Christopher Peak Photo
Board member Joe Rodriguez welcomes Margaret Mary Gethings back.
Her father and her grandfather both went to Hooker. She went elsewhere, but soon, she’ll be leading her family’s alma mater as principal, as she returns home from a job in the suburbs.
Margaret Mary Gethings is leaving her current job as principal of Branford’s John B. Sliney School to become principal at Worthington Hooker School. After an extensive interview process, she was picked to take over for Evelyn Robles-Rivas, who resigned in late August to supervise bilingual programs in Meriden. The new job will pay a salary of $150,268.
Gethings hasn’t decided on a start date yet. In part, Superintendent Carol Birks told the Board of Education at its Monday night meeting, that’s because her current boss can’t bear to see her go.
“New Haven basically stole a gem from Branford,” Birks said. “I had an opportunity to talk with her current superintendent, who I know personally, and he said, ‘You’re stealing someone back to New Haven who is probably one of my most talented leaders in the district.’ He asked, ‘Can I have her a little while longer?’”
To Gethings, Birks added, “New Haven is really lucky to have you back.”
After getting her start in education in Stamford almost 25 years ago, Gethings worked in New Haven’s public schools as a special education teacher and an instructional coach.
Most recently, she led Fair Haven School, where she served first as assistant principal and then as principal for eight years. Along with then-Principal Kim Johnsky, Gethings was credited with calming behavioral issues and improving building culture at Fair Haven — all without much in the way of extra resources for its growing population of new immigrant arrivals, many of them learning English for the first time.
In 2015, Gething’s announcement that she was leaving for Branford came unexpectedly. At the time, she called it “probably the most difficult decision I’ve made in my life.” On Monday night, she said she’d had to make the move for personal reasons involving her family.
Gethings holds up her “trophy.”
Coming back, she added, had been a “no-brainer.” As she said her family had put it, “You never wanted to leave New Haven.” She told them they were right, and she couldn’t wait to pick up where she left off.
“My GPS has always been my heart,” Gethings said. “I’m back with just such clarity and excitement to be working in a district that is ceiling-less for children’s potential. What matters most is finding what motivates each and every one of us.”
Gethings added that she was particularly excited to teach at Hooker, where her father and grandfather had graduated. She said she saw how their education there defined them throughout their lives, how it entered the “fabric of their being.” She committed to making sure the school community feels the same way under her leadership.
“I know how I’ve always felt about the schools I attended: they define who we are,” Gethings said. “As an employee, as a teacher and administrator, as a staff developer and instructional coach, my schools have always been my second family.”
As she spoke on Monday night, Gethings held up the “blue sheets,” the packet of papers that lists all the personnel changes in the district twice a month. Her name was at the top.
“This is my trophy,” Gethings beamed. “This is my end of the ribbon race.”
So while other schools in the district with principal vacancies did not get to pick their principals but instead were assigned from a pool of existing displaced NHPS administrators, Hooker just got to do a global search outside of the district and pick the best candidate available? How nice for them. I guess that's what happens when your school population is 78% white and Asian and only 14% eligible for free and reduced lunch. Needless to say, those numbers are not reflective of NHPS numbers district wide.
https://projects.propublica.org/miseducation/school/090279000588