By 6:50 each morning, Mrs. Pompano can be found at her desk, checking her calendar, making to-do lists and keeping herself organized for the long day ahead. After a long first year in this new role, she’s getting into a routine.

Mrs. Pompano has been a staple of the EHHS community for the last 26 years. As of the 2025-2026 school year, she is is a part of the main office administrative team and is the leader of the Science and CTE Departments. She is also the leader of our Multi-tiered Systems of Support Team (MTSS). Throughout the building, Mrs. Pompano evaluates 13 teachers each year. She is not the primary administrator to handle discipline issues, but will if need be. 

Mrs. Pompano was appointed to the role by the previous superintendent, Mrs. Erica Forti. She wasn’t looking for a change in her role, but the district needed to adjust administrative positions due to budget concerns.

She originally wanted to be a Physicians Assistant so she attended Fairfield University and majored in Biology with a minor in Psychology. Towards the end of Mrs. Pompano’s four years of her undergraduate degree program, she realized that she did not want to continue on to pursue that career path, so she took a few years off and worked. Eventually, she enrolled in Southern Connecticut State University to get her teaching certificate. Mrs. Pompano taught science at EHHS for 12 years and then took on an administrative role as the Grades 6-12 Science Instructional Leader before becoming an Assistant Principal. 

A typical day for Mrs. Pompano usually consists of meeting with students individually at different times throughout the day. This can include a parent meeting of some sort, looking at and analyzing data such as attendance data, contacting parents, or planning and writing meeting agendas. She also attends weekly administrative team meetings and facilitates 3 after school meetings each month (faculty meetings, data team meetings, and department collaborative meetings). Finally, Mrs. Pompano also attends PPTs, 504, and other parent meetings as well. With everything going on, Mrs. Pompano tries to prioritize the work that directly impacts teaching and learning first. 

Mrs. Pompano would like to be out and about in the hallways and classrooms more, but she often finds herself in her office talking to students or completing work that otherwise would need to be done all at home.

One recent problem that had occurred for Mrs. Pompano was the school that had organized the after school meetings differently this year. Teachers didn’t like the new structure/protocol. In order to solve the problem Mrs. Pompano held focus groups where teachers could come and meet with her and share their concerns about the meeting formats. Mrs. Pompano took notes and then summarized their thoughts and sent them out to everyone. From that feedback, the leadership team created an outline for next year’s meetings with the necessary adjustments. 

Mrs. Pompano loves going upstairs to see the Science Department, even though she doesn’t really get to go up there as often as she would like. She loves visiting science and CTE classes to see the teachers, curriculum, and students in action. Mrs. Pompano wants to get out of her office more and that is her goal for herself moving on to next year.

Mrs. Pompano loves the people she works with and has known Mr. DeNuzzo and Mr. Russell for many years. She thinks it is great working with people that are also your friends, making the main office staff great and having fun and laughter every day. 

Mrs. Pompano enjoys working with students the most, helping them work through challenges and reach for their goals. She is proud of the Attendance Success program, with attendance being a significant issue for students. She wanted to reorganize the program in a way that could help change attendance behaviors. Mrs. Pompano thinks attendance patterns have changed a lot already this year, but she does think that there needs to be better awareness about the importance of consistent attendance on student success. 

Mrs. Pompano’s work day normally ends anywhere between 3:30-4:30. This year, she feels almost as if she hasn’t been balancing work and home very well. She usually stays at work until around 4:00 pm, but she still finds herself checking her email and doing work throughout the night at home. She feels like she needs to build in time to work at home.

Mrs. Pompano describes her day as fast-Paced, demanding, and rewarding. The most important skills in her position as she feels are time management skills, communication skills, active listening skills, patience, compassion and empathy. 

Mrs. Pompano’s advice to people considering this career path is ‘‘to be sure you are doing it for the right reasons. This is a very challenging career [that requires] hard work and dedication. If the “why” behind it is not related to helping students, then it is not the career for you.’’