Cross Principal Bolts After 5 Weeks Of Classes

Increase the pay for teachers and reduce them for Administrators.
Increase the pay for teaching assistants.
Lower class size.
Support teachers by protecting their safety.
The schools have to demand that society address the problems of poverty, inequality and aid families and children to reduce mental health issues and not leave all the problems to teachers and police because THEY do not have the power to put the money where it needs to be.
$44 billion to Ukraine for a proxy war when our kids are dying here from gunshots and crossing the street or having no health care.

Watching people in leadership roles continue to abandon their commitment is unsettling. Not surprised but the days of educators staying in this profession to teach generations are passing us; a lot of these contracts are incomparable to less impactful professions. #PayTeachersMore

Why would you decrease school admin pay scale. You would have no one to helm the buildings. With 19,000 kids in New Haven the state needs to give us more monetary resources so people won’t leave and to make sure the students have the necessary services they are not receiving currently with the mass amount of openings in the district. NH better listen to the cross teachers on who they want next up or place Edith back in the building.

Patricia, I'm all for increasing pay for teachers, teacher's aides, etc. But decreasing pay for administrators will just increase turnover among principals, which harms students and teachers.

Teachers are walking out mid-week on their students. If the school can't fill the position in a few weeks, the kids get a pass/fail, which comes down to if they show up or not. If they show up, they get a B. If they don't they get a 0. For high performing students looking to get a high gpa in honors and AP courses, this SIGNIFICANTLY diminishes their chances of attending a competitive-admissions university. NHPS seems to think it's "ok" for Pass/Fail in classes. Like that should be a relief for parents. The culture of lowered expectations is rearing its head and it's hurting the high performing students as well as those who need extra supports.
Go find some freaking teachers. It's not that hard. Lots of smart people around these parts. Pay them some money and give them healthcare and they'll teach.

And some of the NHPS hires are questionable at best. Teachers who have been fired from other school systems for misconduct. I guess it’s more important to fill empty positions than to safeguard our kids. All of our kids. Higher performing and struggling. They all suffer.

(It’s not too hard to google and figure this stuff out)

@mmorgan if it was that easy NH would be flourishing with teachers but it is not. It really takes a special person to take all the behaviors and disrespect and still love coming to work everyday. The teachers that left are those who had enough and are finally paid for what they do. We are losing very competent teachers because the district feels these behaviors are the norm and refuse to make kids accountable and parents accountable for their actions. The amount of time dealing with behavior management is what destroys others education. Schools need to go back to placing kids again in class based on academic and behavior placements. It is very unfortunate to do this but behaviors are ruining the education of others.

Why does the state of Connecticut and the Department of Children and Families (DCF) offer a contract to someone who is under contract, a brand new contract? This whole situation is unconscionable. It's been a rough go for educators these past years, and yes, most educators deserve much greater pay. It's also been a rough go for students. I'd be interested to hear from Cross high schoolers about their take on Principal Tarka leaving his job before the ink's barely dried on his NHPS/Cross principalship contract.... Hey, is NHPS's tagline still "Putting Kids First"?

I hope they achieve their dreams

The simple solution is for New Haven to charge every Connecticut town and state police, fire, educational, and library entity a $23,000 "training" fee for every city employee they hire.

Five weeks into the academic year, after taking the job this summer? WOW. I hope he at least gave the potted plants in his office a heads-up.

When the parents teach their kids to respect teachers and each other. Leave the I can do anything I want because of my size, my color or my parents don't give a stz attitude to what I do. Good teachers will go to towns where parents do teach their kids these things. Lead by example kids will be like their parents scary isn't it. Soon the streets of New Haven will be full of Adults that don't respect authority oh to late their here.

Whats also a shame is that employees that handle behaviors in the new haven schools havent had a contract in almost 3 years

Patricia Kane, and just wait until those heating bills start rolling in. The people of this country have been sold out to foreign interests, the 1%, and their big green energy scam. Hopefully people are waking up to all their nonsense and shenanigans on the world stage. Is World War 3 and potential Nukes worth a portion of Ukraine that is mostly Russian?

