llanrlipatpr Hrrali East hockey gains C W I Z ^ D T C Division I semis oF U K 1 o — see page 47 MANCHESTER HERALD, Monday, March 5,1990—5 4— MANCHESTER HERALD, Monday, March 5, 1990 Model state school in trouble Drum corps at Brennan in 1977, the method Several miles from downtown projects served by Brennan. Many MANCHESTER/COVENTRY/STATE NEW HAVEN (AP) — A school arrived after a high-rise public hous- New Haven, Brennan became vir­ that was one of the first to use a brings teachers, principals and other ing project elsewhere in New Haven school workers together with tually the only place left serving the widely acclaimed model of school neighborhood after a library and a was closed. organization is straining under the parents in a joint effort to operate health clinic closed in the early seeks funds weight of a new influx of poorer stu­ each school. Enrollment at Brennan has grown dents and struggling to keep its The team develops a school plan, 1980s. addition of the home will help Unlike Martin Luther King to 400 from 150 four years ago. 8th District settles in By Jacqueline Bennett including schedules of academic and reputation as a model for school ex­ highlight the area as a tourist at­ School, where the enrollment has High unemployment and more Manchester Herald cellence. social events that encourage parents crime have accompanied the popula­ traction, noting its proximity to the The Katherine Brennan School to go to the school as often as pos­ remained stable, families have been Hale Homestead, the Sprague flocking to three nearby housing tion boom. COVENTRY — Raising money uses a much-heralded model of sible. House and the Strong Museum. at former city firehouse to build a home for the Nathan school organization developed at Comer believes that by allowing More importantly, however, the Hale Ancient Fife and Drum Corps Yale University a few miles across parents to share power and help es­ two men said it will at long last is tops for one of its new leaders. town by Professor James P. Comer. tablish school goals, educators can spokesman. Deming Street and Tolland give the corps a place to practice. “Formal fund-raising is our In January, the Rockefeller Foun­ bridge the gulf that often exists be­ By Alex Girelli On Thursday and Friday, volun­ Thmpike. The corps is a “civic, non-profit, main priority,” said Michael dation announced nearly $1.4 mil­ tween schools and inner-city Manchester Herald teer firefighters installed equipment, The district is ready to mount a educational” performance group painted and furnished the station. drive to reemit more volunteer Cleary, the new chairman of the lion in grants to inboduce Comer’s parents. Lacck said. It has a national Visitors come to see how Brennan The fire station at 1039 Tolland Transfer of the station from the firefighters to staff two new com­ board of directors of the Nathan method to schools across the nation. reputation, having performed in operates largely because of the way Thmpike, which had been Station 5 town to the distria was one of the panies. Leaflets will be distributed Hale Ancient Fife and Drum Corps The model also was cited recently of the Town of Manchester Fire presidential inaugural parades up by President Bush as a promising it relies on parents, but it was not al­ final steps in an agreement between urging people to join the fire depart­ Inc. and down the East Coast as well as IR9l$8SliSilSl' Department until Wednesday eve­ Cleary has been working on the approach in the battle to educate ways that way. the town and the district over fire ment and newspaper advertisements in stale musters (performance ning, is now operating as Station 2 poor children. Before the Comer process was in­ protection and sanitary sewer juris­ will be publish^. project for close to two years and gatherings), such as a popular one m usb of the Eighth Utilities Fire Depart­ The theme of the reemitment would like ground to be broken for Although Brennan’s reputation troduced, “the feeling here was very HZeHLJLITD FASK diction. held in Deep River each year. much the school against the com­ ment. The town Board of Directors is drive will be ‘Take a ride on the the home by next year. soared in the 1970s and early ’80s Up to now, however, the corps munity. Hostile is not too strong a scheduled to consider passing an or­ wild side.” A former member of the Con­ when the elementary school saw TUESDAY ONLY The district fire department oc­ has had to practice “wherever we rapid improvements in national test word,” said Bridget Hardy, a former cupied the firehouse Saturday, dinance