Eight Hartford area magnet schools will benefit from a three-year, $11.5 million grant to the Capitol Region Education Council (CREC), officials say.
The U.S. Department of Education grant is targeted at promoting high achievement and diversity in the classroom, said CREC Executive Director Bruce Douglas.
CREC manages eight magnet schools in Hartford, Windsor, and East Hartford and provides aid to achieve guidelines set forth by the 2008 Sheff vs. O’Neill desegregation order aimed at Hartford’s public schools.Â
“Funds will go to provide resources to new and existing magnet schools, to innovate curriculum and professional development, marketing, recruitment and outreach services,” Douglas said.  “Having these additional resources will result in improved high quality, integrated education for our children. We are long overdue for such good news.”
Congressman John Larson, D-1st District, who said he wrote a letter to federal education officials supporting CREC’s grant application, also hailed the funding.
The eight schools under CREC’s direction to benefit from the grant:
Hartford schools — Mary M. Hooker: Environmental Sciences, Annie Fisher STEM: Engineering and Math,
Hartford Magnet Middle/High School: Early College, CREC Museum Academy: Museum Studies,
CREC Aerospace, Engineering, Biomedical and Advanced Mathematics Academy,
CREC Medical Professions and Teacher Preparation Magnet School; Connecticut River Academy: Environmental Studies, East Hartford; and Pathways to Technology: Technology/Problem-Based Learning, Windsor.
