Aliyya Swaby File Photo
Sue Weisselberg will head (again) to Hartford, to serve as the deputy state budget director, after almost three years in the city’s school district.
Benjamin Barnes, secretary of the state’s Office of Policy and Management (OPM), announced her appointment as deputy secretary Monday afternoon.
Though Weisselberg was not looking to leave New Haven, she said, the new position is a “terrific opportunity” to get back to working on the budget.
“It’s a continuation of a lot of my themes over the years, about how you do things in a way that serves people, whether that’s school children or school buildings … or how you make a budget work so it maintains its key priorities,” she said.
Weisselberg, who is 60, has extensive experience in both state and local government. She was approved for her current position as the city’s “wraparound services czar” under then Superintendent Reggie Mayo in January 2012.
She said she is proud of her work as director of wraparound services, especially the expansion of the district’s Boost! initiative, which connects students with non-academic support during and after school. The district has improved its focus on “thinking about schools as community centers and working on those with partners,” she said, including starting up a coalition to address family trauma and beginning to implement restorative practices.
Weisselberg came to the district after working as chief legal counsel to the House Democratic Caucus on legislative and budget policy in Hartford. Before that, she coordinated Mayor John DeStefano’s $1.5 billion school construction initiative for 14 years; she dealt with state government extensively in that position.
For her new position, she is also returning to OPM; she spent four years there as an adviser in the early 1990s.
She starts her job in Hartford on Jan. 26.
Our loss is the State's gain. Congrat's to you Sue. You will be missed terribly. You did a wonderful job and I am happy to see you rewarded for all you hard work. Cheers !