Thomas Breen file photo
Supt. Tracey on Monday: "Now is the right juncture to take my departure."
New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) Superintendent Iline Tracey announced on Wednesday that she will retire at the end of the upcoming school year.
Tracey made that announcement in a letter she sent to the Board of Education.
The letter comes less than a week before public school students are scheduled to return to the classrooms for the start of the 2022 – 2023 school year on Monday, Aug. 29.
“Please accept this letter as my intent to retire at the end of the school year 2022 – 2023, so that there is ample time to find a replacement,” Tracey wrote. “I have been successful in every level of employment in the system and know that I have accomplished much. I have been contemplating retiring for a few years, and I am impressed that now is the right juncture to take my departure.”
Click here to read that letter in full.
Tracey, who has worked for NHPS for nearly four decades and whose tenure as superintendent has overlapped almost entirely with the Covid-19 pandemic, referenced that global public health crisis multiple times in her retirement letter.
“I accepted the challenge prior to a pandemic that was unprecedented for our times,” she wrote. “Like a captain, I navigated the ship through rough waters and landed it. Like with many things in life, people tend to quickly forget the struggles and trials and behave like nothing positive has happened. But, only those who waded through the waters will remember.”
Tracey also referenced at the ongoing public debate around a “crisis” in public school student reading levels. As she has done in previous public comments on the matter, Tracey rejected that “crisis” framing.
“When I accepted the call to serve this district with all its challenges, I wanted the focus to be on teaching and learning, and then the pandemic struck, which engendered major disruptions to learning and the well-being of my students — socially, emotionally and cognitively,” Tracey wrote. “I tried to accentuate the positive and great things happening in New Haven Public Schools, but of course those don’t gain traction. It does no one any good to be seeing our students as failures and to use a single quantitative measure to judge them. My students are more than test scores. Has anyone gotten a job and was asked about test scores? No! But employers want to get well rounded, resilient, problem-solvers and thinkers, kind and compassionate people. How do we measure that? I have to stand up for my children. This is what I am about, not the playing of politics when my children’s well-being is on the line. Some accused me of not being collaborative, because I question things or decisions and push back. Collaborative does not mean — yes sir, yes ma’am. I am passionate about the work I do. I am passionate about my students, and believe with all my heart that I have done what I set out to do.”
Tracey stepped into the role of interim superintendent in November 2019 after the resignation of her embattled predecessor, Carole Birks. She was officially appointed to a three-year term as superintendent in June 2020.
Towards the end of the letter, before listing 28 different accomplishments she’s most proud of during her roughly two and a half years leading the school district, Tracey said that she plans to remain an educator in her church after she retires from the city’s public school system.
“I have given many years to the service of my children and families, and I am proud of it. I have fought a good fight, and I have kept my promises,” she wrote. “I will now utilize my calling as a minister of religion to continue to impact the lives of young people in another setting. I am not retiring from education, but will transition [to] another calling, which is education superintendent in my world-wide church denomination helping to continue to establish schools from kindergarten to university.”
Paul Bass file photo
Tracey (right) handing out test kits outside King/Robinson in January.
To quote directly from Tracey’s retirement letter, some of the accomplishments she’s most proud of include:
1. We led the system through an unprecedented pandemic.
2. We provided more than 40,000 computers and tablets to our students to pivot to learn from home. Now there is a 2:1 ratio. Thanks to the collaboration with the state and Yale University through Claudia Merson.
3. We implemented Social Emotional Learning for students, and implemented Wellness Days and Day of Hope and Healing.
4. We kept the schools open for our children last year during the height of illnesses, staff absences, and major learning disruptions.
5. We have put in a robust and well planned re-opening school plan and COVID mitigation plan and have not lost one child.
6. We took care of food insecurities for our families, and cared for our homeless students and families.
7. We applied for millions of dollars in grants, and expended millions of dollars to ensure school supplies for students — classroom libraries, home libraries for all, computers, new textbooks, etc.
8. We launched a superintendent’s fitness challenge and a reading challenge and gave away many books.
9. We had summer of fun for two consecutive years involving the community.
10. We successfully closed the deficit three consecutive years.
On Thursday afternoon, Mayor Justin Elicker sent out a separate email press release in which he thanked Tracey for her decades of services to the city’s public school students, teachers, staff, and community.
“Dr. Tracey has led New Haven Public Schools through one of the most challenging periods in our city’s and nation’s history and worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic to support our students, parents and teachers,” Elicker is quoted as saying in that press release. “I wish her the very best in her retirement from New Haven Public Schools at the end of the school year.
“After two school years of pandemic-interrupted learning, it is a critical time for our students and educators, as they prepare to start the new school year off strong and begin the challenging task of making up for the recent learning loss we’ve experienced. I look forward to working with Dr. Tracey and my fellow Board of Education members to support a successful year of student learning as well as a smooth transition as we begin the search process to identify a new superintendent to lead New Haven Public Schools.”
Click on the video below to watch an interview that Tracey did on Aug. 16 on WNHH FM’s “K Pasa” program.
Congratulations Dr. Tracey on your upcoming retirement. Running a big city education department is an almost impossible job nowadays and you always took the high road and did your best to improve conditions in NH.
Hopefully your replacement will have half your grace and class in the future.