@ Maya & the NHI -

Comparative salary information? Clearly Tarka’s decision was all about the $$$. It’d be great to know the price at which he sold his integrity.

Without knowing the exact timeline but being a retired State employee, I would guess that Mr . Tarka was interviewing for both positions at the same time. His failure to honestly disclose this information suggests his self interest over integrity . Everyone involved was following their own time frame and procedures. Unfortunately for NH public schools, they have lost someone they thought was a good fit for that position. Hopefully there is a vice principal who will be stepping up now .

To leave such an important job after 5 weeks at the helm is very irresponsible. For the Department of Children and Families to offer and sign Mr. Tarka knowing that he had just started this position is completely irresponsible as well. I think Cross will be better off as Mr. Tarka has shown a deep flaw to his character, you can't just bail out of your commitments after 5 weeks at work. I despair thinking that now he'll be assistant superintendent at the state level. I agree with many commenters, teachers need to be more respected, better paid, and discipline needs to be brought back. We are not helping the children by lowering the expectations behaviorally and academically, we hurt them.

“Writing this letter is met with many conflicting emotions. In a very short time, I have developed a strong connection to the students and staff at Wilbur Cross,” "Tarka described Cross High School as ​“exceptional” and said it was an honor to serve and lead the staff and students for the short period."
Words designed only to assuage his guilt. What kind of person does something like this?

My kid is a sophomore at Cross now. It was awful when my older kid was there during the the Johnson years. Johnson truly cared, but was under-resourced and had an imbalanced view of the school. It seemed like Tarka was a FIXER. He seemed to have ideas for a total overhaul where the first few years would be messy, but the school would be better for it in about five years.... Now it is just messy. My kid does not have a math class AT ALL, and they are in several classes that they don't need while they can't get into classes they do. Tarka was supposed to help us fix this, but now we are scrambling to find another school.

That said, take a look at the NHPS website. It is full of typos and info about the 21-22 school year. The whole place is falling apart. While I wholeheartedly disagree with paying administrators less, I would strongly advocate for an intervention from the state. There is something SERIOUSLY wrong with NHPS beyond Cross being a broken shell of a what should be a school.

@puttingkidsfirst we can walk out on our contract whenever we want. There is nothing saying we have to finish out the school year.

If New Haven valued their educators like they do every other department then we wouldn’t have these issues. Police officers make more starting out their careers than New Haven teachers do after 5 years and that’s with a masters degree. I’m not saying we’re better but we deserve equitable pay for the work we do. Some of our classrooms are just as dangerous!

Kudos to Mr. Tarka realizing he’s worth more than what NHPS was willing to pay him. If they really valued his expertise and his work then they would’ve given him more to stay. Same with teachers… if the BOE and central office really cared they would take Darnell Goldson’s advice and “pay everyone what they’re worth and let the city and state figure out where to get the money” our own Board member said central office can make this right and do what’s best for our kids and educators but they choose not to!

Btw, we need a new Board President! One that doesn’t just say “yes” to everything Dr. Tracey and the mayor want! We need real accountability, real change and real leadership at the helm of such trying times!!

I after reading the comments here, I felt that I needed to respond. First and foremost every single person complaining about the loss of this administrator must first acknowledge how lucky they are that someone was willing to do the job in the first place. The number of college students on track to become teachers is less than half it was in 2012. Of those who do finish their degree and become teachers, 44% will leave the profession within the first 5 years. Historically, 8% of our more experienced teachers leave the profession every year. Given all this data, it seems that we should be much more grateful for the time we have with teachers and administrators than is evidenced in these comments.
Addressing some of the other comments:
I agree that long gone are the days where teachers stayed in one place for a full career, (the teachers retirement system is designed to benefit people who do this). However, no educator is abandoning their commitment to anyone. Connecticut is a work at will state and either party can terminate employment at any time. Its a fools errand to fault the educator for accepting opportunities that benefit them and their family because of some fictional notion of commitment.
Charging a Training Fee to either the employee or the employees new employer has been likened in court to a form of indentured servitude. Some employers have tried schemes like this to force retention but it has not held up to even the most rudimentary legal challenges. If you support this you might as well support forcing teachers to stay in their jobs at gunpoint. Its no different.
There is nothing wrong or illegal with DCF offering Mr. Tarka a contract. Why should they settle for a less qualified person just because they are under a new contract with another employer. Finally, no government run school district is putting kids first. Unfunded mandates and non education related responsibilities have pushed learning so far into the background it almost doesn't exist.

