nothin HSC, Fair Haven Get New Principals | New Haven Independent

HSC, Fair Haven Get New Principals

Aliyya Swaby Photo

Following an expedited search process, the Board of Ed unanimously voted in new principals for Fair Haven School and High School in the Community (HSC).

At Monday night’s board meeting, members approved Heriberto Cordero as K‑8 Fair Haven School’s newest principal and Matthew Brown as the building leader” (aka principal) at teacher-run HSC.

Cordero (pictured) replaces Margaret-Mary Gethings, who unexpectedly left for a principal position in Branford this month after eight years at Fair Haven School. Born and raised in New Haven, Cordero said he believes” in giving kids the best education possible” and is more than excited” to take the position.

Superintendent Garth Harries said Monday night that Cordero emerged very quickly as a natural leader to take Fair Haven to the next level,” after conversations with parents and staff. He has been on the cusp of this for a long time,” Harries said. Welcome to the big time.”

Cordero, who has 11 years of experience in the system, will make $138.091 per year. He began as a biology teacher at Wilbur Cross High School between 2004 and 2009 before spending six years as an assistant principal at Career High School, Hillhouse High School and Clinton Avenue School.

Clinton Avenue Principal Ana Rodriguez called Cordero a good listener” who takes his time before reacting to difficult situations. Sometimes that’s important. You have to be able to not react and then make a decision that is equitable,” she said.

Fair Haven School is the district’s largest K‑8 school, with a large population of immigrant and transient students.

Brown (pictured) will replace former HSC building leader Erik Good, whom Harries removed along with two other HSC administrators just before the end of the academic year. New Haven Federation of Teachers has run the school for the past three years as part of a state-funded experiment overseen by the district; Harries and NHFT President Dave Cicarella decided to open up the three positions to HSC teachers and those outside of the school. From its 1970 founding until now, HSC teachers have chosen their leaders from within.

Brown has more than 20 years of experience in education. He started his career as a Teach for America corps member in Los Angeles between 1992 and 1994. He said his sister-in-law and brother-in-law were HSC students and he has been looking for ways to join the school.

Cicarella said Monday that a committee of students, teachers, parents and a district leader spent two days interviewing four external and three internal candidates for the building leader position. Brown will be included in a similar interview process to hire a school culture leader and curriculum specialist from 15 and nine candidates, respectively, Cicarella said.

Brown will make $121,480 per year, which includes a $88,489 teaching salary and a building leader stipend.” After board members inquired about the breakdown of his salary, Harries explained Brown is being paid more than the previous building leader to reflect his experience and the challenge at HSC.” Part of that challenge, he said, is keeping folks who will stay long-term as teachers,” instead of leaving for administrator positions at other schools.

Brown told the Independent that he is really excited to meet the folks who were doing the work before I came in.”

For the last seven years, he has been the founding principal of Brooklyn’s Kurt Hahn Expeditionary Learning School, which incorporated mastery-based learning in its curriculum. Students wrote a research investigation judged by a panel” instead of taking standardized tests and then received feedback, redoing it if necessary, he said. Brown said he is not sure what HSC’s structure will look like but said he values that it has always been a teacher-pioneered school.”

Board members asked for more transparency in future hiring processes. We need to have the information” on the number of applicants and details of hiring, said board member Alicia Caraballo. It’s important for us to get a sense of that.”

The board should not be engaged with the hiring process, but rather be informed on how people got to be where they are,” said board President Carlos Torre.

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