Larry Conaway Tapped For School Board

Barely three months into retirement, Larry Conaway, the former principal at Riverside Opportunity High School, is ready to get back into devoting his time to public education.

Mayor Toni Harp called him up on Monday morning to ask about if he’d be interesting in filling an open spot on the Board of Education. He said yes.

“I couldn’t stay away,” Conaway said in an interview on Monday night. ​“I would give my best to try to reach the goals of the school district. And if I’m not being helpful, I’ll go back into retirement.”

Harp submitted his name to the Board of Alders on Monday as a replacement for Joseph Rodriguez, who resigned from the board earlier this month because he said he could no longer keep up with the time commitment. If confirmed, Conaway’s term will last until December 2022.

Conaway got his start in education in New Haven around 1987 as a school social worker at the Urban Youth Center, a small transitional school then on Cedar Street.

Then he had stints as an administrator at schools across the city, including at Hyde, Hill Central, Lincoln Bassett and, for a decade, at Wilbur Cross.

Ending his career back where he started it, Conaway led Riverside and New Light schools, alternative high schools (that Superintendent Carol Birks tried to close down), for the last three years.

Those schools are often the last stop for students who are often at the highest risk of dropping out because of serious behavioral issues, traumatic stressors, family needs and other challenges.

Conaway said he has ​“a very, very soft place in my heart for those students who have a little more difficult time adjusting to school.” But he said, if he’s confirmed by the alders, his focus would be broad.

“I’ve sort of gotten this label that I’m for disadvantaged students. I happened to see what happened to all those high-risk students in all those other comprehensive schools, including Lincoln-Bassett and Betsy Ross and Hyde,” he said. ​“I’m for students — all students, making sure they get what they need to go on to the next level, whether they’re pre-school, middle school or high school students.

“Right now, I just want to support students, families and teachers — probably in that order,” he added.

If he makes it past the next stage, Conaway said that he hoped that his best assets would be working as a ​“team player” and sharing institutional knowledge from ​“several decades of coming up through the system and watching the board.”

“I want to help; I don’t want to hinder,” he said. ​“All those things [the school board’s responsible for] — like trying to come up with ways to close the budget gap, find ways to make money and to evaluate the district, Pre‑K through 12 — I know it’s not an easy position to be in, but I think I’m up for the challenge.”

A Beaver Hills resident, Conaway is the father of four kids, including Adham, a 7th grade math teacher at Davis Academy for Arts & Design Innovation Inter-District Magnet. His youngest, Nyla, just graduated from Wilbur Cross High School, and is now studying at Smith College.