Deep Connections to Her Community

PROFILE

Since her days as a high school sophomore in the Hartford Public Schools, Leslie Torres-Rodriguez — now the top leader of the 17,000-student district since 2017 — never has forgotten how her guidance counselor directed her to community college and altered her life trajectory.

Describing herself as a “disengaged” student after arriving from Puerto Rico as a 9-year-old with her family, she admits, “I didn’t understand the connection between classes and the real world.”

Because she started working at Kmart at age 14, Torres-Rodriguez personally understands the disconnections her students living in Connecticut’s state capital — 90 percent of whom are students of color — might be experiencing. To strengthen the links to school and support these students, the superintendent has launched several initiatives, all underpinned by her emphasis on equity.

“Equity is informed by my own experience,” she says.

Consider the budgeting process, says Madeline Negron, Hartford’s chief academic officer. “Equity is not an after-thought,” she says. “The starting formula is based on different factors — if there are higher levels of multilingual learners and greater need, we will give you more resources.”

Wraparound services focusing on counseling, postsecondary planning and credit recovery for students are offered at Hartford’s three Student Success Centers.

Torres-Rodriguez also established formal partnerships with Hartford nonprofits providing programs through the district’s community schools, some of which run classes later than the traditional school day.

Building relationships with students’ families is a central foundation. District staff conducted 4,000 home visits during the superintendent’s first year in charge. “These were very personal,” says Torres-Rodriguez. “Many of our families had not had positive, welcoming experiences.”

One concern was chronic absenteeism, which in 2018 affected almost 20 percent of kindergarteners and 9th graders.

“There was a community-wide conversation about chronic absenteeism,” she adds. “We went door to door, to day cares, knocking on local businesses. We added a student engagement specialist.”

Torres-Rodriguez is quick to celebrate what she calls “a quick win” — for instance, a student who didn’t miss a day for an entire month or a student who was on time for an entire week.

A 3 percent reduction in absenteeism was recorded in January 2020 before the pandemic lockdown hampered the progress.

The ongoing connections between educators and families have helped Torres-Rodriguez navigate difficult situations, notably consolidating and closing underused schools in the city.

Torres-Rodriguez “reframed the closing and consolidating as an equity issue, as part of the guiding principles to organize schools around,” says Karen Hawley Miles of Education Resource Strategies in Massachusetts, who worked with Hartford Public Schools on that effort.

For Torres-Rodriguez, “It’s how you look at strengths and creating opportunities to learn from one another.”