New Pupil Personnel Director Starts Work In The District

By Eliza Hallabeck

Just eight days into her position as pupil personnel services director for the Newtown Public School District, Julie Haggard sat in her new office in the Newtown Municipal Center.

“It’s exciting,” said Ms Haggard. “There are so many wonderful things happening here for students — resources, staff, and parental involvement — which is really exciting to see.”

Ms Haggard said sometimes it can be hard to get as much parental support for students as is exhibited in Newtown. “I think it really helps support children to know that their parents are so interested in them,” she added.

Former pupil personnel services director Michael Regan tendered his resignation in early April to work at Cooperative Educational Services (CES), a Trumbull-based school support agency that is under executive leadership of Newtown’s former schools superintendent Evan Pitkoff.

Ms Haggard previously worked in Watertown as the supervisor of special education for two years, and before that in Region 14 as a building level special educator and planning and placement team (PPT) leader.

She has a background in special education teaching and regular education. She has an undergraduate degree in speech and language from Southern Connecticut State University, and she also attended Sacred Heat University.

From her experience Ms Haggard said, “I’ve really been able to gain an understanding of what it takes in the classroom and in the schools to provide an appropriate education. I’ve been hands-on at several levels.”

Looking forward to her career in Newtown, Ms Haggard said she would like to get to know her students, their parents, and her staff on a personal level, “so that I can better understand the needs of the district and the needs of that particular child.”

During her first year in Newtown, Ms Haggard said she hopes to continue developing school and parent relationships to ensure positive and trusting relationships, “and to develop a deeper understanding of educationally… how we can best meet the needs of our students.”

One of her first priorities, she said, will be getting to know people.

“I’m a very passionate advocate for children,” she said, “and I believe we need to work together to reach the goal of appropriately meeting the needs of all of our children. It’s like ‘it takes a village.’ It takes a mutual respect to attain that goal.”

For all the parents and students she has yet to meet, Ms Haggard said she wants them to know, “I’m in this role because, at the end of the day, I want to know that I have done all that I can do to best meet the needs of our children.”

She wants all of the students she is bound to work with in the district to know she is here to help them succeed.

From all the parental outreach Ms Haggard had already seen in her first days on the job, she said she was encouraged to help further promote connections with families.

Ms Haggard said she is planning opportunities for parents to meet her in the next few months, and she encouraged anyone who would want to meet her before those events can be arranged to “please, don’t hesitate to contact me.”