Top Administrators Set To Retire

Five more school administrators plan to retire at the end of the school year, including an advocate for bilingual education and the administrators union president.

Director of English Learners Abie Benitez-Quiñones, Ross-Woodward Principal Cheryl Herring-Brown, Riverside Principal Larry Conaway, Clemente Principal Pam Franco and Special Education Supervisor Patricia Moore have notified the district that they will all end their careers in public schools this summer.

Lisa Mack, the district’s human resources director, said the school system is ​“losing some great talent on June 30.”

The Board of Education unanimously accepted those personnel changes at the first meeting of the year, held Monday night at Celentano School on Prospect Hill.

Unlike the mid-year resignations that have unexpectedly hit the district in recent months, the news of pending retirements regularly comes at the Board of Education’s first January meeting.

In recent years, anywhere from two to four principals have given notice of their retirement plans at this time, collecting a $7,500 bonus each for the advance warning.

Benitez, a former principal at the dual-language school Columbus Family Academy for almost 10 years, eventually took a leadership position overseeing all of New Haven’s programs for English-language learners. In 2017, Benitez founded the Connecticut Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents, an advocacy group and professional network.

Brown, a score-raising principal at Conte-West Hills for five years, has been at her current post at Ross-Woodward for nearly 15 years. She oversaw the creation of the school’s classical-studies magnet theme, as she helped teachers integrate lessons from the ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome into a contemporary curriculum. In 2013, Brown was elected president of the administrators union.

Brown, the one administrator present on Monday night, said that in her many years in the school system, she learned that it’s all about ​“building authentic relationships” and ​“establishing trust.” ​“You have to give 150 percent” in this job, she said. ​“This is what you signed up for.”

Conaway, a longtime administrator in the city’s alternative schools, moved New Light from Dixwell to Wooster Square. This year, as all three alternative schools consolidated into one building at Riverside, Conaway focused on hooking students up with internships and with social-emotional supports.

Franco, a recruit from Florida picked by the charter school management organization Renaissance Services LLC to to take over day-to-day operations at Clemente in 2011, stayed on after the company left to continue the turnaround effort.

Moore, one of six special-education supervisors, works out plans for high school students with disabilities.

Derrick Powell, a beloved special police officer who said he confiscated more than 10 handguns and over 100 knives during his three decades on the job, also retired earlier this month. He earned a standing ovation on Monday night.

Mack also announced that at least one vacancy has been filled. Next week, Marquelle Middleton, a Hillhouse grad who most recently worked at the Connecticut State Department of Education, will take over running the school-choice lottery.

Superintendent Carol Birks also said that first-round interviews are just starting up for a new chief operating officer to replace Will Clark, whom the Register’s Brian Zahn reported left with a $100,000 severance agreement for a job in Waterbury.