NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The New Haven Board of Education voted unanimously Wednesday evening to appoint Dr. Madeline Negrón as the next superintendent of New Haven Public Schools.
Current New Haven Superintendent Iline Tracey is set to retire at the end of the school year.
Dr. Negrón moved to Connecticut at the age of 10 from Puerto Rico speaking only Spanish. She said going through that will have an impact on how she leads.
“I want an environment where every child feels like they belong because they all belong in our classrooms,” said Negrón
Negrón has worked in education for more than 25 years as a teacher, principal, and most recently as deputy superintendent in Hartford.
“I can’t walk in with assumptions. It is time for me to learn. Based on that I'm going to be identifying number one, what are the strengths in the district so I can build upon those. Yes, I will be looking to identify what are the challenges and then based on what I'm hearing from the entire community starts to work on that collaboration that is going to be needed to address those gaps, ” said Negrón.
New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker believes students can relate to the superintendent-elect and also be inspired by her.
“She's someone that personally throughout her life faced incredible challenges that so many New Haven students face every day. So having a superintendent, not only the table to interact with everyone in the district because she's bilingual, but also someone that understands what many kids in our community are going through facing really, really challenging circumstances. I think that compassion that ability to connect is going to serve us really well,” said Elicker.
Negrón, Elicker and other New Haven Board of Education officials will visit parents, students, and staff at two New Haven schools Thursday.
Lincoln-Bassett Community School from 8:15 a.m to 10 a.m. then visit Wilbur Cross High School from 10:15 a.m to 11:15 a.m
Negrón’s first day as New Haven's superintendent is July 1.
Jake Garcia is a multimedia journalist for FOX61 News. He can be reached at jgarcia@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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