PATHWAYS SCHOOL RAILROADED BY BEHIND THE SCENES POLITICS:

MAYOR VOWS TO WORK WITH GOV. TO PUT KIDS FIRST

---NEWS RELEASE---

(February 28, 2007)--- Hartford Mayor Eddie A. Perez says he’s looking forward to working with the Governor to put kids first and build the Pathways to Technology Magnet School, despite learning of others who have worked behind the scenes to railroad the project for political reasons.

Mayor Perez has sent a letter to the Governor asking for a meeting to find a suitable state site for the Sheff mandated school and to begin construction this year.

Mayor Perez also held a news conference today at City Hall to respond to today’s front page article in The Hartford Courant which said, “Hartford officials’ effort to build a new home for a magnet school collapsed in recent weeks after loud and public criticism by the city’s representatives in the state legislature, who said heavy traffic made the location unsafe.  But another force, not loud or public, has been working against the site:  the combined efforts of influential Hartford lawyer-lobbyist Thomas D. Ritter and his onetime client, the landlord of a building in Windsor where the school rents space.”

Mayor Perez expressed his reaction to this article saying that he is upset that the school was “railroaded by politics.”

Mayor Perez says, “Personal greed and political agendas should not come before the education of our children.  For 4 years, parents, teachers, business leaders and community leaders have worked hard to build a school that not only met the state’s obligation to desegregate Hartford schools but also to help grow our future high-tech workforce.”

The Mayor wants to remind the public that dozens of public hearings, site reviews, design approvals and traffic studies went into the selection process.  He adds, “Yet at the end of the day, certain state officials blocked the construction of the school for reasons that only now are coming to light.”

Mayor Perez is looking forward to working with the Governor to “put the kids first.”  He says, “I believe, together, Governor Rell and I can overcome the challenges to building this school.  I believe there are at least four state-owned sites that may be suitable for the construction of the magnet school.  We have already designed the school with state approval and have construction contracts to build the school with the approved budget.  Without clear direction from the Governor and strong partnership with the city, the construction of this school could take years to complete.”