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Board of Ed Prez Yesenia Rivera, Vice Prez Matt Wilcox, and Secretary Ed Joyner: All reelected.
Yesenia Rivera, Matt Wilcox, and Ed Joyner will all remain the leaders of the city’s Board of Education for at least another year after unanimously winning reelection by fellow board members.
That vote was taken Monday afternoon during the Board of Ed’s latest regular biweekly meeting via Zoom.
In separate unanimous 6 – 0 votes, Rivera was reelected as the board’s president, Wilcox as the board’s vice president, and Joyner as the board’s secretary. Their new terms are one year each.
The executive trio has been leading the board since 2020, when Rivera replaced fellow board member Darnell Goldson as president. Goldson was not present during the votes at the start of Monday’s meeting.
Rivera described her reelection Monday as a “vote of confidence” by her colleagues in her leadership of the board.
“I’m excited for the work ahead as we move forward with the work of hiring the district’s superintendent,” Rivera told the Independent after the votes had taken place. “Although I’m sure it’s going to be an arduous process I’m excited to get this completed.”
The board has already begun the process of looking for a new superintendent to replace Iline Tracey, who plans to retire at the end of the current school year. The reelection vote also comes against the backdrop of deep concerns about chronic absenteeism, low reading and math scores, and a district-wide teacher shortage in the New Haven Public Schools, as well as the board’s approval of a new teachers union contract and the imminent start of a 12-school pilot process for two new K‑3 phonics-based literacy programs.