State Senator Bill Finch
March 15, 2005
Finch, Gaffey, Education Committee Members Denounce Possible Bridgeport Magnet School Closure
Hold press conference in support of S.B. 1311
Senator Finch (right) speaking at the magnet schools press conference at the State Capitol as Senator Gaffey looks on. (March 15, 2005)
State Senator Bill Finch (D-Bridgeport), a member of the legislature's Education Committee, Sen. Thomas P. Gaffey (D-Meriden), chair of the Education Committee, and colleagues from both parties today held a press conference in support of S.B. 1311, "An Act Concerning Interdistrict Magnet School Enrollment."
S.B. 1311, proposed by Sen. Gaffey, would allow any interdistrict magnet school that has unused student seats to enroll any interested student. The local or regional board of education otherwise responsible for that child would pay the standard tuition to the magnet school.
The Thurgood Marshall Middle School for Social Justice, a magnet school serving the towns of Bridgeport, Fairfield, Monroe, Stratford and Trumbull, is facing the possible withdrawal of students from Stratford. This would leave the school in a significant financial bind, which may result in its closing. S.B. 1311, if passed, would allow other students in the state to attend the school, filling the empty seats left by Stratford's possible student withdrawals.
"This bill isn't only about the Thurgood Marshall Middle School," Sen. Finch explained. "This is about our state talking the talk, but not walking the walk. We preach tolerance and acceptance and multiculturalism, all of which this school embodies, but we aren't willing to step up and change the law to allow for something new, something different to help save this innovative school. We encouraged Thurgood Marshall to open its doors, and only two years later, we're faced with its possible closure."
"In the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision in Sheff vs. O'Neill, parents should have the right to send their children to interdistrict magnet schools like this one that promote the end of racial isolation and provide an equal opportunity education," Sen. Gaffey said. "Local boards of education cannot thumb their noses at that state constitutional right."
Six-to-Six Inter-district Magnet School is a critically important program of CES that provides 416 students from the towns of Bridgeport, Fairfield, Monroe, Stratford, and Trumbull, with high quality education from Pre-Kindergarten through eighth grade in two buildings on the John F. Kennedy Campus in Bridgeport, CT. This includes the Thurgood Marshall Middle School for Social Justice serving students from grades 6-8. Six-to-Six Magnet School was established in 1993 and is one of 39 magnet schools developed in Connecticut over the past 15 years as part of the settlement of landmark lawsuits that highlighted racial and ethnic isolation in urban schools. In the settlement, the state agreed to support voluntary desegregation efforts through specialized magnet schools that draw students outside their home districts.
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