While the district searches for a new leader to run Hillhouse High School, retired principal Peggy Moore will temporarily take over.
The Board of Education voted unanimously Monday night to approve an administrative appointment of Moore to interim principal of Hillhouse.
Moore, who retired in 2013 as Wilbur Cross High School principal, previously came out of retirement three years ago to run Barnard Environmental Studies Inter-District Magnet School as interim principal. Moore remained principal temporarily in the summer until Robert McCain was appointed in June 2019.
”She’s graciously decided to serve us for the next couple of months while we continue the search for principal for Hillhouse,” Superintendent Iline Tracey said.
The Board unanimously approved the appointment 7 – 0 with no discussion.
Moore will replace Glen Worthy who resigned as Hillhouse principal as of March 15 after leading the school for six years. Worthy decided to move on to become chief of educational services for the state Department of Children and Families (DCF).
Moore expressed her excitement for the role and break from retirement a second time at the Monday meeting.
“My passion is working with students. I’ve done it for a long time, and I enjoy it,” she said. “It gives me a great honor to say that I have served Wilbur Cross and now James Hillhouse High School.”
The board also renewed five executive management contracts after a discussion in executive session about the central office employees’ evaluations.
Contracts were renewed for the positions of Gemma Joseph-Lumpkin, Chief of Youth, Family, and Community Engagement; Lisa Mack, Director of Human Resources and Labor Relations; and Assistant Superintendents Keisha Redd-Hannans, Ivelise Velazquez, and Paul Whyte.
Covid-Related MOAs Approved
Also at the Monday night meeting, the board also voted in favor of the passage of three memoranda of agreements (MOA). (Click here to view the agreements.)
An MOA between the board and the New Haven Federation of Teachers Local 933 set a $45 per hour wage for teachers who arranged to work during April vacation. Another part of the agreement was approved with Paraprofessional Union Local 3429 to compensate paras at $25 per hour for work performed during the upcoming April recess.
The unions and board passed a second MOA regarding wages for the district’s “Summer of Fun” program, which sees dozens of schools host summer academic and recreational programming for K‑12 students to recover from social and emotional learning loss stemming from the pandemic.
Classroom teachers working during the summer programming will receive $45 per hour; assigned teachers hired as “building leaders” will get $50 per hour. Paras are set to receive $25 per hour for summer work related to the program.
The third approved MOA regarded educators who have been or will be required in the future to quarantine by the Department of Health or the district’s health team.
The agreement between the board and Hotel & Restaurant Employees & Bartenders Union declared that effective immediately and retroactively from September 2021, union employees outside of the teachers union, who either used their personal sick time to meet the quarantine requirements or lost out on pay while quarantining, will have their sick leave time restored and/or will be paid money lost.
The agreement is set to remain active until June 30, 2022.
The quarantine-related MOA comes after a Jan. 24 meeting that saw the paraprofessional union and Local 933 join in solidarity to ask the district for guaranteed paid time off for support staff when required to quarantine. (Read more about that here.)
Board member Darnell Goldson’s asked how much extra the two initiatives and one reversal of used sick time agreement will cost the district. Tracey said figures are being gathered as hiring for the April and summer initiatives occurs and will be presented to the board in advance of the program starts.
The funds for the approved agreements will be funded by the federal pandemic-relief Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSR) grant, Tracey added.