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This week, leaders of a grass-roots effort to address that "two Stratfords" division announced that three areas - the public school system, police/community relations and the town's political leadership - need attention so the division that many believe cleaves the town in two can heal.
Discussion groups met in a series of sessions at local churches over the winter to share their perceptions of racial issues and try to understand each other's points of view. They settled on the three areas they believe need the most focus.
The discussion groups were a response to complaints by minorities of routine unfair treatment by many Stratford police officers. These followed a near-riot in which the sole African-American councilman charged a white police officer with brutality.
Those participating in the Community Action Forum on Race at St. Joseph of Stratford National Catholic Church Tuesday heard speeches by School Supt. Irene Cornish, Police Chief John Buturla and Mayor James Miron.
"This is about moving from discussion to action," said Patricia Naylor, the town's Community Services Department director.
Her department provided organizational and financial assistance for the discussion groups, but the sponsors actually were the Stratford Youth and Family Advisory Board, the Stratford Clergy Association and the Greater Bridgeport Council of Churches.
Many of the discussion group participants shared what was most meaningful about the process for them. One African-American man, a Council of Churches representative who does not live in Stratford but served as a facilitator, said he was surprised to learn the town is divided north and south.
"It's not something you want to sweep under the rug," he said. "It's something you want to get out there and talk about."
Others said they learned that people from different races and neighborhoods had more in common than they thought, and they focused on learning to respect each other as the key to healing what ails the town.
"I think we're on the right track," one resident declared.
Key areas for action
Naylor announced the three areas of concern the discussion groups identified.
The concern over the school system focused on increasing the racial diversity of the teaching staff, introducing more multiculturalism into the curriculum, and making sure the town's high schools receive equal resources.
Regarding the police department, the group wanted to expand community policing, improve community relations and explore the possibility of establishing a civilian review board.
The discussion groups identified the rarity of minority individuals in elected and appointed government leadership positions to be its third concern.
Three action groups were formed Tuesday to recommend ways to address each issue. Slightly more than half of the discussion group participants joined the new groups.
Any resident interested in joining a group can call the town's Community Service Department for information or use the new interactive Citizen's Service Center feature on the town's website, townof stratford.com.
Focus on schools
The three town officials were encouraging, but Cornish stood out for seeming to be ahead of the discussion groups regarding what the problem is and what is to be done about it.
She said about 40 percent of the students in the Stratford public schools are minorities, but only 4 percent of the teachers are.
Cornish attributed that disparity not to racism, but to the traditional way most teaching vacancies are filled: individuals first get jobs as tutors so the school principals get to know them.
When a tutoring job opens up, the teachers and tutors already at the school inform their friends and relatives, so the positions tend to get filled by people with similar backgrounds as those before them.
Cornish said she is trying to change that by using new methods to find candidates for teaching jobs, such as recruiting at job fairs.
She stood out another way, too, by volunteering to join the action group on education.
Police and politics
Buturla, who became police chief in March, wasn't involved in last year's complaints against the police and didn't mention them.
Instead, he noted that during his law enforcement career, he has gained experience in community policing, which relies on close relationships between officers and residents to stop crime before it happens.
He noted he grew up in Stratford and never thought of the town as divided in two, north and south.
"We must think about it as one town," he told the gathering.
Buturla said he was eager to expand community policing in Stratford, but noted he needs more officers to do it effectively, making a soft-pedaled plea for budget support.
Miron was more direct in pleading for support for his budget. He expressed a concern that the Town Council might try to cut funds needed to pay for the diversity training program started last year.
He said a few elected officials, whom he didn't name, oppose diversity training and deny that Stratford has any racial problems.
"It's shameful that any elected official should say there no racial issue in Stratford," Miron said.
The mayor concluded with a pep talk, urging minority and female residents to run for public office, since there appears to be a shortage of both in the town's government. On the Town Council, for example, he said there are no women and only one minority member, Alvin O'Neal, the councilman who was arrested last year and filed the complaint against the officer. Other elected and appointed town government boards also lack diversity.
"All solutions to all these problems exist right here in this room," Miron said, urging the people at St. Joseph Church to "roll up your sleeves" and get involved.
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