Melissa Bailey Photo
As she leaves the mayor’s office to join New Haven’s campaign for school reform, Laoise King’s first task will be to keep a promise to college-aspiring kids.
King, who’s 36, has been tapped as the chief of external affairs for the New Haven Public Schools, officials announced Monday. She currently works as Mayor John DeStefano’s deputy chief of staff.
Her new job was created to take on some of the duties of recently departed school construction chief Sue Weisselberg. King won’t be heading the $1.5 billion school construction initiative, which is nearing its end. Instead, she’ll be guiding Mayor John DeStefano’s newest initiative, to reform what goes on inside the schools.
King starts her new job Jan. 25 with a salary of $95,000.
Her first task will be to implement The Promise, a college scholarship program for New Haven public school kids. The program aims to ensure that no kid is denied the chance to go to college just because he or she can’t afford it. The program will pay for students’ college educations, up to the level of UConn tuition, if they keep their grades up in grade school. The program will be paid for by private funds, from a source that has yet to be publicly announced. The mayor has said he’d like to roll out a first phase of the program this fall.
King is a public school mom with a son in kindergarten at the Edgewood School. Getting parents engaged with school reform will be part of her new job. She’ll be the public face of the reform drive. And she will continue doing a familiar task—lobbying at the state Capitol.
King is an attorney by trade. Before working in New Haven, she as the assistant city attorney in Denver, Colorado. She also spent three years as staff attorney for the National Association of Counsel for Children, according to a bio provided by the school district.