District appoints first Black superintendent
Leader questions why GOP board members voted against him
WINDSOR— Windsor Interim Schools Superintendent Terrell Hill had the interim tag removed Tuesday as the board of education voted 5 to 4 down party lines to hire him following a national search.
He becomes the first Black superintendent in district history, but Hill questions why Republicans school board members voted against his hiring.
Hill, 52, and the assistant superintendent for human resources since 2014, will be paid $210,000 annually, plus a $12,000 annuity.
“I’m happy. I love this town,” said Hill, a former vice principal at Windsor High School who has lived in town since 2006. He has had two daughters graduate from Windsor High and another that is a freshman.
Hill, a Springfield, Massachusetts, native who served three years active duty in the U.S. Army before becoming a teacher, said his administration and the district will “focus on academics and culture,” for about 3,300 students. The district’s makeup is about 70% students of color.
Windsor Board of Education President Leonard Lockhart said in a release that the district was happy to welcome Hill as the district’s new leader.
“We are pleased to welcome Dr. Hill as our new superintendent. This is a new chapter that all are eager to begin especially within
the grasp of a pandemic,” Lockhart said. “Dr. Hill’s career and personal roots in Windsor, mixed with his extensive teaching and administrative experience, is the fit Windsor demanded during the search process.”
Hill began his career in education in Newport News, Virginia, as a math teacher because there were no openings in his college major, which was business.
After four years there that included teaching math on TV for another school district, Hill moved back to Springfield and began teaching business at Windsor Locks High School for two years before becoming a vice principal at Windsor High School in 2002.
In 2009 Hill left Windsor High after being passed over for the vacant principal’s position and became principal of the newly created High School Inc., a business-themed school in Hartford.
“I got to start a school from scratch,” Hill said, recalling that many of his graduates went on to get jobs at insurance companies in the city. He also recalled getting to ring the closing bell with students at the New York Stock Exchange with students in 2013.
When the assistant superintendent’s position came open in Windsor in 2014, Hill decided to move again.
“I have nothing but love for this town,” he said.
However, Hill said he was taken aback that there were four “solid nos” with reasons that he and the public did not accept.
“Ironically the no votes came from four white male Republicans,” he said.
School board member Ron Eleveld said in an email that the Republicans had several issues.
“The vote was a combined vote to approve his hiring and his salary agreement over the Republican desire for two separate votes,” Eleveld said.
Eleveld said the Republicans disagreed because the total compensation of $222,000 would be, “based upon our information that was shared with the Democratic caucus, the highest paid superintendent among our related school districts or ‘DRG’, and in the top one-third of Hartford superintendents. That might be acceptable for a superintendent with years of experience, but not for a first-year superintendent.”
Eleveld said the Republican caucus was also concerned his continued employment in other educational institutions would divert his 100% professional focus from the needs of our students, staff and Windsor Public Schools.
Hill, who teaches at UConn, said he was not surprised by the resistance in large part because it confirms the conclusions of his dissertation, which asserted that Black and female administrators have a much higher bar set for them to become school superintendents.
“If there are 10 steps to becoming a superintendent, white men almost never have to complete them all. But Blacks and women have to do them all and more,” he said.
“If you’re going to say ‘we’re looking for the best candidate,’ where does “fit” come into it? Why do wealways end up in this place?” Hill said. “It was fully expected. They played their parts.”
Hill said he’s old enough not to be overly upset about the issue, but added that he won’t be silent about it.
“I believe in equity work,” he said. “Clearly there is work still to be done in our town.”