Melissa Bailey File Photo
Newly tapped Interim Hillhouse Principal Peggy Moore.
For the second time in the last two years, Peggy Moore will serve as Hillhouse High School’s temporary principal while administrators look for a permanent replacement.
The Board of Education convened for a regular meeting at Barack Obama Magnet University School on Farnham Avenue Monday, one month after Mark Sweeting — who served as Hillhouse’s principal for the last year, with a rocky beginning — announced his resignation.
On Monday, the board unanimously voted to approve Moore’s appointment as Hillhouse’s interim principal.
Though she retired from the school district in 2013, Moore has continued to fill gaps in school leadership positions since. She previously served as interim principal of Hillhouse for a handful of months in the spring of 2022. Before that, in 2019, she served as the interim leader of Barnard Environmental Studies Inter-District Magnet School.
Moore will return to the Hillhouse interim role on Tuesday.
“She has the trust of the people there and I want to make sure they have the very best as we continue to search,” said New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) Supt. Madeline Negrón.
Mayor Justin Elicker observed “how lucky we are to have Peggy Moore, who is always willing to step up through her retirement to help us with transitions.”
Moore spent over three decades working in New Haven Public Schools before retiring. Her last several years were spent serving as the principal of Wilbur Cross High School from 2010 to 2013. In that role, she expanded AP courses and credit retrieval opportunities for students. She garnered ire for dissolving a student political club in the wake of a protest critical of the school’s administration, nullifying the results of a student election, and disbanding the student council.
The board also learned that the district’s newly-appointed transportation director, Lashell Rountree, is resigning and will leave her position on Sept. 8. Rountree started in the role this past June.
“I’m a little disappointed,” said Board of Education member Darnell Goldson. He turned to Negrón. “What’s your expectation for filling that position?”
Negrón replied that the district has already posted the job listing and is aware of a handful of candidates interested in the position. “We don’t anticipate any issues starting [the school year] on Thursday” as a result of Rountree’s resignation, she added.