Beloved Educator Jeffie Frazier Dies

One of the city’s leading educators, retired Principal Jeffie Frazier, has died at the age of 77.

Frazier inspired and mentored generations of New Haven students as a teacher and a principal who developed strong ties to Dixwell families whose children attended Helene Grant School and then Wexler-Grant. She was a go-to civic leader; she ran a school that served as a hub for the community.

“She’s a legend,” said Board of Education member Tamiko Jackson-McArthur. ​“She has left a legacy. She will be sorely missed.”

Frazier died on Saturday after a long bout with cancer.

Frazier was recognized citywide for her efforts, as the city in 2019 designated the entry to the Wexler-Grant School parking lot on Foote Street, across from Adam Clayton Powell Place, ​“Jeffie Frazier Way.”

One of her many mentees was Sabrina Breeland, who is currently the principal of East Rock School.

“She was a trooper,” said Breeland, who was among the friends and family who took turns helping Frazier in her final years, including, most recently, hours watching the Game Show Network together at Frazier’s home. ​“She never complained.”

Breeland got to know Frazier as Frazier’s assistant principal at Wexler-Grant School.

She recalled a day when the school organized a ​“CMT full-court press” pep rally to help the students in advance of high-stakes standardized tests.

“She told me, ​‘Sabrina get up there and lead this.’

“I had never led an assembly before. Channel 8 was there. The people from the state were there. I was so nervous. I thought, ​‘These kids are going to give me heck.’

“She said, ​‘Girl, you got this.’ I got up there. It actually went very well. Ever since that day I had the confidence. She believed in me.” Frazier continued mentoring Breland as Breland became the principal of Wexler-Grant, then East Rock.

Community members had numerous occasions to express their gratitude over the years, including last November when her Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority sisters organized a surprise drive-by birthday party.

“She led from the African proverb, ​‘It takes a village to raise a child,” AKA chapter President Shenae Draughn said at that occasion. ​“She makes everybody feel like they’re family.”

A native of Minden, Louisiana, Frazier moved to New Haven in 1966, when she became a teacher at what was then called Helene W. Grant Elementary School on Goffe Street, according to a write-up by Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison in support of the 2019 vote to designate the entry to the Wexler-Grant School parking lot on Foote Street, across from Adam Clayton Powell Place, ​“Jeffie Frazier Way.”

“After long school days she found herself deeply involved in the Dixwell community,” Morrison wrote, ​“walking students home, visiting residents in the Elm Haven housing projects to see if families had enough to eat, and tutoring students who needed extra assistance.”

Frazier went on to become a Fulbright scholar, the principal at Grant School, and was recognized in 1996 as the Milken Educator of the Year.

Frazier became principal of the Helene W. Grant School on Goffe Street and later the combined Wexler-Grant. She developed the school’s dress code, boosted parent engagement, and took groups of students on trips to Senegal.

“During her many decades as a distinguished educator,” Morrison wrote, ​“Mrs. Frazier stressed high expectations and implemented numerous programs that emphasized community and parental commitment, including requiring parents to gain firsthand experience with their child’s daily activities and creating the Mentoring Program for Black Males to increase the involvement of fathers and provide students with male role models.”

Frazier retired from Wexler-Grant in 2008. ​“She continues to volunteer at local schools and libraries,” Morrison wrote, ​“help educate parents in their duties at home and school, and work as a member of the local chapter of the Sickle Cell Disease Society of America to tutor kids with the disease.”

My Teacher, My Principal

The following was submitted by Kevin Staton.

I know that I am one of many in the field of education who was impacted forever by the quintessential educator Ms. Jeffie Frazier, but my experience is unique in that I was not only taught by Ms. Frazier (fifth grade), but also spent my student teaching at Helene Grant with Ms. Frazier as my principal. The underlying thread throughout both experiences can be summed up in one statement, ​“Jeffie Frazier valued people.” As simple as that may sound, it is a much more profound concept when you take the time to unpack it. Because Ms. Frazier valued her students, she set expectations based on what she knew we could become, even if we didn’t live up to it. This meant that she provided us with a window that allowed us to see beyond dysfunctional environments, and anyone knows that how you see yourself is the first step in setting goals and aspirations. Ms. Frazier did this for countless students as well as people in the communities that she served. If your family didn’t value you, she did. If your friends didn’t value you, she did. If society didn’t value you, she did.

And if we are honest about the legacy of Ms. Frazier, then we know that this ideology of valuing others translated to the educators she supervised, mentored, and interacted with. If you didn’t value the students, parents, and the community that represented her school, then you were not a good fit. The expectations were very clear, and you were not allowed to take shortcuts because you had a tremendous responsibility to educate students not just as a teacher, but as a valued member of the ​“village.” Before there was Black Lives Matter Jeffie Frazier’s students all knew that their lives mattered, and before there was critical race theory Jeffie Frazier was making sure that her teachers understood the significance of providing students with an honest/transparent view of the society they were to grow up in.

Lastly, for those of us who claim to be people of Faith we understand exactly where Ms. Frazier got her ideology from in terms of always seeing the value in others. A more appropriate term would be the ​“Frazier Theology of Valuation.” What this means is that Ms. Frazier lived Matthew 23:11, ​“The greatest among you shall be your servant.” By placing value on everyone that she interacted with, she was letting us know that we were worthy of being educated, and she ​“served” us with a nurturing, understanding spirit that still expected the most of us. Her life was an invaluable lesson for us all.