Saundra Foster, mother of Trevor Foster, sent her son to Bloomfield High School because he was not getting the education he needed while he was enrolled in the Hartford school system. “[Trevor] got into so much trouble with the Hartford school system or with Hartford High in general”. According to Saundra, her son was a “good kid” and he wanted to be in school while performing well, however the education system in Hartford did not allow his learning to develop and was ultimately frustrated. Because of such problems, Saundra added in an interview with the Hartford Courant, that she would fight any action that would remove her son from Bloomfield High School. In 1985, Bloomfield High School, home to roughly 2,000 students, became the center of a legal controversy that drew national as well as local attention to a violation of the law that had never been seen before (Drury A1).
Bloomfield, Connecticut is a suburb located in the Greater Hartford area that was considered an option where minority parents could send their children to school without having to worry about educational problems within the school district. Although its high school as well had a high African American population, it was still thought to be a better option of education than the high schools in the Hartford Public School District.
Four Hartford residents Saundra Foster, Claude Johnson, Elizabeth Brown and Norma Wright (Windsor) were charged with first degree larceny for illegally enrolling their children into Bloomfield High School. Pursuing criminal sanctions in a school residence case had been a first for the town of Bloomfield, therefore, not just the police, but educators and community leaders were much involved. Larceny, a felony that carried a maximum of five years jail time as well as a $5000 fine was placed in front of the parents who just wanted their children to receive a better education. Also, they wanted their children to have the opportunity for a fair chance at getting an equal education as those students who were of higher socioeconomic statuses. “How does one steal a free education” (Mendoza, Saunders) is the question Att.M. Donald Cardwell rose when trying to figure out why the Bloomfield police were warranting arrests for parents of non-resident students.
Stealing an Education
In March of 1985, nearly 100 students from other towns attended Bloomfield High School, which at the time, was illegal because they weren’t actual residents. By sending their children to live with relatives that were taxpayers of Bloomfield, complaints and concerns were made by mostly white parents and school board members, which urged the Board of Education to disenroll students essentially for not belonging. However, Dorothy H. Billington, the only African American on the Bloomfield Board of Education revealed that the [white] community of Bloomfield over exaggerated the estimates of so many “illegal students” in the school system, and “there were some [whites] who felt extremely uncomfortable being in the minority” (Drury A12).
Sen. Frank Barrows suggested that the Bloomfield Board of Education were not actually the ones who were in control, it was the police. In his interview with the WVIT Channel 30 news he states, “What’s going on it seems like the police department, whenever they want to make an arrest, they just go out and say, ‘Well here’s a person,’ and they’ll arrest them” (Mendoza, Saunders). This violation of the law did not seem to be much of a big issue to the school, yet the police department intended to make clear that nonresidents would not be welcome to attend school in Bloomfield. Ultimately, was this a race related case? Out of the many students that were “jumping the line” how come only four families were singled out? Was it because they were the only ones from Hartford?
Hartford School System Inferior
Saundra Foster’s personal feelings were that Hartford Public schools were geared toward students with special needs; such institutions like Hartford Public and Weaver High School were difficult to receive the proper education by students who had the ability and actually wanted to learn (Mendoza, Saunders). “Is Hartford providing its youth with a good education?” is a question that came up a lot during this case. Although Amanda Cruz, an HPHS student argued that within an urban setting you can achieve (Mendoza, Saunders), the Hartford parents who enrolled their children into Bloomfield High School agreed that their city was doing a poor job. “There is a school of thought that Hartford school system is inferior to a school system such as Bloomfield’s” (Mendoza, Saunders). Was it because the teachers did not want to put time and energy into students who were of a low socioeconomic status? Connecticut education commissioner Gerald Terozzi answered that question referring to the problem as an economic issue. As race actually being an outlying factor, he stated, “the children of poor need so many more resources, support service, so much more attention… and until the state recognizes, we will continue to have that problem” (Mendoza, Saunders).
