Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School | Co-Op High School | Culture & Community | Arts & Culture | New Haven Public Schools
Amy Migliore with Ajibola Tajudeen, now a student at the Berkeley College of Music, at Co-Op graduation in June 2022. Lucy Gellman File Photo.
A beloved arts administrator is being moved—again—with little to no notice from the district, input from students or parents, or communication with educators. In the process, a school community is scrambling to understand the impact just days before graduation. And students, who feel left in the lurch for a second time this year, are asking what happens to them next.
That educator is Amy Migliore, who since 2019 has served as the assistant principal and arts director at Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School. Friday morning, the New Haven Board of Education approved her transfer to the soon-to-be Betsy Ross Arts & Design Academy (BRADA; currently Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School), with no discussion or space for public testimony. It is the second time this year that Migliore has been moved to BRADA with no notice: the first was this spring, ostensibly temporarily, when Principal Jennifer Jenkins was out on paid family leave.
The transfer takes effect August 18 of this year. Migliore, who will attend Co-Op’s graduation with students on Monday at the Shubert Theatre, declined to comment for this article.
That decision came through a personnel report, slipped into the Board of Education’s agenda for an eleventh-hour, secretive meeting to approve a $5,868,495.31 custodial contract with Integrity Concepts LLC Inc. The meeting lasted 10 minutes, with no discussion of the personnel report or the transfer of eight assistant principals to different schools across the district.
They include Worthington Hooker’s Jenny Clarino to L.W. Beecher Magnet School; Beecher School’s Stephen Siena to Fair Haven School; Barack Obama School’s Melanie Rodriguez-Thomas to Worthington Hooker School; Sound School’s Denise Charles to Barack Obama School; Conte West Hills Magnet School’s Thomas McCarthy to Sound School; Ross-Woodward’s Breanna Evans to Wilbur Cross High School; Migliore from Co-Op to BRADA; and Betsy Ross’ Tiffany Rauch to Roberto Clemente Leadership Academy.
In a budget year that has included potential cuts to 29 arts educators and 25 library and media specialists, it also leaves unclear whether the board intends to fill or eliminate the arts director position entirely. Three of the schools—Co-Op, Conte West Hills Magnet School, and Ross/Woodward Classical Studies Magnet School—are also losing assistant principals with no indication that those positions will be reinstituted.
Reached for comment, New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) Spokesperson Justin Harmon said that “there will be an Arts Coordinator position at Co-Op” next year. When asked for clarification, including whether the position would become part of Assistant Principal Talima Andrews-Harris’ job (as it was when the district transferred Migliore earlier this year), he did not respond.
Asked for an itemized budget for the coming fiscal year, he answered that “we [NHPS] do not currently produce a line-by-line budget akin to what the city produces” and “as to the positions being cut, we are updating our numbers based on actual results from rightsizing and vacancies. In the meantime, we don’t want to add to the speculation about the number and distribution of layoffs.”
“She Wants To Serve The Art”
Elle McPhaill, Payton Goodwin, Kayla Quintanilla, Dakarai Langley, and Aaron Steed in Into The Woods, which Migliore advocated for earlier this year. Lucy Gellman Photos.
At Co-Op, which currently offers arts emphases in visual arts, creative writing, dance, theater, choir, strings, and band, the transfer leaves questions that are both logistical and more existential. In its history, Co-Op has only had a handful of arts directors, including Co-Op Co-Founder Keith Cunningham, Read To Grow’s Suzannah Holsenbeck, Co-Op alum Timothy Jones, and most recently Migliore.
For years, the person in that position has helped manage not just the school’s performance schedules, rentals, field trips, master classes and visiting instructors, but also its contracts with the Shubert Theatre and Dwight Hall, the latter of which provides funding and logistical support for Co-Op After School (CAS). The arts director also supervises the Shubert’s Production and Technical Education Manager, a role that tech whiz Janie Alexander currently occupies.
The first, which relies on a contract with the Board of Education, gives Shubert staff the ability to work closely with arts educators and students at Co-Op, on everything from hands on tech theater mentorship and master classes to an annual summer camp at the school, run by the Shubert and staffed largely by Co-Op students and grads. For over a decade, the theater has also brought students in for performances, an experience that many of them have described as foundational to their understanding of the performing arts (read more about that in previous Arts Paper reporting here, here and here).
The second, which is funded by Dwight Hall at Yale, provides students with after-school programming like classes in music production, the school’s Gender-Sexuality Alliance (GSA), open studios with the Yale School of Art, a gamers’ group, and clubs dedicated to community service, Chinese culture, crafting, podcasting and radio journalism with WYBC. CAS’ flagship program, the school musical, is an undertaking of its own, with Co-Op teachers who come on board to make it run. This year’s production of Into The Woods, for instance, included close to 80 students in the cast and crew alone.
Christi Sargent and Rob Esposito on a recent Friday.
Teacher Rob Esposito, who directed Stephen Sondheim’s Into The Woods as this year’s musical, stressed that it would have been impossible without CAS or the Shubert’s collaboration.
