Michelle Liu Photo
Gonzalez with her son at Monday night’s meeting.
New Haven’s Board of Education has a new president — and she promised to be a doer in the job.
Mayor Toni Harp, who has concluded her one-year term leading the board, passed the baton to Daisy Gonzalez at the board’s Monday night meeting at L.W. Beecher School.
Gonzalez, originally appointed to the board as a parents’ representative, admitted to being a bit of a “nervous wreck” while presiding over her first meeting. But that’s because she would rather be taking action on concerns that arise during meetings, rather than debating them, she said.
She was elected to the position with no opposition, as were new Vice-President Edward Joyner, Jr. and Secretary Darnell Goldson.
“We are going to be a working board,” she promised concerned parents. “We are a working board.”
Her election follows a year marked by heated debate on the board as well as detailed discussions about issues, at times featuring delays in making decisions and time out for marriage therapy-style counseling.
Gonzalez said she wants to immediately tackle issues already “in the air” that were brought up on Monday night: a policy concern students with life-threatening allergies; security measures in preschools; a draft of a policy regarding how schools with contend with immigration policy.
By this time next year, Gonzalez said, she is looking to get graduating rates up, schools properly funded and “children actually learning.” That’s what she’d consider a success in her one-year term as president.
Harp, on her part, said she wished for a hat or a gavel to hand over to Gonzalez. And Harp reminded those present that she wasn’t gone for good: she’s still on the board.
The board paused briefly when Harp mentioned the need to fill the secretary position. Then board member Darnell Goldson stepped up.
“I’ll take it,” he said. “As long as I don’t have to take any notes.”
After some laughs, Goldson, too, got a chorus of ayes.