Christopher Peak Photo
Superintendent Carol Birks kicks off the school year at an August convocation.
Superintendent Carol Birks wants to be remembered for graduating a full class of students, trying out new models of early childhood education, and recognizing staff accomplishments.
Saying it had been “an honor” to be New Haven’s superintendent, Birks listed that part of her record in an email to school district staff on Thursday morning, hours after the Board of Education approved a roughly $150,000 severance deal for her to resign.
“Our achievements during my tenure were vast,” Birks wrote. “I am unable to capture them all in this email. We have invoked equity, greater accountability and excellence for all our learners.”
She pointed to the rollout of the career-focused Gateway to College program for high schoolers struggling with traditional classes, a more developmentally appropriate play-based pilot program for pre-kindergarten and elementary students, and a certified seal of bilteracy for high schoolers who are fluent in two languages, among others.
Birks’s Farewell Letter
Dear New Haven Learning Community:
It has been an honor to have served as your Superintendent. I am pleased to celebrate our collective work. We have many accomplishments, celebrations, areas of growth and opportunities that I am unable to capture them all in this email. We have invoked equity, greater accountability and excellence for all our learners. Some of our accomplishments include:
- Graduated twelve hundred forty-four students in June 2019, with millions of dollars in scholarships awarded by various entities, including New Haven Promise, New Haven Scholarship Fund and Presidential Scholarships
- Graduated two classes from the Gateway to College Program
- Implemented a Developmental Play Based Early Childhood Framework
- Created an Early Learning School Planning and Management Team, and a Head Start Summer Learning Program
- Launched Network Improvement Communities and School Quality Review Meetings to build communities of practice who focus on instructional improvement
- Distributed Great Things Are Happening an E‑newsletter, and recognition of staff and students at the Board of Education Meetings
- Created You Are the Light Employee and Student Recognition Ceremony to highlight and celebrate the multiple achievements throughout the District
- Launched The Rise and Shine initiative to improve the academic outcomes of males of color including mentorship, and empowering them with sessions designed to promote positive pro-social behaviors
- Awarded foundation support to promote equity across the District, to develop a mentoring program for students, and to recruit and retain teachers of color
- Developed a Whole Child Framework and Seal of Biliteracy Program to name many.
I would like to thank you, our Learning Community and extended partners, for your leadership, service, and commitment to our students. Our achievements during my tenure were vast. I appreciate learning about you and with you. I wish New Haven Public Schools the greatest success.
Best regards,
Carol D. Birks, Ed.D.