Osunde begins new chapter as Stratford superintendent

At 17, he was one of the first players UConn football coach Randy Edsall recruited to Storrs. At 23, dogged by back problems, his short NFL career was gone.

At only 34, after counseling and administrative stops in New London, East Hartford and Manchester, Uyi Osunde was named principal of Windsor High School. Young, fit, he was a 6-foot-4, 255-pound powerhouse eager to tackle the role of leading 1,000 students in 2016.

And now, before his 40th birthday, Osunde, born in Nigeria, bred in Connecticut, becomes the superintendent of schools in Stratford on July 1. Chosen from a pool of 22 applicants, he replaces the retiring Janet

Robinson.

“Connecticut is a tiny state, so there’s a lot of six degrees of Kevin Bacon, right?” Osunde said. “There’s always somebody who knows somebody. It has been very receptive so far across the professional landscape and I’m looking forward to forming more robust relationships.”

Some of his former UConn teammates live in the immediate area. They called. Various other UConn folks, too. While assisting Jack Cochran at New London, Osunde coached current Bunnell head football coach Tywan Jenkins on the defensive line. Osunde is excited about the reunion.

“Coach (Andy) Baylock called me from UConn to say how proud he was of me,” Osunde said. “He’s a walking almanac, encyclopedia. We’re talking about how Nick Giaquinto (from Stratford High and UConn) went to two Super Bowls, the Penders family, he’s rattling off all sorts of names.”

He is Dr. Osunde now, like his dad, Egerton, a professor at Bloomsburg (Pa.) university who died during Uyi’s senior year of high school. He has amassed degrees like he amassed tackles as first a linebacker, then a defensive lineman and co-captain of the 2003 Huskies:

A bachelor’s in psychology and master’s in educational psychology at

UConn; a master’s in education leadership from Southern Connecticut; a certificate in school leadership and management for Harvard; a doctor of philosophy Ed.d from UConn.

This is a guy who said “Being educated is one of the eight wonders in the world.” He was 20.

Although the late March vote in Stratford was unanimous, school board member Karen Rodia did say she was bothered board members hadn’t spoken to Osunde’s Windsor superiors or subordinates. She was concerned about his lack of experience in the classroom and with finance and budgeting. Osunde responded in that Zoom meeting he hoped to dispel her concerns quickly.

He has been working on his entry and transition plan to meet with stakeholders for a deeper understanding of town history, values and goals to best identify what is important to the town’s citizens and what could be provided by the school district as part of a collaborative strategic plan.

This much Stratford should know. To pigeonhole

Osunde as either an athlete or an academic is to shortchange him. He is both and more, a man dedicated to the science of human interaction and goal attainment.

“Football was such a massive part of my life,” Osunde said. “People say you learn a lot of life lessons from playing organized sports. It’s so true. Football allows you to acquire attributes that can be applied to any facet of your life. For instance, discipline and work ethic. If there’s anybody who embodies that, it’s Randy Edsall. I spent the last couple of years on my doctorate while also working. I ended up working in my home office in the weekend at 4:45 a.m. There were nights when I’m at that desk until 11:15.

“Beyond that, the whole concept of team is very akin to the school community. Have goals. Set high standards. Everyone has a role. That’s the foundation of how schools operate. When you play high-level football you get a chance to analyze how systems work together. It’s funny. I’ve known Dan Orlovsky (now with ESPN) since he was 18. He’s such a cerebral person about the game. When you spend enough time watching the components of offense, defense and special teams, how they are linked together and how they’re interdependent when one thing happens, it creates a reactionary domino of events — you start to understand the complexities of issues.”

Understanding patterns can be applied to a complex organ such as the school community. Osunde stops for a second. He chuckles. He apologizes if he’s taking too deep a dive. He spent a lot of doctoral time and research on goal attainment and school leadership.

“There are a lot of similarities with Windsor,” Osunde said. “One distinct difference is Stratford is essentially twice the size. But there are a lot of similarities in the school makeup, in terms of the student demographic. While I’m very familiar with the state — I’ve been here for more than two decades now — not until I went into this interview process did I realize the enormous town pride Stratford has.

“That’s a great thing, because Windsor is one of the proudest places I’ve ever been. That’s a foundation to build on.”

According to PublicSchoolReview.com, Bunnell High is 27 percent Hispanic, 26 percent Black and 41 percent white, while Stratford High is 29 percent

Hispanic, 25 percent Black and 41 percent while. Windsor is 15 percent Hispanic, 50 percent Black and 26 percent white.

“One of Stratford’s middle schools, Wooster, was recognized as school of the year (in 2019) by the Connecticut Association of Schools. That’s a bright spot. The principal (Bryan Darcy) and his leadership community have done a tremendous amount of work to create programs that allow them to receive that distinction.

“Bunnell has the reigning CAS Principal of the Year (Nancy Dowling). There is real talent in Stratford. I’m not walking into an empty cupboard. My job is to spend time establishing relationships, getting the lay of the land and finding opportunities where we can improve.”

Osunde initially planned to major in business in UConn, but he didn’t like it. He knew he wanted to work with kids, but didn’t want to sit around grading tests. He started out as a counselor in New London and East Hartford before becoming assistant principal at Illing Middle School in Manchester.

“Lou Allen (from New London) is the first person who really got me into thinking about school leadership,” Osunde said. “He said Connecticut will need leaders. He encouraged me.

“Being principal is a complex task. There are so many moving parts. The biggest thing is making sure that culture matches operations and that both of those constructs are based on high expectations. Not to sound clichéd, but I learned it takes a village. If all three components come together, the chances of good things happening is quite high.”

And then March 2020 hit Osunde, hit every village. COVID.

“I remember it so vividly,” he said. “Despite all the degrees I have in the books — I think I knew it intuitively — but I think I needed to learn it as well. Every school leader in the country had the same question: How are we supposed to do this? There is no blueprint for a once-in-a-100year pandemic.

“I thought a lot. My fiancé said to me that this should be good for kids, family, staff — just lead with compassion. That became my guiding mantra.”

Some lessons don’t come in books.

At UConn he had serious shoulder problems, serious enough for surgery and redshirting in 2001. As a senior captain, he helped open Rentschler Field in 2003 against Indiana, only to take a brutal helmet-tokneecap hit. He kept playing with a microfracture and his draft stock sank as a result. He signed with the Browns as a free agent, but was the last cut in 2004. Signed by the Bills, he was waived in August 2005. He was finished with football. Too many injuries. Too much of a future in education.

“I’ve been fortunate to have had a pretty good experience doing this across four districts,” Osunde said. “I’ve done good work across the state and I’m hoping to bring a lot of those same outcomes in Stratford. For me, it’s a continuation of trying to do good work on behalf of people’s kids.”

So Uyi Osunde will finish the year at Windsor High. He has poured his heart into his job and there is one more class to graduate on June 14.

“There also is a sense of excitement and closure that I helped in improving Windsor,” he said. “That’s important for me, so Stratford will have my full self.”