Is nobody going to mention that the principal of John C Daniels also resigned to go work for DCF on the same day? Their beloved assistant principal was involuntary transferred last month to Clinton Ave. Who is going to lead these schools? Sounds like principals can’t make it to office positions fast enough. In NHPS the more you are paid the farther you are from students.

NHPS2021: "Kudos to Mr. Tarka realizing he’s worth more than what NHPS was willing to pay him." You do this before you commit to this type of critically important position, not five weeks in. Parse it in whatever way makes you feel comfortable, but this is just contemptible.

New Haven is not an easy place to work, they pay less than other districts for objectively harder work. Anyone can leave when they want. The idea that people should sacrifice their own happiness, mental health, physical health, or wellbeing for these kids is absurd.

Lose the Kids First jargon as you have principals and highly paid admin sitting in offices, putting Themselves First daily. Student-facing employees are scarce for a reason.

Sustain yourself and your future: You First.

@ECM yup. Check online and see if that math teacher position was even posted by the district. HR consistently doesn't even bother to post job openings, leaving kids with subs or no one at all for months-- sometimes for the rest of the year. Teachers speak up, email, and complain, but HR doesn't care and doesn't prioritize hiring teachers.

This problem is not unique to New Haven. However, it is concentrated on municipalities like New Haven because there are better places to work for those in the educational system. So the problem is going to be felt most in places like New Haven.
Nevertheless, teachers and administrators are beyond burned out all around the entire country.
I'm not even going to mention what I believe brought things to this situation. I am, however, going to express how serious I believe this is.
In my opinion, this problem will snowball over the years to come and become a bigger and bigger problem. 1. The job of being an educator has lost its appeal. 2. There are going to be less people with the goal of becoming a teacher. 3. The mess to clean up will get more and more unmanageable. 4. Students' educations will increasingly be challenged instead of fostered. 5. Students that developed under these circumstances will enter the workforce or college

Publius! "some fictional notion of commitment." He signed a contract... fictional...... this is a scum move.
Smart people are bypassing teaching because of the conditions-- are you kicked, punched, sworn at, spit at, insulted, demeaned by children all day at your job? How much money would it take to keep you in the classroom.
Some smart people who comment are missing the point that the schools are a microcosm of the decay in our society and a bellwether of what to expect from these tots in the future

I agree 100% with Darnell Goldson's statement that he can remember as a student that teachers and principals stayed on the job long enough to have taught generations of family members. Comitment to students and dedication to the profession have waned over the yers. After 5 or 6 years in the classroom some teachers think they are ready and adequately prepared to become a school leadeer; after that, 5 or 6 years as a school principal they believe they are ready and adequately prepared to lead a school system.
Longevity, long term commitments and development of good working relationships with students, parents and community have given way to looking beyond one's current duties to what is posssibly the next opportunity. Absence of that sense of commitment to our clients, the students, produces little more than passing acquaintances, superficial efforts and unfulfilled promises.
Where have all the genuine leaders gone?

Darnell and Joey,
Were either of you criticized for pursuing your professional goals while working in a challenging environment for lower pay in comparison to peers?

For those who applaud Mr. Tarka for abandoning WCHS/NHPS for more money, I"m not so sure he'll be making more at DCF. His salary at Cross was something like $167,000.00, and his salary at DCF would probably be in the range of $100,000.00 - $123,000.00. I could be way off on this but I think he "bolted" because leading a big school like WCHS is a very demanding and time-consuming job, and of course, it's under the poorly run NHPS "leadership." The state's office/desk job at DCFprobably looked much more appealing after his five weeks at Cross and having to deal with Downtown's nonsense. Still, it was a move without integrity and any sense of professionalism.