The same day the arrest warrants were issued to the parents was the same day the students all withdrew from school. “The warrant applications charge the parents with third-degree larceny for accepting $4,001 worth of free education” which was eighth highest price in the state for pupil expenditure (Drury A1). The Bloomfield Town Council’s attempt to resolve the case resulted in all charges being dropped from the parents in less than 3 months after the students withdrew from school. The resolution of the case was “Designed to develop a system that would deter non-resident enrollments and head off problems before criminal prosecution because necessary” (Drury A1). For the future the Board of Education was required to thoroughly check for non-resident enrollments. According to Mayor David A. Baram, “What happened in Bloomfield will not happen again” (Drury A16).
Residency Verification
Each year students who live along the border of suburban towns are enrolled into schools that aren’t in their district. Since 2002 Connecticut school systems have been “cracking down” because, although parents want the best for their children, “[schools] have an obligation to [their] taxpayers to ensure that only resident children are attending” (Weizel). Initially, the school boards feel bad by not admitting or expelling non-resident students, but they are only doing what is considered fair. Each year the cost to educate a student is increasing, ranging from $8000-$11000, which is covered by the city’s taxpayers. All educators in the State of Connecticut agree that it is hard to turn a student away, but once a student is out of the district they have to find a new school.
Just a year ago Tanya McDowell of Bridgeport was sentenced to 5 years in jail for enrolling her son into kindergarten at a better school in Norwalk. As she promised that she would fight for her son’s education, she stated, “Who would have thought that wanting a good education for my son would put me in this predicament? I have no regrets seeking a better education for him” (Tepfer). Her lawyer Darnell Crosland then goes on to say, “You shouldn’t be arrested for stealing a free education. It’s just wrong” (Smith). It still unsure if the general public is mindful of the law but violations of residency requirements continue to usually represent students from areas with lower-rated schools crossing into communities with more highly rated school systems. Overall, despite the risks to potential consequences, parents still send their children across school district lines in search of a better education.
Work Cited
Drury, Dave. “Bloomfield Council Takes Up Residence Issue.” The Hartford Courant (1923-1987) 23 Apr. 1985. ProQuest. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.
Drury, Dave. “Bloomfield Cracking Down on Non-Residents in Schools.” The Hartford Courant (1923-1987) 21 Mar. 1985. ProQuest. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.
Drury, Dave. “Three Bloomfield High Students Withdraw as Residence Disputed.” The Hartford Courant (1923-1987) 27 Mar. 1985. ProQuest. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.
Drury, Dave, and Karl Schoenberger. “Charges Against Parents in Bloomfield School Case Dropped: Reaction Mixed; Civil Suit Possible.” The Hartford Courant (1923-1987) 6 June 1985. ProQuest. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.
Graham Smith. “Homeless Mother Who Sent Six-Year-Old Son to Better School in the Wrong Town Jailed for Five Years.” Mail Online. N. p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
Tepfer, Daniel. “Tanya McDowell Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison.” Connecticut Post. N. p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
William Mendoza and Anita Ford Saunders, “Jumping the Line,” The Public File (Hartford, CT: Viacom Broadcasting, Inc., WVIT Channel 30, August 31, 1985) 7 Oct. 2013.
Weizel, Richard. “RESIDENCY CRACKDOWN DISTRICTS HIRE INVESTIGATORS TO VERIFY WHERE STUDENTS LIVE: [THIRD Edition].” Boston Globe 3 Feb. 2002 : B.7. Print. 13 Oct. 2013.
In my revisions to the CTHistory essay looked back at Clarissa’s comments and basically just followed what she said to make my essay better. I struggled a bit because I actually forgot what I had originally wrote the first time I posted so I went back to read my first draft along with the comments from the class, then the 2nd with comments from Clarissa. The main change that I made was trying to make a stronger conclusion. After reading comments from my first draft placed in GDocs I saw that Karen mentioned that a stronger conclusion to go along with stats or a story today on a school residency case would make my essay more compelling. With other minor grammar corrections I believe that the final outcome of this essay will be a lot better