nothin Schools Get New Leaders | New Haven Independent

Schools Get New Leaders

Melissa Bailey Photo

Ann Brillante will oversee Cross’s new Internationals Academy.

Wilbur Cross’s new principal is recruiting her own top team to help straighten out the struggling high school, and new principals are taking over Brennan/Rogers and John C. Daniels schools as part of a bevy of administrative appointments.

The school board made the appointments in a special board meeting Wednesday at 54 Meadow St.

Two traditional K‑8 schools got new principals, effective July 1: Gail DeBlasio, an administrative intern at Brennan/Rogers School, will become principal there. Marlene Baldizon will become principal at John C. Daniels School, where she was serving as an assistant principal. Baldizon replaces Edith Johnson, a fast-rising star who just left Daniels after one year to take over Wilbur Cross.

Two transitional schools also gained new leaders: Larry Conaway (pictured) is taking over Dixwell New Light High School, a 30-student program for kids returning from prison. He’ll technically still be an assistant principal” (his current title at Wilbur Cross), but he’ll be the only administrator in charge of the school. The school’s principal, Mike Patterson, recently left the post.

Belinda Carberry (pictured) will become principal of Polly McCabe, a small program for pregnant teens. Carberry is currently a principal on special assignment” at Hillhouse High. She also sits on the board of a new charter school that’s trying to open in the Dixwell/Newhallville neighborhood, led by Pastor Eldren Morrison.

The appointments Wednesday represent a continued shakeup at Wilbur Cross. Two assistant principals — Conaway and Stephen Ciarcia — are being transferred from Cross to other schools. Ciarcia heads to Hill Regional Career High effective Aug. 20.

Hillhouse High also has two new assistant principals: Zakiyyah Baker (pictured), a former teacher of the year and a resident in the joint Achievement First-New Haven Public Schools principal training program, and Heriberto Cordero, an assistant principal at Career High. They replace Carberry and David Goldblum, who took a principal job in Hartford after he was passed over for principal posts locally.

Board member Che Dawson asked Superintendent Reggie Mayo why there were so many transfers between high schools. Mayo replied that Cross’s new principal, Johnson, decided she wanted to have some new faces with her.” He said the changes will make both schools stronger.

As her first new hire, Johnson chose Ann Brillante, the magnet resource officer at Metropolitan Business Academy. Brillante (pictured) will be an assistant principal in charge of the new Internationals Academy at Cross, a state-backed turnaround effort that’s part of the Commissioner’s Network of low-performing schools. The academy aims create smaller learning environments for English-language learners and other freshmen in order to tackle rampant chronic absenteeism, as well as a large Hispanic achievement gap at the school. 

Brillante, who’s 32, taught for seven years before taking her administrative post at Metro three years ago. In her new job, she’ll build up the Internationals Academy from scratch. To get the job, she had to trek to Hartford to interview personally with state Commissioner Stefan Pryor on Wednesday. After a 20-minute conversation, Pryor approved her appointment. Brillante said she does not speak Spanish, which is by far the most commonly spoken language among the English-language learners the academy will serve. She said she plans to draw on community support to bridge that gap. Johnson, whose parents hail from Puerto Rico, does speak Spanish.

In other news, Melissa Dougherty (pictured), a special ed teacher with 21 years’ experience, became one of several supervisors in the special education department, serving under special ed director Typhanie Jackson.

And Kristina DeNegre (pictured), another graduate of the Achievement First-New Haven principal training program, will replace Nicole Sanders as assistant principal at Wexler/Grant School. Sanders, a talented educator, landed a principalship in New Britain at a school across the street from her house, according to Mayo.

Brennan/Rogers Principal De Blasio (pictured) replaces Karen Lott, who led the city’s first in-house turnaround” effort to reverse years of failure at the isolated school in West Rock. Lott left the school on July 1 to take a job in Hartford. Under her leadership, Brennan/Rogers showed gains in school climate and on tests, but remains in a literacy crisis.

De Blasio has been at the school for two years, serving as an administrative intern in charge of the school’s K‑2 campus. She said the school’s top three priorities include developing a culture of reading” at the school.

We’re still in the process of turning around,” De Blasio said.

In replacing Lott, De Blasio will be filling some large shoes,” Mayo noted. But we feel she can handle it.”

I’ve been trained by the best,” De Blasio replied. Click here and here to read about notable work De Blasio did in the classroom as a Davis Street 21st Century Magnet School teacher.

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