Print

Segarra Names Replacement For Perez On School Board

Mayor Chooses A Former Member Of That Panel, Sharon Patterson-Stallings

By STEVE GOODE

August 19, 2010

HARTFORD — — Mayor Pedro Segarra has chosen former school board member Sharon Patterson-Stallings to fill the board of education seat vacated by former Mayor Eddie A. Perez.

Segarra said Thursday that his reasons for choosing Patterson-Stallings included her past experience as an elected member of the school board, her North End roots, her communication skills and her ability to get parents involved in their schools.

"Parents need to be big players and partners," he said.

Patterson-Stallings, 68, was elected to the school board in 2005 as a member of the Working Families Party. She was not endorsed for the 2009 election.

"I really wanted to continue the things I was elected to do," said Patterson-Stallings, who has changed her party affiliation to Democrat. "I want to see the reform efforts sustained."

Segarra, who in his position as strong mayor could have appointed himself to the seat, said that residents should not take that as a sign that he isn't interested in educational issues facing Hartford schoolchildren.

"Education is a primary issue for this administration," Segarra said, adding that about a half-dozen applicants submitted resumes to him.

Milly Arciniegas, president of the Hartford Parent Organization Council, a consortium of city PTOs, said Thursday that choosing Patterson-Stallings made sense.

"As critical as it is for the time left [in the term] we needed a person who knows what's going on," Arciniegas said. "She's that person."