“A lot of the rapport, the trust, and the collaboration [with CAS] was fostered during the pandemic,” said CAS Director Paul Bryant Hudson, a Co-Op alum who has managed the program under two arts directors. In the past six years, “I felt confident expanding programming because I had someone like Amy to work alongside.”
“I think Amy modeled what it means to hold leadership in both an administrative sense and in an artistic and creative sense,” he added. “She was super effective in doing so. And my hope is that it is continued” as the school learns how to run without her.
The transition, others added, will likely be a difficult one. In a series of interviews Friday, several teachers and students spoke directly to a culture of trust and respect that Migliore cultivated at the school, including and especially during the Covid-19 pandemic and a return to a new normal in August 2021.
It was Migliore, working closely with teachers, who helped facilitate multi-track concert recordings, remote after-school arts activities, dance performances and visual arts exhibitions through Zoom and YouTube. It was her help that boosted morale as students and teachers recorded a musical online and sent scripts to mailboxes across New Haven. And in 2023, she helped see Co-Op through a major leadership transition, as Principal Val Jean Belton stepped into retirement.
When students needed to turn to someone, it was Migliore (or as they described her in interviews, “Ms. Miggs” and “Auntie Miggs”) who kept them on their toes, knew every name and how to pronounce it, nudged them gently to get to class on time, and fielded questions and concerns from parents.
Senior Laila Kelly-Walker pictured at "Parking Day" in fall 2023. Lucy Gellman File Photo.
Senior Laila Kelly-Walker, who plans to attend Central Connecticut State University in the fall, said that she worries for her peers about the “pure chaos” that feels inevitable in Migliore’s absence next year. When Migliore was gone earlier this year, “things did not run smoothly,” she said. It was only after she returned a few weeks ago that Kelly-Walker felt the school return to a sense of normalcy.
“I think that now they're going to have to think on a different scale,” she said, remembering her surprise and delight when Migliore congratulated her on a performance at the Shubert earlier this spring. “Ms. Miggs has made an effort to create safe spaces for everyone. She's always there to pat you on the back for something. … she's like the building's auntie. Everyone absolutely loves her.”
“First of all this is the second time this year that they took Ms. Miggs away from us, and I think to take Ms. Miggs from Co-Op is terrible,” said senior Caden Davila-Sanabria, a creative writer who will attend Bard College in the fall. “I think she is the only administrator that really cares about us. Ms Miggs knows us. She has our respect. Our parents have her phone number. She’s Auntie Miggs—she connects with us on that level.”
When she’s making art at Co-Op, “I feel at home,” she added in an interview earlier this year. “I feel at ease. All the other things in my life disappear. “
Destiny White, Erin Michaud and Jeremy Thanes at a rally for the Freedom To Read in November 2023. Lucy Gellman File Photo.
That love extends to teachers. Visual arts instructor Erin Michaud, who arrived at Co-Op in 2023 but has been in the district for 25 years, credited Migliore as “one of the reasons that I came to Co-Op.” After 23 years at Beecher—which Michaud loved—they were ready for a career change. At Beecher, Michaud taught visual arts for seven years, and then was a magnet resource teacher for another 16.
So when Migliore mentioned that there might be a position opening up at Co-Op, they were excited to apply.
“She was just an advocate for the arts, 1000 percent,” Michaud said. “Every opening, every performance, … the nitty-gritty behind the scenes … [Recently] I told her, ‘You're one of the best things that ever happened to me.’”
Theater teacher Rob Esposito, who arrived at Co-Op in 2005, described Migliore’s tenure as transformative for the school, and for his own work as an arts educator. When she arrived in 2019—on the cusp of Covid-19, although nobody knew it then—he noticed a change in the school’s culture almost immediately. It wasn’t just the students, he said: he felt seen and appreciated as an arts educator for the first time in years.
“There are certain administrators out there that have a way of making us better because they identify our strengths and thereby allow us to build upon them, just like a teacher does with a student,” Esposito said in a phone call Friday. “She was able to see in me the value that I had and it allowed me to feel confident and able to move forward. It made me want to work harder because I've seen her working hard.”
In his world, that’s been especially true of the school musical. As an arts booster and a deep lover of musical theater, Migliore has jumped in countless times to help, from running ticket sales to buying paper plates for pizza dinners during tech week. In a year that has also included the threat of cuts (Esposito is an arts educator; his wife is a library and media specialist), he doesn’t know what the school will look like without her.
“That has allowed me to not have to worry about anything but the art,” he said. “That is the biggest gift that a director, or any creative team, can receive. She wants to serve the art and allow the artists to be artists. allow the students to learn through the process of creation.”
“Without Art, I Wouldn’t Be The Person I Am Today”
Dexter Meneyfield. Lucy Gellman Photo.
