Roberto Clemente Principal To Retire

It wasn’t until Roberto Clemente Leadership Academy Principal Mia Edmonds-Duff looked over at a ​“longevity plaque” on her office desk thanking her for three decades of work in NHPS that she thought to herself: ​“I was having so much fun I didn’t realize how far along I was.” 

With that revelation, Edmonds-Duff has decided that, after 38 years working for the city’s public school district, it’s now time to retire.

Edmonds-Duff’s coming retirement was made public at the latest full Board of Educations meeting last Tuesday. The meeting was held in-person at Barack Obama School on Farnham Avenue and online via Zoom and YouTube.

Edmonds-Duff’s retirement was not an action item voted on by the Board but rather included in the information only personnel report. The Board did vote 6 – 0 to unanimously approve the action items personnel report which included the hiring of six teachers, one promotional appointment pending certification, two teacher hires pending certifications, eight paraprofessional hires, and four non-instructional staff hires. 

Edmonds-Duff, who is a New Haven native and Hillhouse High School aluma, will serve her last day as Clemente principal on Dec. 1.

During last Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting, New Haven Public Schools Supt. Madeline Negrón thanked Edmonds-Duff for her years of service to the distrct. ​“I know that she’s going to be missed greatly,” she said. 

Negrón worked alongside Edmonds-Duff when the two previously held administrative roles at Hill Regional Career High School. 

This year is Edmonds-Duff’s fourth year as principal at Clemente. 

Board members Edward Joyner and Abie Benitez also thanked Edmonds-Duff for her dedication to NHPS and wished her luck during her retirement. 

Joyner recalled Edmonds-Duff being an honors student at Hillhouse High School, a cheerleader, and ​“a phenomenal human being.” 

“I actually have mixed feelings about her retiring because she’s such an exemplary role model, especially for girls, but she has her own family, she has her own life and of course she’s given us so much good service over her tenure in the district,” Joyner concluded. ​“We’re gonna miss her [as she is] another example of home grown talent, Hillhouse High School, who has stayed in the city to give back.” 

Benitez congratulated Edmonds-Duff for her accomplished career and recalled first meeting her while they both taught at Fair Haven School.

Benitez recalled Edmonds-Duff starting in the district as a dance teacher after previously dancing at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater before moving on to becoming a English teacher. 

“She was a pioneer of letting support into her classroom so kids could shine,” Benitez said. ​“She will be dearly missed.” 

In her office at Clemente Tuesday morning, Edmonds-Duff recalled working full-time for NHPS for the past 30 years. Before that she worked part time as a drama and dance instructor and substitute teacher for eight years in New Haven straight out of college. 

Over the past three decades Edmonds-Duff has worked at the former Columbus school now known as Family Academy of Multilingual Exploration (FAME), Wexler-Grant School, Celentano Biotech Health and Medical School, Hill Regional Career High School, and Fair Haven School.

After working part-time for eight years, Edmonds-Duff became an English teacher at Fair Haven School. 

Very often Edmonds-Duff said she runs into her former students, one of whom was her phlebotomy technician during a doctor’s visit. ​“You’ve got to care how you interact with students because they’re going to be taking care of us one day,” she said. 

Additionally she taught Fair Haven Alder Jose Crespo while he was student government president at Fair Haven School and NHPS Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum Instruction & Assessment Keisha Redd-Hannans and Director of Health Martiza Bond who were her dance students.

When asked about her plans post-retirement, Edmonds-Duff said she looks forward to traveling, spending more time with her family, and now being less jealous of her husband Anthony Duff, who retired in 2021 from his role as New Haven Police Department captain.

At some point in the future Edmonds-Duff said she does hope to return to education in a different role, possibly as a part-time literacy tutor. ​“I’ve always wanted to start a daycare, but that’s a lot of work too,” Edmonds-Duff said.

While in first grade at L. W. Beecher Museum Magnet School of Arts and Sciences, Edmonds-Duff was inspired by her teacher Ms. Dixon to become a teacher herself. That career goal changed to a physical therapist then a professional dancer in college. Edmonds-Duff went on to become a professional dancer in New York. 

However, after graduating in 1983, Edmonds-Duff began subbing and was moved by working with a Hillhouse ninth grader who was struggling to read in her class. As a sub, Edmonds-Duff typically brought her own work for students to do and this time around she had brought a book for students to read together. In the class, Edmonds-Duff worked with the student on his reading and inspired him to have a love for reading. ​“After that, he wanted to do all the reading,” Edmonds-Duff recalled. 

When asked what she is most proud of doing during her career, Edmonds-Duff said increasing Clemente’s community partnerships to enhance a positive learning environment for students. This work included bringing partners to Clemente to teach students about architecture and arts-related opportunities like spoken word, and African and Flamenco dance lessons. 

She also said she is proud of her work expanding Clemente’s science fair to be school wide to highlight STEM for all students.

Her early parting advice for her Clemente team is to remember the importance of having fun everyday and that ​“if you think about how it’s going to impact students, you’re always going to make the right decision.”

Edmonds-Duff jokes with her staff that she may return sooner than they think to fill Clemente’s opening for a ELA teacher.

Edmonds-Duff’s final point was drawing attention to Clemente’s need for supports and staff like many other schools in the district 

“Let’s not forget about us, we have challenges too,” she said about the 360 Columbus Ave school. ​“We work well because we collaborate but that shouldn’t be taken for granted. We need help too. We need a full-time security guard.” 

She added that with 150 multilingual learners at Clemente, the school has just two multilingual teachers.

She thanked her educational influences and mentors Abie Benitez, Edward Joyner, Zakia Parrish, and Madeline Negrón.