Emily Byrne.
As the founding head of the New Haven Promise college-scholarship program steps down, the head of a search committee promised to find another executive director who’s “independent but aligned” with the public schools.
Friday is the last day of work for current Promise Director Emily Byrne. She’s leaving to take a job with new state Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor. Assuming her hiring is confirmed by the state Office of Policy and Management, Byrne will serve as Pryor’s director of strategic initiatives. That means she’ll work on communication, legislation, and policy. (Byrne declined comment pending her confirmation. She was up at the state education department Thursday.)
Promise is one the key legs of New Haven’s current school reform drive. Funded by Yale University and the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, it promises to pay as much as 100 percent of the cost of tuition for New Haven public-school students who meet certain benchmarks. The program also sends volunteers into neighborhoods to work with families throughout their children’s school careers to prepare them for college.
Byrne has run Promise since its inception last November. She also worked before that on devising the program.
Adriana Arreola, Promise’s “benchmark manager/student and parent organizer,” will serve as interim executive director while a national search commences.
Garth Harries, New Haven’s deputy superintendent of schools, will head the search committee.
Harries said Thursday that he hasn’t formed the committee yet. He said it will be a national search.
“We think Emily has done a great job of setting up Promise,” Harries said. “Our priority is making sure we get the right person in the role. Promise is running perfectly effectively now. The most important thing is who ends up on the bus.”
Yale pledged $4 million a year in scholarships through the program. The Community Foundation pledged $500,000 a year to run it. From the program’s inception, Yale and foundation officials stressed that Promise was supposed to function as both a supporter and an independent actor in New Haven’s school reform drive — supporting an important new piece of it while offering accountability outside of government.
Whether the latter has happened is an open question.
Byrne came to the job from City Hall, where she worked as deputy chief of staff to Mayor John DeStefano. Before that she was a campaign worker for him. Promise’s website is a section of the New Haven public schools site. Its activities are closely coordinated; that was especially true during campaign season.
Harries was asked Thursday if he’ll be looking for someone independent of City Hall and the school board.
“The important characteristics of the new person include their understanding of education reform, their understanding of change management, their understanding of community organization and communication broadly,” he responded. “We’re confident that whoever comes is going to be an independent but aligned. That is very much the spirit of our reform more broadly: Different stakeholders working together. Promise is just one of many examples of reform to do that.”