On a recent Friday, students in Esposito’s second-period theater class expressed a broader need for arts educators as cuts loom across the district. Held in Co-Op’s first-floor black box, the class sometimes feels like a nineteenth-century salon, in which students get deeply philosophical about the future of the arts—and their own careers in the field—all before lunchtime.
Nathalie Tejada, a senior who plans to study nursing at Albertus Magnus College, remembered how she started studying art back in elementary school, when it became an option to join the choir at Benjamin Jepson Magnet School. If it had not been for her teacher, Kenneth Caldwell, Tejada said, “it would have changed the trajectory of my life,” she said. Caldwell resigned from the district in 2021 to work for the Woodbridge Public Schools.
“It would have changed my entire high school experience,” Tejada said. After Caldwell lit a spark, Tejada picked up the bassoon and started acting with Alliance Children’s Theatre, which still runs out of Fair Haven School. Seven years ago, she also started studying the viola with Music Haven. She’s now there at least three days a week, and thinks of the Fair Haven arts incubator as a second home.
She can’t imagine her life without arts educators—and doesn’t think any young person should have to. That’s still true at Co-Op, where she has formed close bonds with both Esposito and band director Patrick Smith, who will step into retirement this month.
“I’m a very anxious person, and I have a hard time regulating my emotions,” she said. “It [music] helps me cope. Arts help you focus on emotion.”
That resonated for Sean Rivera, who did musical theater and band as a student at John C. Daniels School of International Communication, and found a sense of belonging through the arts. Before theater, “I never felt like I belonged,” Rivera said (with a little, tight smile, they added that they “wanted to be Hannah Montana” growing up). But after starring as Young Nala in The Lion King, Jr., they realized how full the arts made them feel. They can’t imagine their life without them.
“It was being in a space with so many artists who believed in me,” Rivera said, also crediting Alliance Children’s Theatre with an extra boost. “Without theater, I wouldn't be doing any of this. I directed, I choreographed, I acted. It’s genuinely the only thing that I’m good at. After years of being told my singing in the car was annoying or my random dancing was weird,” theater was the answer.
“Without art, I wouldn’t be the person I am today,” chimed in La’Riah Norman, who grew up around the arts between church choirs and a DJ dad. “Arts create a safe space. If I’m stressed, I just go to Ms. A’s [Janie Alexander] classroom.” It helps her unwind.
That vision had come to life earlier in the class, as senior Dexter Meneyfield gave a senior capstone presentation, dedicated to a vibrant, color-soaked music video about mental health.
After dabbling in theater at L. W. Beecher School, Meneyfield ended up at Co-Op as a kind of fluke, because a close friend was also planning on going to the school. But Co-Op worked its magic: Meneyfield fell in love with it, stunning with a sequence from “Almost Maine” by sophomore year.
“I was able to express myself,” the young artist said. Before Co-Op, Meneyfield got picked on for an outgoing, dramatic, sometimes loud, wickedly funny and vivacious personality. “I used to be ashamed of it.” Not so at Co-Op. “Every time I came here, I was able to drop the front.”
Meneyfield also knows—as do many Co-Op students—what it looks and feels like to struggle with mental health. Enter a music video all about taking care of oneself. Friday, classmates looked on, some wide-eyed and beaming. Many applauded, snapped, and pressed two fingers silently together in appreciation during the presentation. At the end, Elle McPhaill was the first to speak.
“You’re like, super funny,” she said, adding that no one at the school would have suspected a thing without the presentation. “Most people don’t open up about their mental health,” and the choice to do so opened a door for other students.
“No one would have known if you hadn’t said something,” echoed Marangelie Colón, who plans to head to Southern Connecticut State University in the fall. “You’ve just been such a bright light.”
“Fuck!” Meneyfield exclaimed as Colón spoke. “My eyeliner.”
Christi Sargent, who co-teaches the class, noted that Meneyfield had tapped into something much bigger than a single student, or even a single high school experience. It was the importance of both self-care and community-care, including the ability to ask for help.
“Also, don’t be afraid to let that guard down, because that is what is healthy for you,” she said. “If you worry about these things, it means that you care.”
Esposito, meanwhile, praised the student's growth, remembering that sophomore year showcase presentation from "Almost Maine." In the years since, Meneyfield has continued to grow—and it's been an honor to watch it as an educator.
"You killed it. You brought me a feast," Esposito remembered. "If that's not what art does, then why are we here?"
Asked about both the assistant principal transfers and looming cuts to the arts, New Haven Federation of Teachers (NHFT) President Leslie Blatteau said that she does not believe eliminating assistant principal positions is in the best interest of students or teachers.
That’s true of arts learning too, which is often the first on the chopping block (and for decades, have seen a funding drop in public schools across the country) despite data that shows the arts teach “soft skills” like empathy, engagement, and emotional maturity (certain arts, like music, are also linked to stronger performance in math, science and English).
“We really need to value the arts not as an extra, but as a core component of how students spend their days,” she added. “In the midst of these very hard decisions that have to be made, we have to make them in as human-centered ways as possible.”
“We're looking at a hard year ahead,” she added.