In response to NHPS TEACHER, yes, I have been criticized for working as an educator in New Haven as a teacher and principal: criticized for working at lower pay than my contemporaries in other professions; criticized for putting in long hours throughout my 35+ years of service; criticized for having to work at manual labor jobs in the summer to make ends meet; and yes, criticized by some for my high expectations for myself, my students and my colleagues.
Having had the experiences and benefits of educating more than one generation of NHPS students, I still run into parents and students who have fond memories of our work together. That is the real reward, knowing that your work is appreciated. You're either in "with all four feet," or not.

ElvinTapper
Oct 3, 2022 11:38 am
“Writing this letter is met with many conflicting emotions. In a very short time, I have developed a strong connection to the students and staff at Wilbur Cross,” "Tarka described Cross High School as ​“exceptional” and said it was an honor to serve and lead the staff and students for the short period."
Words designed only to assuage his guilt. What kind of person does something like this?


ANSWER: A smart person.

NHPS Teacher
You have misinterpreted my comments. I did not nor have I ever
"criticized [teachers or administrators] for pursuing your professional goals while working in a challenging environment for lower pay in comparison to peers." I actually said the opposite. What I suggested in my comments is that the leadership of the school system (including myself) have not provided an environment where these professionals feel comfortable staying long term.

I would suggest that you read my comment again, which was "“I think we have developed a climate where longevity in any position is no longer guaranteed, so it’s easy to understand why teachers and principals would choose to leave when opportunities present themselves. I have noted in meetings in the past my frustration with the constant shifting of staff every year, and we will probably see more of these departures if we don’t change the paradigm.”

Blue: Question, "A smart person" - why?

Hats off to Mr. Tarka for taking an opportunity for a better position, and more money. NHPS is not loyal to anyone! Teachers, Paras, Nurses, Administrators, etc. Just move an Assistant Principal from Cross to the position! It's simple!!!! Why would Central Administration move another Principal from another school, when Cross has plenty of qualified Educators to become Principal? Mr. Worthy would have stayed if he was still over adult ed or working as a central administrator. Keep in mind there are so many principals sitting in their offices with no displine programs for inappropriate behavior of students etc. no cell phone policies in the district, a lack of materials for Teachers, and parents who are not informed by NHPS to take responsibility for the behavior of their kids! He and Ms. Mitchell were smart to get out of this mess! Kids walk around all day with cell phones, skip classes, and are passed on to the streets! At least they will use their talents now and NHPS will show them no loyalty and they were smart enough to move on!

Just to be clear, neither the school nor the district has messaged parents about anything. We have no idea who is in charge or what the plan is to make sure the whole place doesn't fall apart (More). The only messages we have had were to say that the parent-teacher conferences the teachers had scheduled for mid-day on Thursday would have to be canceled because that is a full day of school. STEP UP, NHPS!!

@HBCU5: I thought the idea was for an Educational Leader to be loyal to his/her students, staff, and the people who you signed a contract with. Also, maybe a better job, but how do you know his position will bring him more money? I'm pretty sure he was signed up to make $167, 000.00+ at WCHS.
https://jobapscloud.com/CT/sup/bulpreview.asp?R1=220609&R2=0855MP&R3=EI
https://www.jobapscloud.com/CT/sup/bulpreview.asp?R1=181228&R2=0377MP&R3=001

John Tarka is a good man and has every right to make a decision that is best for his family. His departure should not be an issue but an opportunity for another great educator to step into that role. NHPS has plenty of qualified home grown teachers who interview for administration roles every single year. There is no shortage of great educators in NHPS looking to make the jump into admin roles.
The real questions we should be asking are has NHPS fostered an environment that has allowed teachers to become future leaders in the buildings they have served for decades? Has NHPS promoted people with decades of institutional knowledge? Has NHPS schools promoted classroom teachers who are highly qualified instructional leaders? Are we hiring the best people based on the content of their character and skill set? Are we hiring people who have core values like integrity first, excellence in all we do, and service to others? People who communicate to their students that “this is important, you can do it, and I won’t give up on you!” I had the great honor to work with some of the best educators at Hillhouse for 17 years and so many others who are now in leadership roles throughout the district who are just waiting for the opportunity to step in and serve our amazing kids in the NHPS system. The students at Cross will be fine because NHPS students greatest asset is their strength of character. Good luck to Tarka and to the new person who steps into the role as the Principal at Cross.

