Maya McFadden file photo
Assistant Principal Clarino and Principal Gethings: To be separated come January?
Worthington Hooker parents and teachers are looking for answers about the uncertain future of their school’s leadership — including at Board of Education meetings, where some have spoken out against potential plans to transfer the East Rock elementary and middle school’s assistant principal.
Several members of Hooker’s school community recently have issued those pleas against a mid-year leadership change that could see the school’s principal, Margaret-Mary Gethings, stay in place and its assistant principal, Jenny Clarino, transferred elsewhere.
New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) spokesperson Justin Harmon declined to disclose any details about if and why such a shakeup at Worthington Hooker might take place. “Because this is a personnel matter, we cannot say more,” he said.
Gethings and Clarino did not respond to requests for comment by the publication time of this article.
NHPS Supt. Madeline Negrón reportedly discussed transferring the assistant principal during a Worthington Hooker School Planning and Management Team (SPMT) meeting on Oct. 24.
Worthington Hooker Parent Teacher Association President Peter Butler referenced just such a plan in an Oct. 27 email to school community members.
“On Thursday, we learned from Superintendent Negron that it is her intention to transfer Mrs. Clarino to another school effective January 1. Dr. Negron did name that Mrs. Clarino is a highly skilled administrator and that another school would benefit from her skills,” Butler wrote.
“While we respect that Dr. Negron has the full authority to transfer school [personnel], the PTA Board feels strongly that mid year school leadership transfers are detrimental to a school community. Given the disruption of life through and post Covid, all kids deserve and need as much consistency as we can provide. Additionally, Mrs. Clarino is the school leader at Canner, which, as we all know, houses our youngest kids. To transfer the school admin who greets them and supports them on a daily basis does not serve our youngest children.”
He then urged parents and guardians to speak up at future Board of Education meetings to advocate for keeping Clarino in place through the end of the school year.
During the two most recent full Board of Education meetings — on Oct. 28 and on Nov. 12 — Worthington Hooker staff and parents did just that, testifying publicly about how a leadership transfer would negatively impact the school’s students and teachers.
While testifying at last Tuesday’s school board meeting, Hooker educator Rachel Forza said Negrón was initially considering removing Gethings from her role as principal. She thanked Negrón for reconsidering that idea. Forza then raised concerns about potentially removing Clarino from her assistant principal position at Worthington Hooker in January.
“I would very much like to express my continued concern about this potential loss to our school community. The children need and deserve strong, loving, and consistent guidance now more than ever,” Forza said. “I’m asking that you reflect once again on your decision to move Ms. Clarino mid-year and that you allow her to remain an integral part of our school community.”
Hooker arts educator Stephanie Smelser testified Tuesday that she is “unsettled” about the district’s lack of shared reasoning for why Clarino is being removed from her role.
Smelser spoke about starting her teaching career in New Haven in 1998. She said she’s seen many leadership changes at schools across the district, including at the now-closed Quinnipiac School, where she used to work.
“The constant change of leadership was very difficult for the students and the staff to maintain the consistency as well as the structures for the school’s success,” Smelser said.
She added that when educators struggle to adapt to mid-year leadership shifts, some at times leave to follow their previous school leaders.
“I feel that when something is not broken that there shouldn’t really be anything that should change,” Smelser said. “The children need consistency from kindergarten to eighth grade. And since I’ve been a teacher at Worthington Hooker School I’ve seen first rate, stellar administration style.”
She concluded, “There’s no reason to dismantle a dynamic duo in the district for a reason that still has not been transparent to anyone at the SPMT meeting, and multiple people asked.”
Harmon told the Independent that when Negrón met with the school’s parent representatives at the Oct. 24 meeting, she explained her reasoning to them then. “They were given an explanation during the in-person meeting at the school, which preceded their comments at the [full Board of Education] meeting.”
Several other school community members also testified at the school board’s Oct. 28 meeting, urging the district to reconsider its potential removal of Clarino and pushing for further clarification as to why she might be transferred. (Watch those testimonies here.)
At that Oct. 28 Board of Education meeting, some parents said that Clarino makes the building safe, “is very professional and communicative,” and that the children love and need her.
Crispin Steward, a parent of three Worthington Hooker students, said Clarino made his students’ learning environments “amazing,” particularly after the Covid pandemic. He said while one of his sons faced challenges with reading, Clarino offered significant support to catch him up. “Specifically with Ms. Clarino in place there were countless Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon, and Sunday evening emails and correspondence to make sure that everything [was] being done to support him.”
In an Oct. 25 email to the Hooker community, Negrón shared the following update after the SPMT meeting:
“Thank you for meeting with me yesterday and engaging in such a meaningful conversation. Discussions like these highlight the importance of collaboration in our work as a district and community. I also want to express my appreciation for your transparency and honesty during our meeting. After careful consideration, I have decided that Principal Gethings will continue as the Principal of Worthington Hooker School. Thank you once again for your ongoing partnership.”
Later, on Oct. 28, Hooker’s Parent Teacher Association (PTA) shared a petition for school members to sign in support of “maintaining stable leadership” and against Negrón’s potential plan to transfer Clarino.