completing the transfer of necticut National Guard, Cleary could hang our hat,” Cleary said. The department will hold an has secured help from that group scores, those gains appear to have teacher who now plans and carries moving a pumper. Engine 1, from ownership. When the station was That hasn’t always b ^ n easy on a number of occasions for work unraveled in recent years. out various activities for students. its Fleming Road station and first transferred to the disoict, the orientation meeting on the recruit­ because there is usually a cost to at the site of the plarmed corps Test scores have plummeted and Children at Brennan and Martin FROM OUR MEAT DEPT. relocating a service truck and rescue need to make the transfer by or­ ment at 2 p.m. March 18 at the dis­ rent a spot for practice plus most home on South Street. That site is the school is grappling with trou­ Luther King School showed steady boats into the new location. dinance was overlooked. trict firehouse at 32 Main St. places don’t have ceilings high USDA CHOICE The opening of the district’s Sta­ adjacent to the homestead of bling changes in the neighborhood gains on achievement tests after the A night crew of six firefighters To provide fire protection in the enough for baton practice. Usually $4.99/lb. tion 3 operation comes at the same and an influx of new, much poorer Comer model was introduced. Whole Beef Butt Tenderloins was assigned to the station. northeast comer of Manchester, the Revolutionary War hero Nathan the group practices in the town time as the opening of the Ravilions students. In recent years, however, rank­ District Fire Chief John Mace town has set up a temporary fire sta­ Hale. schools during the winter season. at Buckland Hills. The giant mall is Observers say Brennan is a sober­ ings have slipped, especially at declared it in operation at 9:55 a.m. tion in a leased building at 81 Tol­ The Connecticut Air National Cleary said too, the corps has FROM OUR DELI DEPT. within the area covered by the dis­ ing illusbation that even the most Brennan. On a national lest given to Saturday, according to Capt. land Thmpike while plans are being Guard 103rd Civil Engineering rebounded from a membership LAND-O-LAKES trict department. imaginative of school programs can­ fourth graders last spring. King Thomas O’Marra, department made for a new firehouse on a site at Squadron was the site as recently crisis it had a few years ago and $2.59/lb. as November, Cleary noted, not work miracles in neighborhoods ranked ninth and Brennan 22nd out American Cheese now list about 100 members. double-checking land boundaries beset by poverty, drugs and crime. of 24 schools. and building stakes. The guard The corps home will be built to All of New Haven’s elementary Brennan also ranked near the bot­ FROM OUR BAKERY DEPT also helped clear the site. schools use parts of the Comer tom on a state test given last fall. Knollwood Road Drug test blend in with the Colonial ar FRESH BAKED Cleary says the project is a great chilecture of the surrounding his model. It also has been tried suc­ Three-fourths of the fourth graders failed to get accepuble scores on a $1.79/1/2 dozen investment because it’s a “good toric buildings, Cleary said. It will cessfully in places such as Prince Assorted Bagels reading test. required historic lie into Connecticut.” also provide additional parking Georges County, Md., and Benton proposal on agenda Harbor, Mich. Some officials believe the dis­ John Lacck, vice chairman of space for the Hale Homestead Introiduced at New Haven’s Mar­ couraging results can be traced to 317 Highland St. ■ Manchester • 646-4277 FAIRFIELD (A P ) — the corps board of trustees, said the visitors. lin Luther King School in 1%8, and worsening poverty. The Planning and Zoning Com­ 112-room motel on the east side of Finalists for municipal jobs in mission will consider tonight a con- Buckland Street near the eastbound Fairfield will have to pass one o uovcrsial plan for a subdivision off entrance ramp. final hurdle before they get the 33 -n Knollwood Road. The plans for the The developer must go before the job: a mandatory drug test. commission again because of chan­ 23-lot subdivision drew seven resi- Personnel Director Edward S F denu to speak against it at a public ges in the original plans. A res­ Computer fraud Patterson said mandatory test­ hearing almost two weeks ago. taurant, to be built in front of the ing for all job finalists will — m motel, was eliminated from the begin in the 1990-91 fiscal plans. The new plans also place the O o Twenty-three homes would be year.