"At Hartford's King School, 'Beautiful' Support On First Day"

""Everybody!" Johnson shouted to the scores of sharply dressed black men lining the walkway to M.L. King. "We've got Jamar here coming to the first grade!"

The group — Hartford businessmen, lawyers, community organizers, city politicians, artists, neighborhood dignitaries, a police officer in uniform — erupted in cheers and whoops for Jamar, giving the boy high-fives and handshakes as if he were LeBron James being introduced at Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
"I want everyone to put their hands together for Odell!" Johnson said as another child, third-grader Odell Harris, 8, walked up to the school and was greeted by the dapper crew of well-wishers, men of color in suits and ties who came to show their support. It was a sight that left one King mother in tears...

Superintendent Beth Schiavino-Narvaez, who links social justice to her educational approach, has rolled out a plan to lift Hartford's graduation rate from 71 percent to 90 percent by 2020, part of a five-year road map to cut suspensions and chronic absenteeism, while raising third-grade reading proficiency, expanding college opportunities and connecting each student to a "caring adult."
"I'm really starting to think about our work here in Hartford as being an urban center of excellence," Narvaez said as she concluded her visit to King School on Tuesday, her first stop on a bus tour that headed to Hartford Public High's Academy of Engineering and Green Technology and Breakthrough Magnet School, two schools that won national awards this year."
http://www.courant.com/community/hartford/hc-hartford-first-day-school-0826-20150825-story.html

so feel good :)

Related: This American Life episode on the Hartford school system