Back to School in Fair Haven District with Some New Faces, Changes

Since school started in Fair Haven, you may have noticed a few new faces and some shuffling of responsibilities among supervisory staff.

By now, everyone's familiar with Kevin Davis, the new Knollwood School principal, who replaced Nelson Ribon, now superintendent. And, while Susan Alston has been in place as principal of the Viola L. Sickles School for a while, this marks her first full school year.

In case you have not yet been introduced or don't have a child in one of their classes, the following is a list of new hires, the position they have or classes they teach and salaries (where available):

• Christopher Dudick, Knollwood Art teacher (part-time) ~ $19,831
• Christy Molnar, part-time Sickles kindergarten teacher (in-class resource teacher) ~ $23,484
• Falilou Seck, part-time Knollwood French teacher (grades 6 to 8) ~ $44,311
• Allison Tierney, fifth grade Knollwood teacher (replacement) ~ $49,787
• Kristen Wallace, special education math/science teacher at Knollwood ~ $52,187
• Jill Garrison, special education teacher ~ $49,787
• Nora Navarro, Sickles nurse ~ $51,992

In addition to the new staff, Superintendent Nelson Ribon had announced at a previous meeting that there would be some shifting around and/or consolidation of administrative staff responsibilities.

"It really was done to make our leadership team more efficient and collaborative with staff," Ribon said recently. "The goal is for them to be able to share their expertise with a larger percentage of staff and make a greater impact on both schools under these expanded roles."

Those changes, involving three administrators, are as follows, according to the district website:

"Mrs. Ellen Spears serving as our Director of Curriculum and Instruction for both Sickles and Knollwood, expanding her prior role to now include Pre-K through grade three.

"Also, Mrs. Marion Carolan is now our Supervisor of Instructional Programs and Support. In addition to last year's responsibilities, she will now support both schools in multiple instructional and professional development areas, including overseeing our I&RS/504 process and our mentoring program for newer teachers.

"Finally, Mrs. Rosalia Minervini now also oversees our student health and guidance programs, resulting in her new title of Supervisor of Student & Special Services."
 
There was some controversy when Carolan, the former principal of Sickles, was hired, after resigning from that position, as a part-time "supervisor of innovative services" for the 2012-13 school year at an annual salary of $80,000. That appointment was made at the July 26, 2012 board meeting.

Under the title, Carolan served as the anti-bullying coordinator for the entire district. She was also “responsible for the gifted/talented program (making it bigger), support the staff in innovative instruction and teacher training, and strengthen and improve all special offerings during lunch and recess, such as the Stock Market Club, which is something that starts out strong, but interest dwindles away,” former Fair Haven Schools Superintendent Kalthleen Cronin said at a board meeting in a previous Patch story.

Carolan's salary as Sickles principal was listed as $123,000, according to state records, which add that she has more than 15 years of experience and a master's degree. The $80,000 salary for the new title remains the same, according to board meeting minutes.

Spears, who has been with the district for some time as its supervisor of curriculum and instruction, earns a salary of $120,936 and has a master's degree and more than 23 years of experience, according to state records and appointment records in the district meeting minutes.

Minervini's $105,000 annual salary for the 2013-14 school year was approved at the April 24 board meeting, as was Carolan's at $80,000 and Spears' at the $120,936.

"They each are very talented and well-respected and have already made significant impacts on our school community," Ribon said of the three supervisors. "I look forward to working with them in the years to come."

The $86,145 salary of John Robbins, supervisor of buildings and grounds, was also approved at the April meeting with the other supervisors', but he is not involved at all in the supervisory responsibility shift.



* Note that salaries and additional information on new teachers was not initially provided by the schools upon request. Information on the public employees that was searchable in meeting minutes and state records was added at the time of publication. Missing salaries were provided Thursday.