Leadership Greater Hartford and Hartford Public Schools Working Together on School Governance Council Initiative

Leadership Greater Hartford is completing its second year of coaching and training in support of the Hartford Public Schools’ initiative of enabling local governance at its higher-performing schools.

In 2009, when he announced the School Governance Council initiative, Superintendent Steven Adamowski recognized Leadership Greater Hartford’s experience and expertise in getting diverse groups of people to pool their collective talent and perspectives in support of a common cause.  He recommended that Leadership Greater Hartford provide initial and on-going training and coaching for the newly formed councils saying, “No one in our region does it better.”

The Hartford School Governance Council model calls for parents and community members to engage collaboratively with school administration and teachers in making decisions about the school’s budget, accountability and progress. With these goals and tasks in mind, Leadership Greater Hartford, under the leadership of Vice President Doe Hentschel and Process Consultant Nat Brown, has created and implemented a comprehensive training plan and support network to cover both the content associated with specific tasks and the processes of collaborative decision making and team work.

Each of the 35 Hartford Public Schools with councils has been provided with a Process Coach whose role is to empower the members and assist the council in developing a collaborative culture.  Our coaches, who come from all walks of life and include current and former executives, consultants, religious leaders, community organizers and professional career and life coaches, work as volunteers out of their commitment and care for the children of the City of Hartford.

Our 2010-2011 coaches are:

Helen Apostolidis Stewart Battle Roxanna Booth Miller Ellen Boynton Paul Christie Madelyn Colon Leticia Cotto Brenda DelGado Lyne Desormeaux Rosanne Druckman Mary Jane Eisen Carlos Figueroa Beth Gibbs Judith Green Jim Grigsby Jack Hale Katherine Hanaway

Natalie Holder-Winfield Darren Hudson Dwayne Jackson Selette Jemison Jackie Johnson Ann Lankford Dorothy Paleologos Amanda Perez Allan Polak Ivette Rivera Dreyer Rosaida Rosario Steven Rothman Melina Rudman Lorna Sedor Amy Sevell-Nelson Mercedes Soto June Thomas