The Board of Alders Education Committee on Friday sent a letter to New Haven school and city leaders demanding 16 “high-priority” steps to fix school buildings, from a public, building-by-building repair dashboard to new standards for mold, temperature and pests.
The committee asked for 10 of the steps within 30 days and six more within 60 days, and it requested a progress report on every item at its next meeting, on Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 6 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chambers at City Hall. The full letter was published Friday by the New Haven Independent.
Why the alders sent it
The letter says that at a Sept. 29 committee workshop, alders heard nearly five hours of testimony from teachers, students, families and community members about “serious, persistent, and widespread” building problems, including HVAC, leaks, mold, pests, doors and windows, temperature extremes, bathrooms and electrical outlets. It says leaders of the city Health Department, Emergency Management and Fire Department “confirmed the extent and severity of these problems.”
“District leadership brought no concrete plan of action,” the letter states.
According to the New Haven Independent, the letter was signed by committee chair Gary Hogan (Beaver Hills), vice chair Frank Redente Jr. (Fair Haven), Sarah Miller (Fair Haven), Christine Kim (Downtown/East Rock), Elias Theodore (Downtown/Yale) and Mildred Melendez (Fair Haven Heights). It is the committee’s second letter on school conditions; the first went out Aug. 28, days before school started.
What the alders want within 30 days
The 30-day list in the letter asks the Board of Education and district to:
- Publish a public school facilities dashboard showing, building by building, the status of HVAC, roof and water leaks, mold, pests, electrical, plumbing, windows and doors, with the date each problem was reported, the fix, who is responsible and the expected completion date.
- Provide a 12-month plan to pursue state Department of Administrative Services school construction grants and other money for roof and HVAC repairs. The letter notes that errors in prior submissions led to rejected applications.
- Set written response and repair timelines based on how serious a hazard is.
- Adopt standards for finding and removing mold, including fixing the moisture source first.
- Start a districtwide integrated pest-management program with the city Health Department.
- Repair broken doors, locks and windows and get working keys to staff.
- Set enforceable temperature and humidity standards.
- Fix bathroom problems such as missing doors, locks, faucets and soap dispensers.
- Repair exposed electrical outlets.
- Return the New Haven Federation of Teachers vice president to full release from teaching duties.
And within 60 days
The letter’s 60-day list calls for continuous carbon dioxide, temperature and humidity monitoring in every school; portable HEPA air purifiers as a stopgap; certified professionals to run district facilities; a five-year facilities and preventive-maintenance plan with public progress reports; an organizational chart showing who is responsible for each building, plus a review of unfinished contractor work; and “a restorative process” to rebuild trust with school communities.
What the superintendent and mayor said
Superintendent Madeline Negrón said in a statement reported by the New Haven Independent that “we all agree that New Haven’s students and staff deserve school facilities that fully support the work of teaching and learning.” She said the district reported “extensively” on its facilities challenges at the Sept. 29 workshop and needs “substantial operating and capital resources” to maintain and repair buildings. She said she would review the recommendations with the Board of Education. “We must all accept our collective responsibility to address the result of decades of underfunding of our school facilities,” she said.
City spokesperson Lenny Speiller reissued an earlier statement from Mayor Justin Elicker, according to the Independent. In it, Elicker said “our schools have been underfunded for decades and that underinvestment has created real challenges in New Haven Public Schools’ ability to maintain our aging school facilities and it’s resulted in unacceptable conditions in many of our schools.” He said buildings are regularly inspected for code-required life-safety standards, but “that’s a minimum standard.”
What’s next
Hogan told the Independent the 30- and 60-day windows are not hard deadlines and that the goal is a structure for moving with “urgency and transparency.” He said the committee is researching whether the alders could legally set standards, such as a maximum indoor temperature, for all city buildings, including schools. “I don’t see that happening in 2026, but I definitely see us taking some angles in 2027,” he said.
The Education Committee meets next on Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 6 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chambers, 165 Church St. Meeting notices and video are posted on the Board of Alders’ Education Committee page.
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