Deirdre Howard

School secretaries are critical to the function of our public schools. Hartford executive assistant Deirdre Howard experiences this on a daily basis.

“Support staff go above and beyond every day,” says Deirdre. “We do everything from making sure the buses are arriving on time to helping the students get where they need to go. This is a huge job and some schools only have one support staff there to cover everything.”

Make sure that adequate staffing is a part of education reform.

AFT CT (American Federation of Teachers Connecticut) is committed to improving the quality of education for every child in the state. Education reform issues like teacher tenure, teacher certification, teacher evaluations, early childhood education, charter schools, school funding and more need input from all educators. PreK-12 teachers, paraprofessionals and school related personnel are working every day to improve learning and help students to grow. From urban schools in Connecticut, such as Hartford, New Britain, New Haven and Meriden, to suburban schools, such as, Bloomfield, Simsbury and Waterford,  to regional school districts, our members are working to provide quality education.