Some board members question hiring of new schools COO

NEW HAVEN — Who is Thomas Lamb?

The city Board of Education and others will find out when Lamb begins in the role of chief operating officer for New Haven’s schools on May 5.

According to Superintendent

of Schools Iline Tracey, Lamb is a longtime state resident — a Branford native who received a degree from Albertus Magnus College in New Haven after serving in the Marine Corps. Although Lamb is married to a special education teacher at East Rock Community Magnet School, he is not someone the board members know.

Tracey said Lamb has about 20 years of facilities management experience, most recently with a senior living community in Mount Vernon, N.Y., as well as other health care facilities.

In brief remarks after a

vote to approve his hire, Lamb acknowledged he would need to get to know the board.

“I know a lot of you have not had a chance to speak with me, and I hope moving forward we’ll be able to get to know each other,” he said, to do “all the things we do to move the district forward.”

Despite the significance of the hire, board members were brief in their questions. Tamiko Jackson-McArthur, the only present board member to vote against the hire (as well as all other personnel items on Monday’s agenda), expressed hesitancy because of how few details there were for the board about Lamb and the other candidates who interviewed for the position.

“I’m sure this person is a great candidate, I just would have wanted to know a bit more,” she said. “This is a big, big position.”

Furthermore, JacksonMcArthur said she was concerned with Lamb’s lack of a law background, as both

Pinto and Clark had law degrees and were active in negotiating as well as drafting and reviewing contracts on behalf of the district.

Board member Larry Conaway, who spoke after Jackson-McArthur, said she had addressed many of his concerns. However, he said he ultimately puts his trust in Tracey to make the decisions she believes are best for the district.

Prior to the meeting, school board President Yesenia Rivera said the COO is “a critical role in the functioning of the district” and she felt the district is “lucky to have identified a candidate with such a strong track record of running large-scale operations.”

Board member Darnell Goldson, who was not present at Monday’s meeting, said in an email to the board obtained by the Register that he would be on the road and was expected to arrive back in the city in the evening. He said he did not receive a physical copy of his board materials because he had been traveling, but a request for digital copies of the information the board received about Lamb went unfulfilled. A Register request for a copy of Lamb’s resume also went unanswered Monday.

Goldson said that, although he did not wish to cast aspersions on Lamb or the hiring process, he had concerns about Lamb’s qualifications for the role.

“He has never worked in a school-based environment. He doesn’t seem to have much experience working with unions, especially school-based unions,” he said. “I’m not sure how lacking both academic and real world experience in education management qualified him to take on such an important role in the school system.”

Lamb will begin with a salary of $145,000 — the same starting salary of his predecessor Michael Pinto in February 2019.

Pinto, who left the district in November 2020 for a job as an attorney for the city, told the Board of Education and public that the public school district had been a part of his family’s lives since 1915. Before Pinto’s hire, his predecessor Will Clark had roughly the opposite trajectory, having worked as an attorney for the city for about 10 years before joining the school district in 2007.

In the absence of a COO, Tracey and other members of her central office administration have begun to shoulder the necessary tasks. Tracey did not respond to a Register request as to whether the district’s organizational structure would change once

Lamb begins in the role in May.

However, some board members are already beginning the process of getting to know Lamb.

“Semper Fi,” said board member Ed Joyner after

Lamb made his remarks. Lamb replied with an “oorah.”