Magnet school official gets statewide honor

New London - The Connecticut Association of Schools has named Bridgette Gordon-Hickey, associate director of Regional Multicultural Magnet School, as its 2012 Elementary Assistant Principal of the Year.

The organization said the selection committee chose Gordon-Hickey, who is in her fourth year at the school, "for her purposeful instructional leadership and uncompromising dedication to her students and school community."

As an administrator for a K-5 school that serves 540 students from a dozen area school districts, the selection committee said "she has succeeded in boosting the academic achievement of a diverse and challenging student body while at the same time enhancing the social and cultural climate of the school."

One of her initiatives noted by the committee was starting a Special Olympics Unified Sports program at the school. The program pairs students with intellectual disabilities with other students as a way to foster tolerance and sensitivity. Fifty students have been involved in its first year.

The committee said she has also begun a number of initiatives to promote the important role that parents play in their child's education.