By Adriana Sanchez
After 25 years, Latanya Farrell is back where her educational career started–at Stafford Elementary School–as the new principal.
She started there as a kindergarten teacher.
When Farrell first started, she never imagined that she would be a principal. She said her goal was to be a professor at a college.
“The last place I wanted to start was kindergarten because I was nervous about reading and teaching it,” she said. “I was really nervous.”
She set herself on track to learn how to teach reading and understand the science behind it, she said.
Even nerves on edge or not, she was an innovator. After her first year, she asked to be looped with her kindergartners as they continued on to first grade.
“It was one of the best teaching years of my life — the learning and the growing and the connections with the families. Having them for two years was beautiful,” she said.
Farrell grew up in Bridgeport, Conn. in the projects. Her parents were both young.
“I watched them struggle,” she said, “but they were so kind and helpful in any way possible. They didn’t get a chance to walk across the stage, and I was inspired to make sure to do that.”.
Before being named principal, Farrell was the vice principal at Bristol Eastern High School.
She cried, tears rolling down her cheeks, as she shared how much high schoolers impacted her.
“You see the ending product and the connection as they walk out into the world,” she said. “It’s so deep.”
Farrell said she still is in contact with her former high school students and their bond is one of a kind. Farrell and her students would meet up for lunch and she even drove some of them to college.
Farrell said she wants to somehow get high schoolers to work with elementary school students.
“All high schoolers have to do service learning for their community so to see where we can bring them in to help support will be nice,” she said.
Farrell, a singer, songwriter and musician, said she would like to incorporate music into the culture at her new school too.
“I bring music everywhere I go with me,” she said. “We sang so much in kindergarten. When I went to middle school if they finished their work early, they would ask me to sing them a song. I definitely want to bring more music, art and creativity and individually to this school.”
While Farrell said she loves her students, she expressed a deep admiration for her colleagues too.
“I have so many connections throughout the education system,” she said. “Making those connections where I can call anybody with a drop of a dime to find help and support is amazing.”
One area that continues to pose a challenge in her 25 years, Farrell said, is technology.
“When I first started I had a pager… kids couldn’t get information quickly, we had to go to the library, but now you can go to any website you just need to know how to be a consumer of information,” she said.
She said she sees as her goal in this moment in time as helping orientate families to show them what learning is going to look like especially with this pandemic,” she said.
“This is so new to all of us. In addition to still keeping my connection with my high schoolers and seeing how they can help support.”
Although a plan for the 2020-2021 school year has yet to be determined, Farrell said administrators and staff have been working feverishly to figure out what school is going to look like.
“We’re going to be following strict CDC guidelines and following what our governor has placed for the reopening plans and right now were just taking things step by step, surveying parents and finding out their comfort of having them come back into the building or distant learning and surveying teachers to find out their level as comfort and as admin were also surveyed,” she said.
“We’re trying to figure it out with lots of conversation,” she added. “It’s tough–because first and foremost for all of us health and safety is very important. I don’t know what it’s going to look like–I do know it’s going to be different. It’s important for us to think safely and to be flexible and thinking out of the box.”
Farrell said she has to be optimistic, and as plans go forward, everyone has to be respectful on how to deal with conversations and make sure all voices are heard.
As Farrell thought about her past 25 years in the Bristol education system, she couldn’t help but smile.
He recounted using the parachute in her kindergarten class to “making it rain” with jolly ranchers in middle school and teaching AVID in high school.
Tearfully, she recounted, “To see these kiddos from different backgrounds, having them come to me and saying ‘I want to go to college, but I don’t know how or have the money to do it’; and watch them grow into leaders capable of taking AP course and slaying their organizational skills; seeing that and having them graduate and sending them off to college; is touching.”
“The memorable experiences that I have are the successes of our students,” she said. “They just stick with me and keep me feeling I have purpose.”
She said her greatest challenge over 25 years has been to make sure students have equal opportunities for success, ensuring that all kids and families have access to high quality education and experiences–all kids.
Farrell sets goals for herself too.
“My goal is to be better than I was the day before and to push myself and try new things,” she said.
She said she challenges herself to push herself to learn what she’s capable of.
“Hopefully this will inspire other people to do the same,” she said.
In the end, she said she is honored to return to Stafford School as principal.
“It feels serendipitous,” she said. “I love Bristol, the kids, the families — I will perhaps have my former students’ children here.”
“I love learning, I’m super curious, but I also love people,” she said. “I love kids and as I have gone through the years here in Bristol I’ve realized I love all ages.”