Mrs. Lisa Veleas transitioned to her new position as EHPS assistant superintendent just a few weeks ago after 13 years as an English Instructional Leader. However, this time around, there is not just one assistant; there are two. Alongside Mr. Adam Swinney, the current principal of Momauguin Schools, this pair will now begin to work together to better the district and create a curriculum that encourages rigor and challenges while still preparing students for life after high school.

Mrs. Veleas grew up in Berlin, Connecticut, and graduated from Berlin High School. To continue her education, she went to Southern Connecticut State University as an English major. During this time, she began to teach at North Branford High School as an English teacher, primarily focusing on English 10 and multiple electives, such as mythology. She notes, “I love teaching English 10. English 10 was their American Lit, so it’s kind of a combination of some of the material that we teach in our English 10 and our American Lit course.” Mrs. Veleas then went back to SCSU to continue her education and got her Master’s degree while working at East Haven High School as a reading specialist. Mrs. Veleas continued to climb her way through the English department and also furthered her education, getting her sixth year at SCSU in Leadership during 2011, and ultimately becoming the English Instructional Leader that same year. This role was a big change in rigor and expectations, but she pushed through and soared in this position.

However, moving into this new position was a challenge, as she feels there was more that could have been done. She spoke about how she feels there is always room for improvement and that there’s always something that could be done to keep us moving forward. There were many advantages and places of extreme happiness with this role, though. She discusses how she loved hiring and supporting new teachers, expanding her role to have a bigger presence at the middle school as well as evaluating teachers at both buildings, forming relationships with teachers across buildings, taking pride in working on programs to make the English curriculum meaningful, accessible, and rigorous for students, and enjoying working towards shared goals with other instructional leaders and administrative teams.

This new role comes with many challenges and obstacles to overcome. Superintendent Erica Forti discusses a few of the many responsibilities that the assistant superintendents will be responsible for, including overseeing teaching and learning, curriculum, professional development, and grant work for over 600 staff members, providing high-quality resources and training for teachers to support student success, writing grants to secure additional funding, ensuring curriculum is regularly reviewed and revised with a focus on student growth, achievement, managing teams of staff across the district, and collaborating with other administrators to advance student achievement towards college and career readiness. Mrs. Veleas is extremely excited to be in this new role, however, as she states, “I like to learn and I like to try new things which I think is part of what compelled me to apply for the position. I like to challenge myself, and this is definitely going to be a challenge. ” Although this new role will be a challenge, many agree that she is extremely fit for this position.

Superintendent Forti and Principal Vincent DeNuzzo both shared very similar experiences when it came to working alongside Mrs. Veleas in the past. Although he was not part of the committee that selected Mrs. Veleas, Mr. DeNuzzo stated that he feels she is extremely fit for this position. Based on his 20 years of working with her, he notes that she has a global view of education beyond just her English subject area. She understands how her knowledge can apply across multiple disciplines. Mr. DeNuzzo also highlighted that Mrs. Veleas is an extremely hard worker who is committed to the school, district, and teaching profession. Superintendent Forti notes how they worked together when Mrs. Forti was the curriculum coordinator and Mrs. Veleas was a reading specialist, and they collaborated further when Mrs. Veleas transitioned to instructional leader and Mrs. Forti became assistant superintendent. They worked closely on accreditation visits, curriculum development, assessment selection, and developing the Vision of the Graduate, a big part of the district as of now.

For the next few years, Mrs. Veleas wants to continue to build relationships with teams across all departments to improve teaching and learning district-wide, implementing the vision of the graduate for grades 6–12, helping students take ownership of the vision, working with Mr. Swinney on the vision of the graduate as a K–12 continuum to ensure alignment, and learning more about the curriculum and needs of each department across K–12. Mr. Denuzzo hopes to see her strengthen the alignment of curriculum and instruction between grade levels in the next few years as an assistant superintendent. He wants her to help tighten up the articulation of work from the lower grades to the high school level, and he hopes she can enhance professional development opportunities for teachers. Superintendent Forti hopes to see Mrs. Veleas ensure the social, emotional, and academic growth, development, and achievement of all students. She also hopes to see her putting all necessary systems, processes, curriculum, and staffing in place to allow every student to meet the vision of the graduate and be prepared to succeed in college or their career after graduation.

The shift to two assistant superintendents, according to Mrs. Veleas, will allow them to do the work more deeply and personally with the EHPS staff. It would have been very challenging for one person to manage the curriculum across all grade levels and subject areas in a meaningful way, so, with two people, they will be able to be in buildings more and see what’s going on more closely. Certain areas of work, like the vision of the graduate, can be led collaboratively to ensure K–12 alignment. Also, some responsibilities can be split, with Mrs. Veleas focused on grades 6–12 and the other assistant superintendent leading K–5, while also collaborating where needed.

The Comet wishes Mrs. Veleas luck with her new role, and cannot wait to see the success that she can bring alongside Mr. Swinney.