several institutions of higher education, and even more fortunate that these colleges are deeply involved in the life of Hartford — especially the city's public schools.

The most recent town-gown collaboration is an affiliation between Hartford public schools and the University of Hartford, one of the last projects of outgoing school superintendent Steven J. Adamowski and of his successor, Christine Kishimoto. Under the agreement, qalified students from Hartford may enroll in U of H classes, and the college's education students will be given priority for student teaching positions in the city.

The university will use Hartford schools for research into improving elementary and secondary education. The city will benefit from that research.It's an approach that will pay off for both sides.

Also, Trinity College is joining with the Hartford school system to expand the highly regarded Hartford Magnet Middle School to include grades 9 to 12 by building an addition. The new school, to be called the Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy, will be located on the Learning Corridor campus next to Trinity. Trinity faculty will be involved in designing the high school's curriculum, and Trinity students will be mentors and tutors there. Qualifying high school seniors may enroll in Trinity classes for college credit

More than 40 St. Joseph College student-teachers work in the Hartford school system. The college's School of Education faculty act as mentors to first-year teachers in Hartford. St. Joseph also provides scholarships for at least 15 Hartford children to participate in a dance and theater program on the West Hartford campus.

In such public-private collaborations, city students have educational programs far beyond what an urban school system can provide. The colleges' students are enriched by urban-experience fieldwork.

Congratulations are due the visionary educators on both sides of these well-considered town-gown partnerships.