Edgewood Principal Announces Abrupt Departure

Just a year and a half after taking over Edgewood School, Principal Raeanne Reynolds shocked parents by announcing she plans to leave within weeks to take a job in Branford.

Reynolds announced the news to parent leaders at a meeting Tuesday at the popular, high-performing K‑8 magnet school in Westville. She told her staff on Monday.

Reynolds said she will officially leave Jan. 1 to take a job as the new principal of the Mary Murphy Elementary School in Branford.

Assistant Principal Monique Brunson said she plans to send a letter out to parent soon announcing a transition plan: Brunson will take over as interim principal while the district launches a search for a permanent replacement.

“A lot of us were shocked,” said Mark Oppenheimer, one of 53 parents who learned the news at Tuesday’s parent team meeting. ​“Obviously it’s unusual and disappointing that a principal would leave on such short notice, mid-year.”

“Everybody was surprised. She’d only been there for 18 months,” said parent Matt Higbee.

Rumors began to circulate among Edgewood families after Reynolds told her staff of her departure Monday. On Thursday, some parents still didn’t know what was going on.

“Parents are still asking me questions: ​‘When is she going?’ ​‘Where is she going?’ ​‘Why is she going?’” said parent activist Tim Holahan. ​“There’s still a lot of confusion and uncertainty” because no formal announcement had been made except at Tuesday’s parent meeting.

Reynolds said she planned to send a letter home to parents Thursday afternoon.

“Although my time at Edgewood was short, it was effective,” the letter reads. She said she is ​“eternally grateful” to all staff and families at the 460-student school.

In an interview in her office Thursday, Reynolds acknowledged concerns about the mid-year change in leadership.

“It wasn’t ideal,” she said. But staying through to the end of the school year ​“was not an option for my next step.”

In an interview Thursday, Superintendent Garth Harries said Reynolds notified the district late last week of her intention to leave her job.

“We think Principal Reynolds is a good educator and a good leader. Our initial step was to try to focus on retaining her if we could,” Harries said. ​“We got final word that she had made up her mind on Sunday night. With great affection for the school, she made the decision that this was the right step for her right now.”

“We’re all disappointed that Principal Reynolds is leaving,” Harries said. ​“We devoted some energy to trying to convince her to stay.

Why Leave?

Reynolds, who’s 44, grew up in New Haven. She has spent her entire 23-year career working in New Haven schools. She joined Edgewood School in July 2012, replacing star Principal Bonnie Pachesa, who retired after leading the school for a decade.

Reynolds said the decision to leave the district was tough: ​“I’m not just leaving my Edgewood family. I’m leaving my New Haven [Public Schools] family.”

She cited one benefit to the new job: It’s closer to home.

Reynolds, who lives in New Haven’s East Shore neighborhood, has been traveling across the Pearl Harbor Memorial ​“Q” Bridge to get to Edgewood School every day.

She was asked if the traffic on the Q Bridge prompted her decision.

“You hit the nail on the head,” she said, laughing. That’s ​“a big piece of it.”

According to Google Maps, her new commute to school will average seven minutes (in the opposite direction of rush-hour traffic). The commute to Edgewood is shown to take 15 minutes in traffic.

Reynolds said there’s no defining reason she’s choosing to leave the district.

“It’s an opportunity for me, and for my family,” she said. Without offering details, she said she is not ​“getting a big salary increase.”

She was asked if there was anything the district could do to keep talented educators from leaving. She said no. Superintendent Harries ​“has been wonderful to Edgewood, and to me,” she said. The district has ​“done a great job of supporting new principals. There are just personal decisions that people make.”

Reynolds said she plans to keep living in New Haven, where her family has roots.

In Branford, Reynolds will take over a school that’s a similar size as Edgewood, but with grades K to 4. She will join the school in a time of rebuilding. Last year, 3rd-grade test scores at Mary Murphy dropped by 20 points in several subjects, prompting concern from the school board. Reynolds will replace Michael Rafferty, who has been leading the school in an interim capacity since longtime Principal Anthony Buono got promoted to the Branford superintendent’s office.

Reynolds said her time at Edgewood, and in New Haven, ​“has been wonderful. That’s why it was such a difficult decision to make.”

“Bombshell”

Reynolds announced the news in a regular meeting of the school parent leadership team.

