Troubled School's Leadership Changed

August 4, 2005
By RACHEL GOTTLIEB, Courant Staff Writer

To revive the city's most troubled elementary school, Superintendent of Schools Robert Henry is overhauling Milner Elementary School for the second time in two years and moving the school's current principal across town.

Jacqueline E. Mann, who was brought in two years ago to reverse a trend of miserable test scores, is being transferred to Naylor Elementary School as assistant principal. On Monday, Sherlye Jackson will move from her post as Fox Middle School assistant principal to acting principal at Milner.

Mann, widely admired as a strong instructional leader, struggled with what she called a culture of poor student behavior at the school in the city's Upper Albany neighborhood. She was disturbed by the poor attendance by parents at meetings she called to discuss the school's problems and by high teacher absenteeism and the failure of district administrators to send long-term substitutes for teachers on leave. On some days, the district did not send subs for teachers who called in sick, she said, and she was faced with teaching the classes herself or distributing students among other classes.

In a controversial statement this year, Mann, who is black, said some of the white teachers at Milner were culturally out of tune with the school's predominantly black student body.

Jackson, 49, attended the school as a first- and second-grader before moving on to other schools around the city. She ultimately graduated from Weaver High School and has worked throughout the district: 13 years as a special education teacher in Moylan's "Reach" program for emotionally disturbed children followed by stints as assistant principal at Kinsella Elementary School and at Quirk and Fox middle schools. She has also worked as a special education teacher in Boston and Atlanta and as assistant director of Jumoke Academy Charter School in Hartford.

"It's like coming home," Jackson said Wednesday. When the offer came, she said, "I didn't have to think about it. It's a wonderfully challenging assignment."

Jackson's challenge is this: oversee dramatic improvement in standardized test scores that last year saw 73 percent of the fourth-graders land in the "below basic" scoring level for reading; persuade both students and teachers to attend school regularly; teach youngsters to behave themselves and obey their teachers; and raise teacher morale and parents' faith in the school.

The federal No Child Left Behind Act demands it. After years of failing to meet the legal requirements for improvement, the school is facing the most serious sanctions the law provides - including such options as closure, conversion to a charter school and reconstitution under new leadership, new teachers and changes in curriculum.

Mann politely declined to comment for this story. And Henry stressed that his switch is not a reflection on her talents. The school simply needs to try something different, he said.

Jackson, Henry said, "is someone who remembers the glory days of that school and she wants to return it to its luster. I see her bringing the school together while creating a climate of excitement."

When the school opens in September, about one-third of its teachers - about a dozen teachers - will be new. To draw experienced teachers to the school, Henry is changing the school structure a bit to create a master teacher for each grade in grades 1 through 6. Each master teacher would have a classroom aide who could take over the class while the master teacher helps new teachers in their rooms. The master teachers would be paid an extra stipend for the mentoring role.

For years, Milner has struggled with high teacher turnover and filled vacancies with inexperienced teachers.

Thirman L. Milner, a former Hartford mayor for whom the school is named, said he's sorry that Henry changed principals again and also sorry that he didn't name a man to the post. The male students need a role model, he said. "Why not look at a strong male?"

Henry said he picked the best candidate and that there's still a chance a man will be named assistant principal.

Jackson has a bachelor's degree in special education from Simmons College, a master's from Southern Connecticut State University in early childhood special education and a sixth year certificate from Central Connecticut State University.

A discussion of this story with Courant Staff Writer Rachel Gottlieb is scheduled to be shown on New England Cable News each hour today between 9 a.m. and noon.