Meriden school board in contract talks with superintendent
Meriden school board in contract talks with superintendent
Meriden Public Schools Superintendent Mark Benigni seen speaking next to Board of Education President Rob Kosienski Jr. during a meeting in January 2020. | Dave Zajac, Record-Journal
May 24, 2021 06:51PM By Michael Gagne, Record-Journal staff
MERIDEN â Negotiations between the Board of Education and longtime city schools chief Mark D. Benigni regarding the renewal of the latterâs contract as school district superintendent are currently underway.
The current three-year contract was signed in June 2020. It technically doesnât expire until June 30, 2023. However, language under that pactâs âtermâ clause states prior to July 1, 2021, the Board of Education âshall vote for a new three-year agreement.â It states a similar vote would occur the following year.Â
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Cardonaâs ideas about education were forged in Meriden. Now heâll bring them to D.C.
Cardonaâs ideas about education were forged in Meriden. Now heâll bring them to D.C.
Miguel Cardona, principal of Hanover School, eats breakfast and talks about Justain Bieber with third graders Asharia Ray (left) and Dina Hamideh (right) in the school cafeteria in Meriden, April 1, 2011. I enjoy spending time with the students, said Cardona. This is just a happy place to be. (Sarah Nathan/ Record-Journal) Advertisement
RJ file photo - Miguel Cardona, first-time teacher, in his fourth-grade classroom at Israel Putnam School, Aug. 25, 1998.
From the outside, the Meriden Public Schools system looks like a network of struggling city schools. The state has designated it an Alliance District and one of the “lowest-performing districts” since more than one-quarter of the students are multiple grades behind in English, math and science. It is also an economically isolated district that spends 30 percent less per student than the state average despite three-quarters of its students coming.
From the outside, the Meriden Public Schools system looks like a network of struggling city schools.
The state has designated it an Alliance District and one of the “lowest-performing districts” since more than one-quarter of the students are multiple grades behind in English, math and science. It is also an economically isolated district that spends 30% less per student than the state average despite three-quarters of its students coming from low-income families. And the school ratings often used in real estate listings don’t look favorably on the district, either.
This is where Miguel Cardona President-elect Joe Biden’s pick to become the next U.S. education secretary grew up and spent 21 years of his 23-year career as an educator. And his experiences there his battles and the district’s successes will likely be front-of-mind as he coordinates policy for all the public schools in the country.
Miguel Cardona with his parents outside one of their first apartments.
President-elect Joe Biden Tuesday evening announced that Connecticut Education Commissioner Miguel Cardona is his pick to lead the U.S. Department of Education, an agency the president will rely on to get millions of students back into the schools closed by COVID-19 and to convince Congress to invest much more in education for a host of the president’s priorities.
“In Miguel Cardona, America will have an experienced and dedicated public school teacher leading the way at the Department of Education ensuring that every student is equipped to thrive in the economy of the future, that every educator has the resources they need to do their jobs with dignity and success, and that every school is on track to reopen safely,” Biden said in a Tuesday evening press release.