Last week, the district announced Amanda Batty would fill the assistant principal vacancy at the high school, which opened after Alison Mullane resigned. Batty has spent her entire 22-year career in education as a science teacher at the high school and has served as the chair of the school system’s science board since 2007. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biological science and master’s in education from the University of Connecticut before receiving her sixth year administration certificate from Sacred Heart University.

Tamika P. La Salle, an associate professor of educational psychology with the University of Connecticut’s
Neag School of Education, said immigrant families tend to come with much more of a group mentality.

“It’s not just doing better for them, it’s doing better for their families and making their family proud. A lot of them have this collective identity,” said La Salle.