Mayor’s Ex Supports Charter School

Claire Mastromonaco
Claire Mastromonaco, a fifth-grade teacher at Johnson School, leads the after-school dance class. Mastromonaco, Mayor Bill Finch’s ex-wife, wants to start a new all-girls science and math charter school. CT Post photo Ned Gerard.

CT Post scribe Linda Conner Lambeck profiles a proposal for a new charter school.

Mastromonaco said she has always wanted to start a school for girls. A classroom teacher for 18 years, Mastromonaco also runs the Children’s Center for the Arts. Her background is in the arts, but she loves the sciences and math and said she sees too many of her female students lose confidence and “check out” by the time they reach middle school.

She said a single-gender school that focuses on science, math and the arts will help them more feel confident.

Full story here.

0
Share

7 comments

  1. Her Charter school position is an unpopular one in Bridgeport of late. Hmmm, trying to win in a political climate that annihilated the charter question last year, and took out a whole host of endorsed candidates who held similar positions on Charter Schools this past year, is that smart? What is her position on the Finch Administration and the way they accomplish their bidding, I wonder?

    0
  2. Bond Girl, excellent point. The waiting list for parents in Bridgeport who want their children in Charter schools is over 1600, so there is a real desire apparently with Bridgeport parents for more charter schools; however the voters elected vocal opponents to charter schools. So were the voters really motivated by no charter schools message or by the shortcut (illegal) takeover of the schools by the Finch Administration? Is the message of this candidate clear enough to convey the disconnect between the two issues?

    0
  3. The record of Charter Schools vs true public schools is inconclusive but trending to no better and possibly poorer performance than ordinary public schools across our nation. Generally Charters are a way some parents see as a method to segregate their child from some other children. Once in a Charter, if the selected child does not perform, out they go back to the public school. The 1600 parents on the list need to understand the complete picture.

    0
    1. I like the president’s view of charter schools and public school choice much better.

      PRESIDENT OBAMA-– … So what we have been supportive of is, uh, something called charters. Which, within the public school system gives the opportunity for creative experiments by teachers, by principals to, to start schools that have a different approach …
      www .washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/02/05/obama-smacks-bill-oreilly-on-school-vouchers/

      0
    2. So gailj2, are you saying you think Charter Schools are a bad thing? If so, how do you intend to harness the anti-vote that swept the elections last year to win seats on the DTC?

      BTW–I do not live in the 133rd.

      0
      1. In case it was not clear in the prior post, which it was not, I meant to point out the disparity between the points of view on Charter Schools between two key members of the same slate. One (Claire) who seems to think they are a great idea, and one (Gail) who does not. What is the slate’s unified position? I am an admitted political moron, so please excuse me if I am perceiving something erroneously.

        0

Leave a Reply