Supt. finalists Viviana Conner, Warren Morgan, Madeline Negrón.
The Board of Education has finished interviewing all three finalists to be New Haven’s next schools superintendent, who could be picked — on their merits, school board members attest, and not because of personal friendships — as early as next Monday.
The superintendent search committee, made up of only the Board of Education, finished interviewing the final three superintendent candidates last week and is now working on making the final pick.
The three finalists were narrowed down from a pool of 31 applicants based on their qualifications and their apparent ability to lead New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) after current Supt. Iline Tracey retires in June.
Those three finalists are former NHPS director of education and current Hartford Public Schools Acting Deputy Supt. Madeline Negrón, current NHPS Asst. Supt. Viviana Conner, and current Indianapolis Public Schools Chief Academic Officer Warren Morgan.
According to NHPS spokesperson Justin Harmon, the Board of Education will announce the next superintendent’s selection on April 10 or April 24.
The finalist interview process was conducted privately with participation from stakeholder groups of students, parents, teachers, administrators, support staff, and community and business leaders, as well as the search committee. Interviewers were selected in consultation with the Board of Ed, the school unions, the Office of Youth, Family, and Community Outreach, and the schools themselves, Harmon told the Independent.
This superintendent search, unlike ones in the past, did not host a public community meet-and-greet forum before the final decision is to be made.
Do Friendships Matter?
The Independent also reached out to all seven of the voting members on the Board of Education, as well as to the board-hired search consultant and the NHPS spokesperson, to ask about if and how personal relationships between board members and superintendent finalist candidates have influenced the search.
Click here to read an opinion essay published by by Fair Haven Alder and NHPS parent Sarah Miller calling for school board members to publicly disclose their any close personal relationships they have with any of the finalists.
Five of the current school board members responded to the Independent’s email questions. Those included President Yesenia Rivera, Vice President Matt Wilcox, Mayor Justin Elicker, and elected members Darnell Goldson and Ed Joyner. Schools spokesperson Justin Harmon and consultant Judy Sclair-Stein also responded to the Independent’s queries for this article.
Appointed school board members Abie Benitez, who previously worked as NHPS’s director of instruction among other leadership New Haven public school jobs, and Orlando Yarborough did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this article.
All of those who responded to the Independent expressed their confidence in the integrity of the process, even if some school board members do know some of the finalists well because of shared professional experiences working in NHPS.
Harmon noted that two of the superintendent candidates have worked in New Haven and throughout the state, resulting in them knowing many New Haven educators, alumni, parents, and volunteers. “They certainly have formed friendships among these contacts. That said, it is the clear responsibility of the New Haven Board of Education to make the hiring of a superintendent a decision that is based in the candidates’ experience and qualifications, and without regard to any ties of friendship,” Harmon said. “The board is committed to fulfilling that responsibility.”
He added that the search committee has worked hard to “implement an objective search process and to follow the guidance of the search firm” and the three finalists are being considered based on their own merits for the position, regardless of friendships or acquaintances with anyone in the community.
Lead consultant for McPherson and Jacobson Judy Sclair-Stein added that she has intentionally guided the school board through the process with the expectation that everyone “pride ourselves on leading a transparent and objective process.”
Sclair-Stein added, “The New Haven Board of Education has been highly responsive to our guidance and has worked collaboratively with us throughout. We were given no expectations from the New Haven Board of Education to bring in any particular candidates for their consideration.”
When asked by the Independent if any board members had close personal relationships with finalists beyond previous work experiences Sclair-Stein said, “All of the board members know Ms. Conner and Dr. Negrón, having worked with them in their respective roles as board members and district administrators. In fact, Dr. Benitez had the opportunity to interact with both as colleagues prior to her retirement from the New Haven Public Schools and continues to be acquainted with both through involvement in professional organizations.”
She noted that she has experienced complete professionalism and objectivity with the board.
In separate email responses to requests for comments over the past week, Board of Ed members Joyner, Goldson, Wilcox, Rivera, and Elicker denied having close personal relationships with any of the candidates.
In his email response, Wilcox stated that he is not friends with any of the finalists.
He added, “New Haven is a small city in a small state, and two of the finalist candidates have lived and worked in and around New Haven for decades. It would be surprising to me if they had zero personal connections to at least some members of the Board. Our bylaws define what constitutes a conflict of interest that would require a Board member to recuse herself or himself. Outside of that, it does not matter to me who might be friends with whom. From what I have observed, each board member is equally committed to finding the best person to be the next leader of New Haven Public Schools – and certainly not trying to nab a position for a buddy.”
Joyner also confirmed not being personal friends with any of the candidates citing that “they have never been invited to my home, attended a family funeral, been present at a family birthday celebration, or gone on a vacation with my family or me. I have given a book to one of the candidates. I have also given books to board members, several central office staff, principals, assistant principals, teachers, and kids and sponsored book collections at Hillhouse and Hill Central. I have never received gifts of any kind from any of the candidates. I have never been in the homes of any of the candidates, gone on a vacation with any of them or their families, or even written a recommendation for any of them.”
Joyner continued, “If I did have a personal friend in the group, I would have informed the board by now. I have never allowed personal relationships to influence my evaluation of anyone for employment. The education of children is too important to allow nepotism and cronyism to be a factor.”
In his email response, Elicker said he has no personal friendships with any of the applicants and is “confident that each member of the board is capable of making a decision that is in the best interests of the students.”
Goldson responded over email that he too is not “friends” with any of the finalists but is familiar with Ms. Conner and Dr. Negron, since both have worked for the administration during his service on the Board. “But I am not familiar past the point of their employment,” he said.
When asked if personal friendships between Board members and finalists should matter in this search process. Goldson said, “Of course, it would be up to each individual to determine whether or not that personal relationship has an undue influence in their decision making, but for me I would not support a friend for a job based on a personal relationship if that friend were not qualified. Putting a less than qualified person in such an important job would be detrimental to that person.”
He continued, “I believe it is unfair to suggest that because some people may have personal relationships that somehow this presents ethical issues. I would expect that people who are in education at an administrator level would have some familiarity with their fellow colleagues, would form or join associations, and would develop friendships based on shared interests and goals. This would be especially so in a small state like Connecticut, and even more pronounced when factoring in race, ethnicity and gender. So Connecticut Latina women educators being friends is more expected than not so, and some people suggesting the friendships which exist disqualifies those highly educated and accomplished women from making informed decisions has a hint of sexism, and certainly structural racism attached to those questions and accusations. Though at the beginning of this process I was a little concerned about fairness, I have been in the closed door discussions related to this search and the candidates, and I can assure you that I have not seen a hint of bias related to ‘friendship.’”
Rivera said as Board president since 2020 the nature of her work required she be acquainted with most of the candidates. However she clarified that “I am not personal friends with any of them. I pride myself on maintaining professional relationships with all of our staff.”
She added that the Board has strived to make the search process professional and transparent.
Thomas Breen contributed to this report.
There are pictures on the internet of a board member with an applicant in a very personally social environment. If she doesn’t recuse herself, it will tarnish the process.