New London chooses new high school principal, adult ed director
New London — The Board of Education has approved the hiring of two familiar faces to fill vacant top administrative roles: principal of New London High School and director at New London Adult Education.
Jose A. Ortiz, named director of the Bennie Dover Jackson Multi-Magnet Middle School in November 2019, is the new principal of what is now called the New London Multi-Magnet High School Campus.
Longtime New London Adult Education teacher and administrator Denise Spellman was named director of Adult & Continuing Education.
The school board unanimously approved the hires at a special meeting Thursday. The public portion of the meeting was brief with few comments about the hires from board members. School board member Rob Pero said he supports the hire and feels Ortiz is competent but questioned the process — a hire based only on an internal positing.
The now vacant position for the principal of the Bennie Dover Jackson Multi-Magnet Campus will be posted on Friday, Superintendent Cynthia Ritchie said.
Spellman was named Educator of the Year by the Connecticut Association for Adult and Continuing Education this year and has been the interim director at adult ed since January. She replaced retiring former director Maria Pukas. Spellman taught math at New London Adult Ed for 26 years before moving into an administrative role.
Ortiz served as principal of C.B. Jennings Dual Language and International Elementary Magnet School from 2017 to 2018 before he left for a job as an assistant superintendent for secondary schools redesign in Southbridge, Mass. He was hired again last year to become director at the middle school, a new position and part of a restructuring that eliminated middle school magnet school director positions. There are now districtwide magnet leaders.
Ortiz for 20 years worked in a variety of roles at Connecticut schools, including time as the supervisor for the bilingual and English as a Second Language and English Language Learners programs for New Haven Public Schools. He also worked as the chief academic officer for Scholastic International in Puerto Rico, where he spearheaded academic and school improvement efforts at more than a dozen schools.
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