New Haven Superintendent To Retire At End Of 2022-2023 School Year

NEW HAVEN, CT — New Haven schools Superintendent Dr. Iline Tracey will retire an end of the 2022-2023 school year, which she said will give the district "ample time to find a replacement."

Here is her full letter to the New Haven Board of Education:

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. 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.

New Haven Public Schools is dear to my heart, and has been my home since 1984. I cherish and love every moment. I consider myself to be a transparent, fair, and ethical person, and try to do everything in the best interest of my students and staff. Ringing in my ears are the words of a trusted administrator—“Doc, you really want to take on this job? You have a great reputation in the system and this job will tarnish that.” How true. I have no regrets, because I took on this job for my beloved system that has helped to shape my professional career. I accepted the challenge prior to a pandemic that was unprecedented for our times. 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.

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. 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.

Thanks to all the board members who supported me during my tenure. To the board members who reached out to me or engage in meaningful dialogue with me—thank you. To the board members who have been my constant sounding boards and intellectual partners—thank you for always being there for me.

To my Central Office team members—I know some of you would put your life on the line for me— you know who you are. To my teachers who have often sent reassuring thoughts, and my parents who welcomed me and daily thank me for the work we are doing—thank you.

Thank you all for affording me a wonderful 38 years of untiring and dedicated service to New Haven Public Schools. I am certainly not perfect, but always strive for the best personally and professionally. I moved from pre-k and kindergarten through the ranks up to this level, so I came, I labored and I conquered. I am proud of the fact that we accomplished much in my tenure as superintendent. 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. 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 another calling, which is education superintendent in my world-wide church denomination, helping to continue to establish schools from kindergarten to university.

The following delineates some of our accomplishments:

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.
11. We invested millions of dollars in textbooks and supplies for schools.
12. We launched a new Math program for K-5, invested in, and will launch a science program for K-5.
13. We invested in reading and math and professional development.
14. We invested in new teachers to support class size reduction in grades one through three, anticipating the challenge of learning loss in those foundational grades, and promoted 45 paraprofessionals who had a degree to teaching status while earning their early childhood degree at Southern—via a true collaboration with the university and the State for over $11 million dollars. This is a way of building our own teacher pipeline.
15. We launched an effective leadership academy, which yielded candidates who were recently hired in administration.
16. We invested in more counselors, social workers, and care coordinators to support students and families and engaged Clifford Beers and the Yale Comer program to support schools. 17. We invested in each school by allocating funds for innovation—over $11 million dollars to do their own innovative work to accelerate learning.
18. We expended millions of dollars in PPE and to get our schools ready for opening and distributed thousands of masks and test kits to all staff and families.
19. We engaged the community in our school opening plans, budget processes, and budget application process to the tune of over 7,000 participants for the ESSER grants.

20. We developed and implemented a robust strategic plan used to guide the schools and the district—there was none in place for several years. This plan had the stamp of major community groups and personnel.

21. We created a mini social emotional department to address the needs of schools.

22. We conducted several webinars with staff, families, and others in the community.

23. News letters are sent out on a monthly basis, and we utilized Facebook, twitter, parent link, zoom webinars etc., to get the messages out which attested to the high level of communication.
24. We invested in apps to ensure that schools could better communicate with multi- lingual families. We increased the Latino staff by 10%, invested in programs, materials and part time help for support.
25. We ensured that families had access to internet services by supporting with hot spots and mesh networks on several of our buildings that beamed into communities.
26. Community partnership was a success lead by YFCE under the leadership of Gemma Joseph Lumpkin. We located and supported more than 500 homeless children and families providing, food, clothing, shelter and school supplies.
27. We invested millions into ensuring air quality in all our 40 schools and are now in the process of upgrading the HVAC, intercom systems, and pool and door repairs. 2

8. In the end we used millions of dollars to incentivize all staff for staying the course during the pandemic for over $5 million. Even that was not enough to keep teachers who accepted jobs paying them more than New Haven can afford.

The above are only a few of the things we did as a district. I continue to be proud of this school system with all its challenges. The level of engagement and team support was unprecedented—the sleepless nights and early risings to figure out school coverage, and to make the right call for snow days--I will not forget. Our students are resilient, our parents want what is best for them, and our students will rise to the occasion. I remain confident with indestructible hope, that my students will rise, and that this beloved school system will be a citadel of hope for its children.
Sincerely,

Dr. Iline P. Tracey
Superintendent