Yash Roy, Contributing Photographer

New Haven Public Schools students shared their concerns surrounding issues ranging from the use of racial slurs in schools to gender-neutral bathrooms in a city-wide student meeting on Thursday.

Organized by Student Board of Education members Anthony Fiore, a senior at Wilbur Cross High School, and Ma’Shai Roman, a senior at ESUMS High School, approximately 50 students from the district came to a meeting Thursday morning at the field house of Hillhouse High School to share their concerns. Also in attendance were Superintendent Iline Tracey, Assistant Superintendent Ivelise Velazquez and Mayor Justin Elicker. 

The forum came on the heels of an incident at Metropolitan Business Academy last Monday in which a student brought a knife to school and cut a peer. Tracey and Elicker answered questions from students about this and other issues.  

“The importance of meetings like this cannot be overstated,” Fiore told the News. “Just having a place with other student leaders is very important. This meeting was especially extremely important because there’s a way for leadership and government to show that they do care. They do want to be heard, and they do want to listen to this.”

The meeting began with a half hour discussion on the usage of a racial slur in schools with Velazquez. She said that the district hopes to craft a better policy for how to deal with the usage of the slur in different schools contexts. This conversation comes on the heels of an incident where the principal of Brennan Rogers School Laura Roblee used a slur. She was demoted after community pushback, but she was later placed in a central office job. 

According to Fiore, students had a wide array of opinions, with some voicing strong opposition to the usage of a slur in any circumstances and others arguing that the district should have a lax policy on enforcement related to a slur. 

Tracey fielded questions from students about the creation of gender neutral bathrooms in the district as well as questions about bathrooms that have been closed at several schools because students have used them for vaping and other acts that violate the district’s code of conduct. 

“It is always helpful to hear what students are thinking, and this was a good exchange,” Tracey wrote in an email to the News. “I found the students to be thoughtful about what they had to say and interested in our perspectives.”

She also discussed the importance of improving plans related to security following the incident at Metropolitan Business Academy, including improvements to mental health resources.

After Tracey, Elicker also heard concerns from students about their mental health and concerns over physical security. Elicker answered questions about bathrooms being closed and told the News that it was an important issue that Tracey had spent time working to solve. 

Elicker told the News that events like this are an important part of his job since they give him an opportunity to hear what young people in the city are thinking about and feeling. 

“I think the main takeaway is that students need support in their mental health,” said Elicker. “With the overall challenges that students are facing in their schools, and in both the short and long term, we need more mental health support for our students to be able to have the tools and support that they need to navigate a very challenging time.”

Fiore told the News that he hopes to host more city-wide meetings so that students can continue to have their voices heard. 

New Haven Public Schools has 19,000 students.