Hartford school shuffle to put managers in classroom
(Hartford-AP) _ Seventeen top managers in the city's school system have been reassigned to other jobs, with six of them headed back to classroom teaching.

The reorganization will empty the district's central office and allow new Superintendent of Schools Anthony Amato to install a hand-picked team.

Amato has already begun filling 18 new management positions created in the reorganization.

"This place is certainly going to look different," said Webster Brooks, an aide to the state board of trustees overseeing the Hartford schools. "It's not just the positions _ the whole direction of the system is changing. It's all going at a fast pace."

Besides the 17 certified managers, the jobs of five other administrators, including Brooks, were eliminated as of Wednesday, with new assignments pending.

The reorganization also scraps the jobs of the district's 32 parent liaisons, trims the teaching staff at the city's high schools, and shuffles secretaries.

All of the certified administrators and high-school teachers will be shifted into other jobs. Some of the parent liaisons could be hired back over the summer for other posts.

The new assignments take effect today.

"There's a lot of anxiety and uncertainty," said Amado Cruz, the district's coordinator of dropout prevention, who was waiting to hear where he was being moved. "Some people are very upset that they would wait until the last minute to tell people where they're going."

Although Amato had hinted about a shake-up of the city's 33 school principals, only two are being moved out of their jobs

Union officials representing the districts 119 certified administrators say they expect a slew of grievances will be filed.

Amato said the overhaul was "designed to channel more resources into the classroom, where they belong."

(Copyright 1999 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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