Melissa Bailey Photo
After serving two years as a link between the city’s public university and its school reform drive, Selase Williams said farewell to the New Haven Board of Education Monday.
Williams, the provost at Southern Connecticut State University for the past six years, held his last meeting Monday as a member of the New Haven Board of Education.
Williams is leaving SCSU, and the school board, to take a new job as provost of Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass.
Williams joined the New Haven school board in October 2009, as the district prepared to launch an ambitious campaign to improve its long-struggling schools. The campaign aims to close the city’s achievement gap with the state within five years, cut the dropout rate in half within five years, and ensure every kid has the means and ability to succeed in college.
On the board, Williams has served as a prominent link between the district and SCSU, as the university became one of many institutions to partner in the school reform drive.
At Williams’ final board meeting Monday, New Haven school reform czar Garth Harries thanked him for his service. When the district meets the goals it set out to accomplish, he offered, “we’ll have you back” to celebrate.
Board president Carlos Torre thanked Williams with a white sheet cake.
As his colleague departs, Ferdinand Risco, whom many expected to leave the local school board when he was tapped for the statewide school board, is staying put in his seat.