Board Members Shelley Best and Robert Cotto, Jr., in the Tuesday workshop exercise on what Hartford needs to do to keep great teachers

The Hartford Board of Education Tuesday took an unorthodox pop quiz: Chief Talent Officer Jennifer Allen asked them to write down "what's on your mind about talent," and then led an interactive discussion that unveiled concerns and constructive criticisms rarely expressed in public. Afterward, CTO Allen said, she learned more from what the Board Members said on this night than at any Board meeting ever.

Dr. Gislaine Ngounou, selected by new Hartford Superintendent Dr. Beth Schiavino-Narvaez to be the District's chief of staff, is a specialist in designing and facilitating senior leadership teams to improve schools.  Her drive comes directly from her mom, who worked seven days a week to send Gislaine to a private school in her home country of Cameroon, allowing her to attend classes half as large as the public school average of 130.  What does she bring from that journey to Hartford?

Shela Hansen-Quartey, Aiti Rei, Chantal Felix, Diana Alvarado, Rebecca Duncan, and Nadia Abdualmunem ... Hartford students bound for Capetown

Six Hartford Law and Government and Nursing Academy students will be attending the Nobel laureates' October conference in Capetown, South Africa next month.  Led by Hartford Public High School Law and Government Teachers Giana Gleeson and Taylor Gustafson-Ives, the Hartford contingent for the second consecutive year will comprise the only high-school student group to meet with the Nobel laureates, this year including Bishop Desmond Tutu, former South African Prime Minister F.D. deKlerk, and the Dalai Lama, among others.