New London – Superintendent Manuel J. Rivera asked school staff Monday to imagine a school district that nurtures its students from their pre-kindergarten years through graduation and enlists the community as a partner in their education.

During the school district’s annual convocation to welcome back staff, Rivera highlighted not only the benefits of the district’s transformation into the state’s first all-magnet school district but also some new initiatives.

Rivera said he would eventually like to see the city host two to three early childhood learning centers for children ages 3 to 5. He also said he expects the school population to rise from 3,200 to more than 4,300 over the next eight years. To accommodate those students he said he expects to move students into a newly-renovated Harbor Elementary School – a fourth magnet elementary school for the district. The Harbor School is the current home of the Early Childhood Center.

“We’ll soon have state-of-the-art facilities for all students but that can’t be where it ends,” Rivera said.

He said he wants new standards for academic achievement and will improve those standards by building a partnership system. Rivera said a critical element is a greater level of parent involvement and partnerships with local organizations to include colleges, health providers, businesses and churches.

The school district starts its first day of school on Thursday.

Honored at Monday’s ceremony was Instructional Assistant of the Year Ana Santiago from the Early Childhood Center at Harbor School and Teacher of the Year Michelle Combs.

Combs is a math teacher at the Bennie Dover Jackson Middle School where this year she will lead the school’s venture into New Classrooms, a personalized method of teaching math in which curriculum is tailored to what is working best for individual students. The Dalio Foundation awarded the school a $247,000 grant to fund the initiative.

Bennie Dover Principal Alison Burdick said Combs is a both leader and a mentor and exemplifies what it means to be a New London teacher.

“Michelle’s story is one of growth, compassion, dedication, and an unrelenting focus on providing the best quality education for our

students and for all students," Burdick said. "Michelle is always teaching, always."

Burdick told Combs, “you don’t just change the lives of your students, you have influence over all of the people you come in contact with.”

Combs started with the school system in 2008 and said she was honored by the award.

“Throughout my teaching career I have noticed that students strive when you set high expectations,” she said. “I have noticed that it’s much more important to have students respect you than it is to have them like you. I have noticed that the best teachers take lots of time to listen to their students. And I have noticed that the best teachers take time to listen to each other.”

g.smith@theday.com

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