Thomas MacMillan Photo
Hillhouse IDEA Academy Principal Fallon Daniels: Excited to be “back home.”
After the last principal left abruptly mid-year, Westville’s Edgewood School will now have a permanent replacement.
Shanta Smith, an assistant principal at an elementary school in Clinton, has been tapped to run K‑8 Edgewood. She’ll replace acting principal Monique Brunson, who took over when Principal Raeanne Reynolds left the school mid-year for a job in Branford. Brunson did not pursue a permanent position.
Smith was one of four new principals named at a Monday meeting of the Board of Ed. Smith was not at the meeting.
Deputy Superintendent Imma Canelli said Smith served in a school in Clinton “similar in diversity” to Edgewood School. She said Smith had the clear support of the Edgewood interview committee.
Smith will start July 1, earning a salary of $127,381 per year.
The board also appointed Fallon Daniels as a principal Hillhouse High’s new IDEA Academy, one of two new schools-within-a-school at Hillhouse. The Board of Ed last month appointed another new Hillhouse “academy” principal.
Daniels will leave her job as assistant principal at Pathway Academy of Technology and Design School in Hartford. Daniels is a former Co-op High science teacher.
“I pledge to commit myself to advancing Hillhouse,” Daniels said.
Daniels will start July 1 and earn an annual salary of $121,093. She’ll focus on students in grades 9 and 10; the current Hillhouse principal, Kermit Carolina, will focus on students in grades 11 and 12.