New Haven Independent

At Monday night’s Board of Education meeting, Avallone announced that she is retiring after 34 years in the system. The number of hugs she received equaled and surpassed the number of her years of service.

One of those huggers was Sue Hogan (at left in photo). It was a testimony to Avallone that even though Hogan’s child now attends Amistad (previously at Vincent Mauro), a charter school outside the Board of Ed, she still works with Avallone on the districtwide parental advisory council.

Hogan complimented Avallone on her having aced a collard green recipe they exchanged at a recent meeting. “I don’t know who Patti hangs out with,” said Hogan, “but she really knows how to cook barbecue too, and she can do the ‘soldier boy.’ That’s a dance the inner-city kids do. Where she learned that, believe me I have no idea.”

Avallone, who has been a teacher, principal, and, for the last four years, the chief parent involvement officer in the BOE, said, “I continue to love what I do. And I believe you should leave your position while you’re still loving it.”

She said that in her long career in education she has worked in four districts. “But the work of the teachers and administrators in New Haven surpasses in intensity all of them. How we look at kids and how we are harnessing data to help kids learn is unique.”

Avallone’s formal title is Title One supervisor. Title One refers to the federal grant programs that address kids at risk in underserved areas. Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act , said Avallone (shown hugging K-12 science coordinator Richard Therrien), Title One work has increasingly focused on parental involvement strategies, such as running the successful parent summer academies, workshops to help parents help their kid do homework, and strengthening the parent teacher organizations.

Replacing Avallone, whose many distinctions include having been a Connecticut State teacher of the year, will not be easy. Her last day is Aug. 29; a search has begun. After a cruise that will take her to Venice, Florence, and several cities in Sicily, she returns to New Haven. Her plans beyond that are both unknown and exciting.