HARTFORD – Next school year, the City of Hartford will be adding two new magnet schools. The Board of Education voted unanimously to make these additions on Tuesday. One school will be a Pre-Kindergarten and the other, a Montessori. This will increase the number of city magnet schools to 17.
According to the Sheff v O’Neil order, Hartford needs at least 41% integration before the end of the 2012-2013 school year. Last year, the State Board of Education announced a 36.7% integration for city schools. According to a state official, of the more than 15,000 applicants for the fall of 2012, thousands could not be accommodated in the existing magnet schools.
The new Montessori Magnet School will be admitting approximately 60 suburban students to make up some 43% of the student population. The new Pre-Kindergarten Magnet School will be admitting 180 students, half of them coming from the suburbs.
This increase in suburban students in city schools is expected to help achieve the goals of the State Supreme Court order.
Meanwhile, the state and plaintiffs in the Sheff v O’Neil are back in negotiations in an attempt to come to a new agreement.
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