West Hartford Public Schools

In March 2021, superintendent Tom Moore proposed a $176.3 million budget for the 2021-2022 academic year, an increase of 2.28% or $3.93 million. Increases in the budget are a result of salary increases, student outplacement, and transportation for additional busses for special education needs.[3]

In 2015, the Board of Education voted to allow Conard and Hall high schools to keep their nicknames, Chieftain and Warrior, respectively, "provided all Native American imagery, including mascots, were eliminated."[5]

In 2022, the Board voted to end the use of the nicknames. A new state law would have cut some education funding if "an intramural or interscholastic athletic team associated with such school, uses any name, symbol or image that depicts, refers to or is associated with a state or federally recognized Native American tribe or a Native American individual, custom or tradition, as a mascot, nickname, logo or team name.”[5] The schools will choose new nicknames.

In November 2019 the board of education removed a plan to have to schools start at a later start time. The claim is that later start times for high school students is more beneficial for their mental and physical health. The cost of transportation would exceed $2 million if high school and middle school started at 8:15.[6] The issue was brought up again at a board of education meeting in February 2020. At this meeting the West Hartford board of education supports a statewide move to require that students in grades 6-12 to begin academic classes no earlier than 8:30 a.m. so they can arrive at school “healthy, awake, alert, and ready to learn.”[7]