The decision met disappointment from parents.

“The school is in a strong position regardless of who the principal is,” said Oppenheimer. ​“Nevertheless, a lot of us were pretty disappointed.”

“It’s too bad that Ms. Reynolds feels that there are better schools for her,” he said.

Higbee said he would have liked Reynolds to stay the whole year. ​“At the same time, I want the principal to want to be the leader of our school.”

Oppenheimer took issue with her approach to sharing the news. She didn’t give parent organizers any advance notice about what she planned to announce Tuesday. Parents found out about her departure from staff, and recruited 53 parents to the meeting.

“Her plan to drop a bombshell like that was ill-considered,” Oppenheimer said. ​“I’m glad that it leaked beforehand. We had extraordinary turnout.”

Holahan said when parents learned the news, ​“a major theme of parent concern was continuity.”

“Discontinuity hurts kids,” he said.

“Principals should see a commitment of many years to a school — at least through the end of the year,” Oppenheimer said.

Harries was asked if he shares that concern. ​“Of course,” he replied. ​“It’s very clearly, we prefer to have stability, and we prefer to have a longer-term transition. That said, Edgewood remains a very strong and vibrant educational community. There’s good strong stability within the educational ranks, beyond the principal.”

Holahan said the district failed to play a proactive role in communicating the news. ​“A simple, clear message from NHPS to parents is how it should have gone. Instead, it just dribbled out through the rumor mill and social networks.”

Harries replied that when principals leave, ​“we try to be respectful of the principal, and – as the professional in that community – to communicate as they see fit.” Iline Tracey, the central office administrator assigned to supervise Edgewood School, attended Tuesday’s meeting at parents’ request.

Harries said the district’s role in this situation is twofold: provide support and to ​“move forward into future planning.”

“The most important thing is to develop a good plan for successor leadership,” Harries said.

The Transition

The transition in school leadership will be swift. Next week will be Reynolds’ last week with kids. Then the school goes on vacation from Dec. 21 to Jan. 1.

On Jan. 2, when kids return, Reynolds will be gone, and Assistant Principal Brunson will step into her new role in charge of the school, according to a plan announced to parents this week and confirmed by school leaders.

Reynolds said she has total confidence in her staff to carry on the school: ​“I trust the Edgewood staff completely,” she said. ​“As long as we find someone to support [Brunson], we’re going to be OK.”

“There’s good people holding down the fort,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds noted that Edgewood has many veteran teachers. Staff have been involved in the decisions facing the school, she said. ​“It’s not a building of followers. It’s a building of leaders.”

Brunson, who’s also 44, has been at Edgewood for the past 2 1/2 years. Like Reynolds, she grew up in New Haven. She has 23 years’ experience as an educator, including 16 working for New Haven Public Schools. She got her start as a paraprofessional at Edgewood School.

“Raeanne is leaving, but everyone else is in place,” Brunson said.

Dad Higbee agreed: ​“My feeling is that the school is stronger than the one person,” he said. ​“Many of the teachers have been there for a long time. I have confidence in them. They are the ones who have more day-to-day interaction with our kids.”

“I have a lot of confidence in the culture of the school,” he added, ​“that the school is going to continue to do good things and that we’ll find the right person” to lead it.

The Search

Higbee said he hopes that parents, as well as community members and students, will be included in choosing the next principal.

Higbee, a member of the parent leadership team, was one of the parents who helped craft a new process by which parents take a role in picking new principals. The new protocol, which the district piloted last year, sets a timeline for selecting new principals. It calls for schools to set up a panel of parents, who interview candidates and make recommendations to the superintendent, who makes the final call. Last year, a parent panel interviewed four candidates and ​“overwhelmingly” chose Reynolds, according to Pachesa.

“I hope that the board is again willing to including to including the parents and the teachers and the community” in the selection process, Higbee said.

Harries vowed to do so.

Oppenheimer said in interviewing new applicants, parents may want to seek assurance that the next school leader intends to stay for several years.

“If the goal is to find someone who’s committed to the school in the long-term, then the search failed,” he said.

The school district now has two openings for top school posts next fall. Alicia Caraballo, director of adult education, just announced she plans to retire at the end of the school year. Caraballo took advantage of a program that awards a $10,000 bonus to administrators who give the district six months’ notice of their departure. The deadline to do so is the end of the year.