By Brian Zahn
New Haven Register
WEST HAVEN, Conn. — Officials from the city and University of New Haven announced an expansion of town-gown relations Thursday, offering an opportunity to local first responders to continue their education for free beginning in the fall semester.
Mayor Dorinda Borer said town-gown relations are critical to a city like West Haven, which is designated as financially distressed and is home to a private university that carries with it nonprofit status.
At Thursday’s event, Borer announced new and expanded initiatives to grow the partnership between the city and university, including the benefit for first responders: firefighters, police officers and dispatchers.
“That is over a $100,000 benefit for those in public safety who work for the city of West Haven, and what better place would our public safety personnel want to earn a bachelor’s or master’s?” she said, highlighting the university’s programs in fire safety, forensics, international relations and homeland security.
Borer said the city also agreed to sell North End Field, a blighted and disused athletic field that is adjacent to the university’s significant recent purchase of a shopping plaza across from its campus along Campbell Avenue, for $500,000.
A discounted tuition program for West Haven’s students is also expanded under the agreement, offering 50% off tuition for West Haven high school graduates.
Historically, the deal applied to graduates from West Haven High School, the Engineering and Science University Magnet School and Notre Dame High School. The partnership now applies to all West Haven residents graduating from high school, an acknowledgment of local enrollment in magnet school programs outside the geographical boundaries of West Haven.
Tuition for a full-time student in the current academic year is $22,822 per term, or $45,644 for the year, according to the University of New Haven’s website.
“They’re our kids,” said West Haven Superintendent of Schools Neil Cavallaro. Even if West Haven students are not enrolled in the local school system, Cavallaro said such a program makes West Haven “smarter, safer and more attractive to those looking for a place to live and raise a family.”
Center Fire District Captain Jacob Urban, whose highest educational attainment is an associate’s degree, said he intends to be among the first to take advantage of the first responder free tuition program. He said that, as a father of three young sons, he is looking to be a role model to them about the importance of pursuing higher education.
“Better-educated first responders will be more effective,” he said.
Urban, a training captain, said he also expects the tuition program will benefit city fire recruitment and retention efforts.
Historically, UNH has made an annual $100,000 contribution to the Allingtown Fire District, a means of supporting the taxpayer-funded fire service’s obligation to the tax-exempt campus.
UNH President Jens Frederiksen said the partnership bolsters the university as having “a local feel and global reach.”
He said the university hopes to demonstrate higher education is still a worthwhile investment in any political environment. He said the university’s initial plans for North End Field would be preserving the recreational use as it prepares to transform the property within the adjacent shopping plaza into a university research and development center.
West Haven Police Chief Joseph Perno said that, outside of his training at the police academy, as a local public school and University of New Haven graduate, all of his education took place within the boundaries of West Haven.
“My guys and gals will be taking up this opportunity, and I’m sure that there will be a lot of applications coming from the West Haven Police Department,” he said.
Presently, a contractual discussion of police department benefits is at the heart of whether the city will exit the control of a state oversight board. Since 2017, the city has relinquished some executive control to the Municipal Accountability Review Board, which provides oversight and, initially, funding to ensure the city can become financially stronger.
Borer has argued to MARB officials that the city has met its statutory obligations to exit the MARB’s control, while some MARB members have expressed concerns about changes to the police contract that would implement a pension plan for officers who currently invest in 401(k) plans. Amid an ongoing lawsuit between the union and state officials over the right to implement the contract, Borer has said police officials are willing to negotiate elements of the plan.
Borer said the city intends to publicize the program within the community. She said the university has offered 50% off tuition for all city employees for years, but only two employees have taken advantage of the little-known offer.
“We plan on doing an all-out campaign,” she said. “Getting the word out is going to be our next step.”
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