The newest Board of Education member is a single mom who has headed the parent-teacher organization at two different schools. That’s not an accident.
“I hope that by appointing her, a single mom, the mother of two wonderful teenage daughters, who is the head of the PTO at not one but two schools, we are sending a signal to the whole community. And that signal is that we, the schools, simply cannot do it alone. We need to reach out and energize many more parents, as she has done, and enlist the whole community so all our children can continue to achieve.”
Superintendent of Schools Reginald Mayo Monday night was speaking of Susan R. Samuels (pictured with fellow board member Carlos Torre) as he swore her in as the newest member of the Board of Education (BOE). Vowing that the city schools are going to “pick it up” this year, the superintendent said in reference to the involvement of New Havens’ parents in their children’s education, “Susan Samuels is a terrific example to have on the board. A real role model for other parents to emulate.”
Mayo cited successful training sessions for new parent leaders that the BOE conducted this summer, an active grandparents organization, and many hard-working PTOs as a foundation on which to build. But “picking it up” is absolutely essential, he said, especially to end at-risk behaviors among NHPS kids. “Through Susan’s appointment, the kids are the winners.”
Currently an independent contractor with the United States Social Security Office of Disability Adjudication and Review, Samuels is a native of Ohio. She has lived in New Haven for 30 years and raised her children in the New Haven Public School system. The mother of Career High School freshman-to-be Shannon (pictured below on the left) and New Haven Academy junior Taylor, Samuels has headed the PTO of the Katherine Brennan School, from which Shannon just graduated. She has been the head of the PTO at the New Haven Academy for the past two years as well.
With the mayor, according to the superintendent, eager to select a parent to the BOE, and the superintendent readily agreeing, was Samuels appointment a signal also that 2007 – 2008 is indeed the Year of the Parent?
“For me,” answered Samuels, “absolutely every year is the year of the parent.” She described her own childhood small-town Ohio community as a place where “it was just taken for granted that parents would be involved with the schools.” Although she knows firsthand how hard it is to foster involvement, she’s optimistic. She described her appointment as providing a place for parents right on the board.
“My immediate focus is really wanting to listen to parents,” she said. “I feel parents are the first teachers. School is an extension of the home. When the kids start school, it’s a partnership with the parents from then on.”
Samuels was described by Katherine Brennan School Principal Celeste Davis (on the left talking with assistant superintendent Ima Canelli) as energetic, driven, focused, “the ideal kind of parent a principal wants to work with the PTO.”
“She knows how difficult it is to get parents involved,” added Davis, “and she went out of her way to work with the young parents at school.”
Samuels’ daughters (pictured on left) Shannon and Taylor (pictured with Samuels’ admiring friend Sonje William Smith and her son Roy, in the back row) said they cannot remember a time their mother was not involved in their school.
“The teachers and principal always know who we are,” said Shannon. And both are high achievers. Shannon was the salutatorian at Katherine Brennan in June; she was also recently inducted into the National Junior Honors Society at Katherine Brennan. Taylor just returned from two weeks of academic summer study, on full scholarship, at Choate.
The girls said their mothers never, ever missed events at their schools. What if events were the same day, same time? “Then she would arrange to get to one earlier, and then go to the second. She’s always there,” said Shannon.
“Always,” said Taylor.
Samuels, along with the recently appointed Michael Nast, are taking the spots of John Prokop and Peggy Hamilton, who left the BOE in the last year. At Monday’s meeting, only Carlos Torre, Richard Abbatiello, and the mayor, who is a member of the BOE, were present; Patrica McCann Vissepo joined by telephone. (The superintendent is not a BOE member). With five BOE members required for a quorum, the fifth, Samuels, was sworn in by the mayor, right before the meeting, enabling the proceedings to be official.