As a lifelong educator as as someone who was raised with a level of integrity that promotes transparency along with an understanding of quality resolve, I am not happy to hear about this resignation under these circumstances. Though Mr. Tarka didn't "owe" anyone an explanation of his choices, I do believe there was a more honorable way to navigate this situation. I know there are brilliant educators that are committed to New Haven Public schools and are going to do well with this position. I hope New Haven Public Schools look at the talent in the district and make some good choices about promoting the right person to this position.

As Mr. Goldson stated, the role of a principal spanned decades, through multiple generations and genuine connections were made. Also during those times the BOE was more cohesive and parents actually parented and were held to some level of accountability. There are some things you cannot put a price tag on and the preservation of one's peace and livelihood is one of them. Yes this man committed to do a job, what within these schools, what that job entails isn't worth the strife that comes with it and unfortunately the collateral damage left behind are the students and families who want and are committed to learning, who strive to do the best. Where we are as a society is a sad and scary place. and as Patricia Kane stated if there is funding for a proxy war, there is funding to assist and support the communities within the states to improve the quality of life of its people who are trying to do and be better.

If you want Principals to stay in the seat for decades then perhaps you should hire people who are invested in the school they serve. This is not a knock on Tarka or Sweeting (Hillhouse Principal) but neither of them taught in the schools they were hired to lead and both of them are from out of state.
You can’t ask for loyalty from your employees when the employer doesn’t value loyalty themselves. Again this is just a reality of the situation. The days of employee loyalty are over because the days of employer loyalty ended decades ago. Ask all those NHPS teachers who have been LOYAL for 20 years strait where they are in the pay scale? Frozen 5 times and never reimbursed or put back on the appropriate step. They have lost 15k a year for over 15 years of loyal service. If you were frozen 4 years in a row 20 years ago you lost 15k every year for 15 years strait. That’s over 200k dollars lost by being loyal to NHPS!
Over the entirety of your career in NHPS you are talking about over half a million dollars.
Go ask a financial advisor how much money 500k invested over 30 years would net at the age of retirement and you’ll want to “quiet quit” everyday you step foot in that classroom!
And the best part is this October there will be an article in the newspaper about teachers getting raises for the next 3 years which will most likely still be 3-4 percentage points below inflation over the same period of time and then central office will scratch their heads wondering why there is still a teacher shortage.
But hey they gave us a card board box with a new lanyard, stress ball, and hand cleaner!
Oh and don’t forget those retention bonuses in January which combined don’t cover the step raise the teachers gave back which led to a 14 million dollar surplus the same year.
Anything less than 11% per year for the next 3 years is not a raise but another insult to the decades long injury which has crippled the NHPS system!

@loquacious truth: My sister started teaching at around $14,800.00, in NHPS (1979-1980), well before the Educational Enhancement act. She ended up teaching for 35 years. Apparently and unfortunately loyalty is a thing of the past.

Elivin: Why? Spend a week trying to teach in NH and you'll have your answer. My book will be published soon.

@Blue: I worked for DCYS (DCF) for three years and I taught/supervised in the NHPS from 1978 - 2012. They weren't all great or all good years, but they were all worthwhile. Many, if not most, of the people I worked with were very dedicated and stayed in NHPS for 25 years or more in some capacity. It was never easy, and it was always challenging. But I guess things are different now, I guess people are too.

Elvin: Much respect for your dedication. For me, the kids and parents were the BEST part of teaching in NH. Worth every bit of energy, worry and emotional highs and lows. It’s the administrators and central office brass that drove me to another district.

@Blue: 54 Meadow St. and the NHPS Administrative System could always be something that could eat at your soul. Much respect, and be well.