It’s Official: Negrón OK’d As Next Superintendent

Former New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) teacher, principal, and director of education and current Hartford Public Schools Acting Deputy Superintendent Madeline Negrón will become the city’s next top schools official starting July 1, thanks to a unanimous vote of approval taken by the Board of Education Wednesday afternoon.

School board members took that final vote during a special meeting held online and in person at Barack Obama School at 69 Farnham Dr. Wednesday’s meeting marked the first time that the Board of Education has gathered in-person since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic three years ago. 

Negrón, whom the school board reached a contract with in advance of Wednesday’s vote, will finish off her work in Hartford as the acting deputy superintendent of academics and school leadership through June 30. 

She’ll then take the helm of New Haven’s school district starting July 1 for a contract that extends for three years with a starting annual salary of $255,000.

She will step into the new role after the retirement at the end of June of veteran New Haven educator and current Supt. Iline Tracey, who has lead the public schools through the Covid pandemic. 

The school board selected Negrón from a pool of 31 superintendent candidates from 17 different states. She will be New Haven’s first Latina superintendent.

During the meeting’s public comment sections, leaders of the teachers and paraprofessionals unions expressed excitement for working with Negrón and supporting her in the new role. The community and board also thanked Tracey for her decades of hard work and dedication to the district. 

Paraprofessionals union president Hyclis Williams also provided Negrón with a recipe for success in the role that, she said, will inevitably present many challenges. 

The recipe for success is as follows: love, empathy, inclusion, equity, collaboration, stirred gently with all students, staff, and families mixed with kindness, and top off with some more love. 

Community members described Negrón as an inspiration, someone with powerful integrity, exceptional, passionate, and the ideal candidate. 

“You have selected someone with assertive leadership, who believes in the core values of humility, vulnerability, and putting students first,” said Middletown resident Albert Vazquez-Matos. ​“She’s an individual who has no qualms of rolling up her sleeves and being a part of the community and doing what’s in the best interest of all students.” 

Board members described the selection as ​“history made,” and each expressed confidence in Wednesday’s pick. 

“I won’t say it’s a miracle, but it’s close,” Board Secretary Ed Joyner said of Negrón, who was born in Puerto Rico to parents who had to drop out of school in the sixth and seventh grades. 

She shared a story Wednesday that she often shares with her students. 

“I went through that experience of going through a school system and not being seen,” she said. 

Her father worked in agricultural fields in Puerto Rico for years until deciding he no longer wanted to be constantly absent from his family, so he moved his family to Willimantic where Negrón’s grandparents lived.

At age 10, Negrón arrived in Connecticut with a strong work ethic instilled in her by her parents who could not get a formal education. 

“I walked into a system that didn’t even bother to look at my academic record. All they saw was we have this young girl who can’t speak English,” she said. 

Growing up, Negrón said she was not given access to a rigorous curriculum. She said the schooling she received did not support her family in helping her move on to get a secondary education. 

“Luckily for me I was strong enough,” she said. ​“But should children be lucky? It shouldn’t be an issue of luck. It should be a right.” 

She bombed her SAT’s, she said, but was still accepted into the University of Connecticut. 

“I went to UCONN. I didn’t have the money to pay ​’cause nobody bothered to inform my family what does it take to go to college,” she said. 

Her family scrambled and borrowed money from friends and church to get her through her first year of college. She then worked her way through college and graduated. 

“For me it became all about equity,” she said when she decided to become a teacher . ​“For me it [equity] is not a buzz word … It’s about making sure that we are creating that access.” 

The board members encouraged the community to support Negrón as she transitions into the role.

“You were chosen for such a time as this, so help her out everybody,” Joyner added. 

“If a child can see it, they can be it,” Mayor Justin Elicker said while discussing the impact he hopes for Negrón to have on all students and the community as the first Latina superintendent. 

“There are over 19,000 families, thousands of teachers and paraprofessionals, and other members of our community that are all betting on your success, and all ready to support you,” Elicker added. 

Tracy welcomed Negrón back to New Haven and offered her some tips of advice for when she steps into the role after her departure. 

“You have to lead with integrity. You don’t owe anything to anyone but the students of New Haven,” she said. ​“Do not be led by anyone but the firm belief that our mission is with students and our mission is to work with teachers to help them help students. Don’t ever compromise what you believe in.” 

She promised to stick around after her retirement to offer her support to continue helping New Haven improve. 

After the Board’s unanimous vote Negrón addressed the board and community with her first of many remarks for the future. 

“New Haven always felt like a home,” Negrón said while reflecting on her previous work in the public schools as a classroom teacher, principal, and central officer administrator. She has worked in public education for 25 years.

“I am eager to start meeting, listening, learning from the entire community to hit the ground running, as there is no time to waste,” she said. 

She said she plans to leverage her experience moving up the chain of education from a teacher to now superintendent to guide her work. ​“I know what they [teachers] bring, I know what they offer. I am fully committed to make sure that they are receiving the supports that they need, to helping them grow.” 

She expressed thanks to Tracey for the foundation she has laid for her and described it as a ​“springboard that I need to lead New Haven Public Schools to its next chapter of excellence.” 

Negrón said she learned to always put the students first in decision making, to stick to her core values, and to lead with kindness from Tracey. 

She thanked her friends, parents, colleagues, mentors, and family. She thanked her husband and daughter for their support and for the many sacrifices they’ve made as a family and never giving up.

“To my parents, again, thank you for always reiterating that acquiring an education opens a world of opportunities,” she said. 

She dubbed her soon-to-be school board collaborators as the ​“Team of Eight.” 

“I cannot walk in with assumptions, it’s time for me to learn,” she said.