by Edin Equality
Say goodbye to Dan Cocchiola
Yes, Dan Cocchiola and his (approx.) $150,000 a year salary are leaving for a new school system. Is it that he may have been consulting with the new school rather than providing the education to the students he had actually been contracted with Hamden Public Schools to perform.
Earlier this concerned citizen has explained that not only that Superintendent Gary Highsmith is aware of the entire situation about Dan Cocchiola failing to provide computers for 95% of the students at Hamden High School… but he does not appear to be concerned about. When this concerned citizen continued to follow up with the school district, the district blocked my email address…
Apparently if you can’t communicate with the school district, there are no problems.
Let me put this in context, dear taxpayers of Hamden… your students are not receiving any computer technology education since Dan Cocchiola failed to purchase computers for two years in a row… I’m sorry, let me clarify…
If your student is one of the approximate 100 HECA students (Hamden Engineering Careers Academy), then yes… your child is receiving a state-of-the-art computer education and they are well on their way to college and a career.
However, if your student is one of the approximate 1,500 RESTA students (those students not enrolled in HECA)… your student has not had a computer on their desk for the past 2 years with absolutely no hands on computer tech training (all the while supposedly having to learn the same as the HECA Students). I’m guessing that school system doesn’t care if they believe that they will be enrolling in college or pursuing a career in some kind of Tech.
We are not talking about a difficult task, only requiring about 20 iMacs (for 1,500 students) with a total cost to the school system about $30,000… that’s only $22 per student.
Apparently Dan Cocchiola thought this was too much to even order the list of equipment for 2 years… now he’s leaving Hamden School System for greener pastures. Let’s hope he does a better job (I’m not sure how much vetting the new school system did, but I’m sure those 100 HECA students are doing great).
As a final blow to the school system and your students, Dan Cocchiola failed to complete the Master Schedule for school year 2023 (which I’m sure is part of his job description).
This reader feels that this is Educational Malpractice on the part of Dan Cocchiola and Gary Highsmith for failing to perform the barest minimum to educate your student at Hamden High School.
There should be some accountability for this incompetence. Perhaps the students need to file a class action to get an equal education from Hamden Public Schools.
Dan Cocchiola is leaving next week, in his wake, 2 years of educational inequality
I read your earlier post about the CAD students having no computers suitable for running modern CAD software and that whole story was absolutely infuriating and the one of the most “that’s so Hamden” stories I’ve read – between forgetting to order computers and then trying to retrofit a room for computers that weren’t going to work anyway – all very typical Hamden nonsense. And completely unacceptable. That said, I am a little confused about this piece because the students do all have chrome books. And while I understand that a Chrome Book is not the same as a full-fledged computer, saying that the kids aren’t getting any hands on computer training or haven’t had a computer on their desk in two years is not quite accurate or fair. I think you may be referencing certain classes such as CAD or graphic arts that are feeling the brunt of this – and that’s a big problem for sure, but I’m not sure all students need access to those specialized computers. That said – HHS shouldn’t be offering classes which it can’t properly support with technology. I would have rather seen that metal detector money go towards this! I have only had one interaction with Cocchiola and he was reasonable and did in fact solve our problem quite well, so in that regard, my personal experience was positive. However, what is coming out about the favoritism shown to HECA students I think is the bigger story here. And that very well may have been facilitated by Cocchiola – I have no proof of that but the rumor mill will certainly support that theory. There was a big blow up earlier this year around unfair GPA calculations due to HECA kids being able to take gym 1 – over the summer and 2 – as a Pass/Fail – which no one else gets the option to do. Additionally, I think there are are problems with the guidance department as a whole at the high school (which he oversaw) – as my daughter likes to say – “if I want any attention from guidance at this school, I either need to get in a fight or fail a class.” That’s a problem. I think at HHS you can either be in HECA or in TROUBLE to get any real support, the RESTA the kids are basically on their own.
This whole article is just slander lmao
Not all of the kids need computers that run all of the fancy softwares. The students that do choose to take computer based classes like digital art use computers that are already in the classroom. Every student is supplied with a Chromebook and some are given laptops with the Windows operating system if their work has the possibility of being done at home. I do not know where you get your information because 90% of it is untrue. I also do not know why you have chosen to carry out a crusade against Dan Cocchiola, and hope you can use the same energy on trying to better the school system instead of slandering the ones who are improving it.
This rant proves that you understand nothing about technology and are just complaining for the hell of it. The Heca students apparently use a program called “Solidworks” and it is not available for Mac computers. You also claim that a measly 20 computers would support a building of 1,500 students. According to that math, each student would only be able to use a “state of the art” computer roughly every 9 days. If your child CHOOSES to take a technology class, then they are supplied with a computer that is more than able to handle the programs necessary. Do your research before writing hit pieces.
Poorly researched with horrible points stated, as well as, a lack of proper grammar. 1.4/10- Shit article, everyone knows the rules.
Dear readers, having read your comments, a future article will address your questions of what the actual graduation requirements are for Hamden High School Students (available on the school’s website). As for Slander: (noun) the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person’s reputation. Please “The 5%”, if you could please provide evidence that any of information is incorrect, I will address those. Further, “Edin’s Left Nut”, apologies for any incorrect grammar. This writer is not a pulitzer prize winner, however, I will work on my penmanship. As for poorly researched and horrible points, please let me know which points you are questioning. Finally, this is not a crusade against Dan Cocchiola. This is a battle against his apathy towards the RESTA students’ education and his failure to perform his job for the past 2 years at least for these students.
Edin, some of this didn’t seem right to me so I looked into it. I asked students and teachers and here is what I found.
Most of the HECA students are using Chromebooks like the “restas”. When students need to use CAD at home, they use a web-based version called onshape. Premium laptops were only provided to students who were sent home due to Covid.
Solidworks is not a requirement for anyone outside of the HECA program. As a taxpayer, I appreciate the school being judicious about providing the appropriate technology only as needed.
Also, I learned that the HECA program is one of several Career Training programs at Hamden High. It is open to everyone and there are no academic requirements, just an interest and willingness to work hard. It sounds like a really great program. I don’t understand why people are trying to knock it down.