School Chief Calls It Quits

Citing Stress's Toll, Henry Decides Fate Before Board Can

February 16, 2006
By RACHEL GOTTLIEB, Courant Staff Writer

Robert Henry, Hartford's superintendent of schools, had spent weeks worrying about whether he should resign or wait for the school board to decide his fate in March.

But Wednesday, Henry woke up and decided to make the decision himself.

After more than a year of uncertainty about whether the board - and its new chairman, Mayor Eddie A. Perez - would keep him on, Henry decided it was time to leave. The stress was taking a toll on him personally, distracting him and, he said, the entire district.

"I wanted to take control of the situation rather than have it control me," Henry said shortly after announcing his decision. "I wanted to reduce the speculation - `Is he staying or is he going?' You can't be a slave to that. I had to manage that piece."

Henry will continue in the job until his contract ends on June 30. Perez said he hopes to do a national search and have a permanent replacement in place by then.

"He made his decision and we need to move on," Perez said Wednesday. "I've been very supportive of the work he's done."

While Perez and Henry have rarely clashed publicly, the mayor's indecision over Henry's contract has fueled speculation that Henry's tenure in Hartford could soon be coming to an end.

As recently as Wednesday, Perez said he still hadn't made up his mind about whether he wanted to extend Henry's contract.

"When an individual is given only a [six-month] contract extension, in many respects, there's already handwriting on the wall," council member Kenneth Kennedy said. "Does that mean to say that there was a forced resignation? I don't know."

Henry has struggled in his effort to improve test scores of Hartford's 24,000 students, though the district has seen gains in the past few years. Those include federal recognition of several schools for excellence and the accreditation of all city schools.

"I think Bob did a nice job as superintendent, but he had a lot less resources than his predecessor," Kennedy said. "The problems with the Hartford school system, I don't know if you can lay them all at Bob Henry's foot."

Henry appeared to have Perez's support when he took over in 2002 for outgoing Superintendent Anthony Amato.

Henry was hailed as a man to soothe teachers and principals who had become frazzled under Amato's hard-driving reforms and brittle personality.

But midway through his second year, Henry's relationship with the school board began to deteriorate as he and the new board chairman, mayoral appointee I. Michael Borrero, struggled for power. Perez stepped in, asking Borrero to not run for a second term as board chairman. Borrero resigned.

But Perez fired a warning shot at Henry, saying publicly that he expected improvement in student achievement now that a major distraction was gone. The mayor also scoffed publicly at Henry's statistics on graduation and drop-out rates and the percentage of graduates enrolling in four-year colleges.

As changes in the city charter gave Perez increasing power over the school board, it became clear that Perez, through his appointees, had a major say in Henry's contract. When the board extended Henry's contract by only six months, it sent a message that Henry was being watched closely, his future in question.

And when Perez appointed himself chairman of the school board in December, it underscored that Henry's fate rested squarely with Perez, though Perez remained mum.

Board member Andrea Comer said Perez had kept quiet as to whether he would endorse a new contract for Henry. "I tried to broach the subject with him a couple of weeks ago and I didn't get an impression one way or the other," she said.

But Hyacinth Yennie, one of the district's most vocal parents, raised the subject with Henry at a PTO council meeting Tuesday night.

"I told him last night, `I know you and Eddie are not going to make it,'" Yennie said Wednesday. "He told me that he wasn't looking for another job. I observed something at the last meeting: Robert was not happy. My observation was that things weren't right. It is sad. Here we go again."

The uncertainty Henry felt was evident to many who worked with him. This school year, Henry has reconstituted his top cabinet twice. A couple of his top people who fell out of favor found themselves dropped to a second tier cabinet that met with Henry monthly rather than weekly.

And while Henry did not spar with the new board members the way he sometimes did with former board members, the fault lines were still present.

After making his decision Wednesday, Henry called Perez and asked for a meeting. The pair met around 1 p.m.

"He was surprised. He didn't see it coming," Henry said.

There was some negotiating about who would announce the departure. In the end, Perez beat Henry to the punch and put out his own press release first.

Henry, 57, of Canton, said he's going to start looking, too. He hopes to stay in the area. "Connecticut is home," he said.

Henry gathered his cabinet for a private meeting and told them his decision Wednesday. Then, at a previously scheduled monthly conference, he told the principals.

"If I waited until March 15, it may have been somebody else's decision," he told them.

The principals took it hard. Some left the room in tears. After a standing ovation to celebrate his years of service, others hugged him and thanked him for believing in them and for "humanizing" the administration.

"It's a great loss," said Norma Neumann-Johnson, principal at Breakthrough Magnet School. "The principals are so devoted to his leadership and would do anything for him. So much of what we've accomplished is because of the trust we have for him, and him for us."

Courant Staff Writer Jeffrey B. Cohen contributed to this story.