Interviewer
Richelle Benjamin
Interview Date
6-1-2013
Format
1 pdf file, 1 video file
Description
David Baram, state representative from Bloomfield, gives his perspective on the 1985 Bloomfield residency case involving four parents, including Hartford mother Saundra Foster, who were arrested for enrolling their children in Bloomfield schools. Representative Baram was the mayor of Bloomfield during the time this case was taking place. Baram explains that the majority of politicians in the town were unaware of the problem of line jumping prior to the arrests made in 1985, saying that it was entirely the school board’s decision to go to the police—a decision that was later criticized by many other surrounding districts. Today, David Baram supports the decriminalization of the act of crossing district boundary lines and proposes a more regionalized approach to education in the state of Connecticut. He argues that with shared resources, students from multiple districts can all benefit from improved schools.
Series
School Residency and Civil Rights
Recommended Citation
Baram, David. Oral history interview on School Residency and Civil Rights by Richelle Benjamin for the Cities, Suburbs, and Schools Project, June 1, 2013. Available from the Trinity College Digital Repository, Hartford Connecticut (http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/cssp/).
