Good morning everyone and thank you for the opportunity to provide comments to the State Board of Education at your March 2nd Board Meeting.
My name is Stephen Hegedus, and I am the current President of the Connecticut Chapter of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE-CT). I am also the Dean of Education at Southern Connecticut State University. AACTE-CT is an association of thirteen public and private colleges and universities that provide Educator Preparation Programs to students interested in the education profession. We promote and strongly support high quality teaching and education in the state’s schools and are advocates for robust educational leadership.
On behalf of the AACTE-CT, we want to say thank you to the Board of Education, Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker, the Department of Education, and especially to those individuals with whom many of us from AACTE-CT work with regularly.
The AACTE-CT wants to extend its sincerest congratulations to Dr. Karen DuBois-Walton on her appointment by Governor Lamont as the new Chair of the State Board of Education. Her experience on the Board the past two years combined with her background is a terrific fit to help lead the Board of Education and the Department of Education in the coming years. We all know how difficult the past two years have been for everyone dealing with the COVID pandemic and especially for teachers, administrators, students, school employees, local boards of education, and everybody involved in our school systems. We look forward to working with Dr. Dubois-Walton, the Board and the Department to help ensure continued success in our schools and to find mutual agreement to make improvements where necessary.
Thank you and please continue to feel free to reach out to our association on issues of mutual interest.
Stephen J. Hegedus, Ph.D.
President, AACTE-CT Chapter
Dean, College of Education
Southern Connecticut State University
501 Crescent Street,
New Haven, CT 06515
+1 (203) 392-5900
Hegeduss1@southernct.edu