Town Clerk Karimah Mickens Thursday swearing in Morton.
After leaving the Board of Education to deploy overseas with the National Guard last May, Walter L. Morton IV is back in town and ready to return to local service.
On Thursday, Morton was sworn back on to the Board of Education following the resignation of Chris Dauer, another long-term board member.
Morton was on the BOE for nearly four years and worked as the town’s director of legislative affairs prior to taking military leave. He is filling a board vacancy after creating one himself almost nine months ago.
“I felt like I left things unfinished,” Morton told the Independent regarding his sudden departure from the board. “And I don’t like leaving things unfinished.”
During his Hamden hiatus, Morton worked at the U.S. Base Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, Africa. While there, he was a part of Task Force Iron Grey, “providing security, crisis response capabilities, and building partnerships throughout East Africa.”
The Hamden native flew home in February — and immediately got a phone call from old friends asking him to fill the seat left empty by Dauer.
“I was like, I literally just got home a couple days ago,” he recalled. But a month later, he was taking the oath of office with the town’s new Town Clerk, Karimah Mickens.
Morton filling out absentee ballot for Hamden's municipal elections back in October.
Morton is unsure how long he’ll stay on the board — and pointed out that he could be deployed again at any time — but said his goals for the coming months include advocating for Hamden up in Hartford to secure the towns’ schools strong state funding and working to complete the district’s 3R project, which involves restructuring school facilities to racially balance classrooms.
In the meantime, he said, “I’m just very happy to be back.”
