When New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) announced that Mauro Sheridan Assistant Principal Kerry Courcey will be transferred to King/Robinson School for her final year before retirement, over 100 Mauro Sheridan staffers and family members signed a petition in just one hour requesting the district to re verse the decision. Mauro Sheridan community members described the Courcey’s upcoming transfer as a “devastating blow,” “cruel,” and “heartbreaking” during public testimony at Monday’s Board of Education meeting at King/Robinson School. Courcey’s transfer was included in the school board’s information-only personnel report. Additional administrative transfers include FAME Assistant Principal Regina Carini, who will be moved to assistant principal at Mauro Sheridan; Bishop Woods Assistant Principal Nellie Martinez, who will move to assistant principal at Lincoln-Bassett; and Lincoln-Bassett Assistant Principal Eva Schultz, who will move to assistant principal at FAME. All of these transfers will be effective as of Aug. 19. The school board also voted unanimously on several appointments and a termination on Monday. Staff retirements and transfers, however, are not voted on by the board. Carrie Malcolm, a parent of a Mauro Sheridan second grader and an educator who works for NHPS, told the school board and the superintendent on Monday that Courcey is vital to Mauro Sheridan after dedicating 24 years of her 35-year career at the Fountain Street school. Mauro Sheridan families and staff had been looking forward to celebrating Courcey’s final year before retirement at the end of the 2026-27 year, several public commenters testified on Monday. Malcolm said that Courcey has been the “guiding light” for her second grader, Bacari, over the past two years. When her son entered Mauro Sheridan, she recalled, he was below grade level in reading and math. Now, Bacari is beyond his grade level in both subjects thanks to his teachers, who learn from and are supported by Courcey, Malcolm said. Malcolm described Courcey as “warm, encouraging, and demanding” with staff, students, and parents like herself. “It concerns me that the district would easily rip a key support from our lives” with little notice or no transition time, she concluded. She urged the district to reverse its transfer decision. Karen Rivera, a Mauro Sheridan school counselor of 18 years, read a letter from her colleague on Monday that also requested that Courcey’s transfer be reconsidered. Rivera said that she’s worked for the district for over a decade and that Courcey is “one of the reasons I love to come to Mauro Sheridan.” When current NHPS IT Coordinator Valarie Rodriguez was a NHPS student, she said, Courcey was her assistant principal while she was in fifth grade at what then called Vincent E Mauro School. Rodriguez began her NHPS career at Mauro Sheridan in 2007 as a part-time employee and became full-time in 2015. She has three children attending NHPS, including one at Mauro Sheridan. When she got the news that Courcey was being transferred, Rodriguez began collecting signatures from the school community on June 8 to oppose the “abrupt” change. The petition notes that the transfer will not only impact Mauro Sheridan but also create a period of instability for King/Robinson, which will have Courcery only for the 2026-27 school year before she retires. King/Robinson’s current assistant principal, Cara Campo, has been promoted to become the next principal of Worthington Hooker School after spending two years at King/Robinson. The petition requested a response with the districts rationale for the transfer and clarity on what factors were considered. “This petition does not seek to interfere with the district’s procedures, it just reflects our shared belief that the students and families deserve stability,” Rodriguez concluded. Reached for comment after Monday’s meeting, Courcey told the Independent she was completely speechless and in tears while listening to the school community advocate for her at the board meeting. She got the news last Friday that she was being transferred, which left her with a feeling of devastation all weekend. “Some years they say expect changes, but I didn’t hear that this year. I was so shocked and couldn’t stop crying,” she said. Courcey began her career at Clinton Avenue School as a first-grade teacher for five years. She then moved to Edgewood to teach first grade for another five years and was a literacy coach for one year before becoming an administrator at Vincent E Mauro School. She is a part of a handful of staff at Mauro Sheridan who still remain at the school after its merger with Sheridan in 2009. Over the past eight years Mauro Sheridan administrators have moved away from having closed-off office spaces to having hallway offices allowing them to engage more with staff, students, and families. “My whole life is school. I don’t stop working ever because I worry to make sure specific students are with the right teachers,” Courcey said. “I let students that need it take hallway breaks with me, and now I’m going to feel bad leaving King/Robinson after just one year.” She emphasized she’s not against the transfer. She had just hoped for more notice to properly say goodbye to staff, students, and families after spending 24 years at the same school. She thanked her Mauro Sheridan community for seeing and advocating for her decades of work, commitment, and passion. The post Mauro Sheridan’s AP Transfer Hits Hard appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less