Alma Exley Scholars are having a big impact — in the classroom and beyond.

Congratulations to Violet Sims, who has been elected to the New Britain Board of Education on the Democratic ticket. Taking her seat on the board will be the culmination of years of civic engagement in New Britain, where she has been a tireless advocate for better schools.

Ms. Sims came to the United States from the Dominican Republic at the age of six. After graduating from E.C. Goodwin Technical High School in New Britain, she earned three degrees from the University of Connecticut, a B.A. in Theater Studies, an M.A. in Higher Education Administration, and a Sixth-Year degree in Curriculum and Instruction with a concentration in Bilingual and Multicultural Education. Currently, she is a doctoral candidate in Educational Leadership at the University of Bridgeport.

After teaching at New Britain High School for 10 years and Manchester High School for three,  she took a position this year as assistant principal at the Montessori Magnet School in Hartford.

She and her husband, D’Andre Sims, a mathematics teacher at Manchester High School, have two daughters in the New Britain Schools.

I’m grateful for her involvement in the Alma Exley Scholarship Program as a member of the Selection Committee. Since being chosen as an Alma Exley Scholar in 2008, she has been a faithful attendee at our annual receptions, honoring and congratulating her newest colleagues.

Deeply involved in the New Britain community, she is a member of the Executive Board of the local branch of the NAACP. She is president of the Diaspora Multicultural Society, Inc., which is New Britain’s first multicultural-themed social club. And she was the first president and a founding member of Altrusa International of Greater Hartford, a service organization with the purpose of empowering women and improving literacy.

Looking ahead to her service on the Board of Education, Ms. Sims said, “I hope to advocate for funding, and the responsible use of funds, so that New Britain families and students receive the best education and services that can be offered by the school district, regardless of neighborhood, home language, or ability.”

As a former student in the New Britain Public Schools, a former educator in the district, and the parent of children who attend the schools, Ms. Sims brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to her position on the Board of Education. I’m sure she will be a strong advocate for the children of New Britain and for the betterment of the entire community.

Please join me in congratulating her at

– Woody Exley

Angie Gibbs, who was named a Master Teacher earlier this year, has received another honor.

She has been chosen for a COINED Scholarship from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

The award pays for two weeks of study in Santiago, Chile, this summer in Spanish language and literature and Latin American culture. She also expects to get out of the classroom and trek the Andes while in Chile.

Ms. Gibbs, whom we honored in 2005, is a Spanish teacher at Green Valley Ranch High School, part of the  Denver Schools of Science and Technology (DSST)  school system in Colorado.

A graduate of James Hillhouse High School in New Haven, Conn., she received a bachelor’s degree with a major in Spanish from Connecticut College in 2005. She earned a master’s degree from Lesley University while teaching Spanish at Media Arts & Technology Charter (MATCH) High School in Boston.

Congratulations to Angie on this award, which will enable her to enrich her Spanish courses for her students in Denver.

– Woody Exley

If you have been reading this website over the years, you need no introduction to Miguel Cardona. We have been reporting on his many accomplishments since he was chosen as an Alma Exley Scholar in 1998.

Most recently, he has had an article published in a prominent national professional journal, District Administration. His article reported on the State of Connecticut’s initiative to close the achievement gaps in our public schools.

Connecticut has the widest gaps in the nation between the scores of students of color and white students as well between those of low-income students and non-low-income students. Calling this situation unacceptable, the Connecticut General Assembly convened a task force in 2011. The panel’s charge was to study these gaps and recommend solutions. The legislature’s stated goal was to close the gaps by 2020.

Dr. Cardona was named co-chair of the task force. At that time, he was principal of Hanover Elementary School in Meriden. He now serves as assistant superintendent of Meriden Schools. Named as the other co-chair was Toni Harp, then a state senator and now mayor of New Haven.

The task force heard testimony from educators and other experts, and also from children themselves, and submitted a master plan early in 2014. The plan includes a variety of recommendations for actions to close the gaps by 2020.

In his article, Dr. Cardona explains that the task force took an innovative approach to its challenge. This involved examining factors within the schools as well as external causes.

Reflecting this innovative approach, the task force helped create the Interagency Council (IC), to promote collaboration between educators and non-educators in addressing the gaps. This will encourage collaboration among various agencies serving the same children.

In a thought-provoking conclusion to the article, Dr. Cardona goes beyond the scope of the task force’s master plan by calling attention to another gap. This is the gap between spending on incarceration and education, with prisons accounting for nearly five dollars for every dollar spent on schools.

“Unless the funding gap between prisons and schools is reversed, I fear very little will change in the next 25 years,” he wrote. Strong words from a strong advocate for children.

I’m delighted that a valued member of the Alma Exley scholarship family has been taking the lead in addressing a vital issue in Connecticut – and that he has received this national recognition.

I wish Dr. Cardona and his task force well in their continuing efforts over the next several years. And I also wish to recognize the work that all of our scholarship recipients are doing in this same cause. In their daily activities on behalf of students across the country, they are surely making a significant difference.

– Woody Exley