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07/27/2022 08:30 AMAmy Farotti has come full circle in her ties to East Haven. She grew up in town, went off to pursue higher education at Sacred Heart University, entered the field of teaching in Milford, and just a year ago she returned to her hometown to assume the position of assistant principal of East Haven High School (EHHS).
Amy grew up in East Haven and attended Kindergarten through the 8th-grade in East Haven before attending Sacred Heart Academy for her high school career. “After that, I went to Sacred Heart University for my undergrad, but I never considered education as a future career for myself,” she recalls.
“I was actually a biology major thinking I wanted to become a dentist,” explains Amy, “so after I left Sacred Heart University, I was very unsure about what I wanted to do. I had my degree in biology, a minor in chemistry, and then I ended up being a paralegal at an attorney’s office in New Haven.
“It was there that I was working with a group of attorneys, and we were working on a project called Safe Neighborhoods,” continues Amy. “We were prosecuting people who had gun or drug violations. A lot of these cases came across my desk, and it was very disheartening to see how young they were, as young as 18 years old. It really got me thinking, where did we go wrong as this society that we have to put away 18-year-olds.”
While Amy knows that society can’t tell parents how to raise their children, she equally understands the positive influence teachers, school administrators, and the schooling process itself can have on young minds and spirits.
“So that's why I ended up I ended up going into education,” notes Amy, “because I was like, okay, we’ve got to do better in our school systems. That's the one thing in society we can change, the school system, and hopefully, we can change it so that these kids aren't being arrested at 18 years old. That's what eventually led me into the education career, and I became a high school science teacher.
“From there I was in Milford for five years,” continues Amy, followed by another five years teaching science in North Branford before landing the job as an assistant principal at EHHS.
“I feel with the team that I work with now we're going to make some really great changes at EHHS. We have the new advanced manufacturing lab that's going to get started this year, and the machines are hopefully being delivered next week, so fingers crossed about that,” says Amy.
With just a year under her belt as an assistant principal in the town that influenced her formative years, Amy admits, “I like going back to my roots. That was one of the points I made when I interviewed for the assistant principal position, I wanted to come home. I wanted to give back to the community that made me who I am today. If it wasn't for my education in East Haven, I wouldn't have gotten where I am.”
Amy’s childhood memories of East Haven also include attending Momauguin Little League games. “My dad was the coach,” recalls Amy.
And then there are Amy’s memories of helping troubled students succeed against difficult odds, which fits perfectly with the reason she went into education in the first place, after witnessing troubled youth getting entangled with police and the courts.
“There was a student who I’ll never forget,” recalls Amy. “He had a really tough upbringing and he struggled. He didn't make the best of choices, but I remember I was going to give him a shot. I didn't care about his history coming to my class. I gave him a clean slate, and he ended up coming to see me early in the mornings because his bus dropped them off so early before school started. He would come to see me, and we would work on assignments that had nothing to do with my class, but he just needed someone to believe in him, someone to say, ‘you can do this,’ and you know what, he graduated in four years and now he has a job and he's living away from his family which is what he needed.”
Now a year into the job as assistant principal, Amy has her sights set on the future of EHHS, and the expansion of the school’s career and technical education programs.
“We have the advance manufacturing lab that's being installed,” explains Amy, so that students can learn about the modern manufacturing process and secure careers in local Connecticut companies in need of skilled labor.
“And we have a new culinary teacher starting this year with big plans for the culinary department,” explains Amy. “They're going to open up what's called Café Maestro, so that during lunch teachers can come and have a meal cooked by the students. And then our dream is to have the café open to the public. We also plan to do gardening as well, so we can use the fruits and vegetables that would grow right in our own greenhouse someday.
“We also have a great wood shop teacher who is doing a lot of projects [with the students] that he's selling and offering to the public,” continues Amy. “For instance, he made these beautiful signs for any graduate that has their name and a yellow jacket on it for the class of 2022. We're trying to showcase what we're doing in East Haven, and how lucky the kids are there.”
Additionally, Amy says she is focusing on policies and procedures for the school which are always a necessary aspect of school administration.
“There's always been this strong push for a four-year college, but I see the pendulum now swinging the other way,” notes Amy, in support of the development of the career and technical labs at EHHS. “You have these four-year college graduates who don't have a job. I'm trying to open up the eyes of my students by saying you don't have to go to college you don't have to go to a four-year university, you can go to a two-year university, and you can come out with an associate degree and a skill that's in such high demand you're going to make so much more money than I ever made when starting out.”
Many companies are changing today, Amy explains, “and they want employees to learn onsite because every company does it a little differently, and so if you walk in with a two-year associate’s degree they're going to train you and there's so much room for advancement in all of these careers.”
In her private time, Amy enjoys her family of two children: a daughter who's seven and a son who's 9, and her husband, Mark, who works as a sergeant with the Connecticut State Police. Mark is 18 years into the force, and nearing retirement.
“He's hoping to go into security after retirement, in a school system, so he can have his summers off too,” Amy concludes with a laugh. “He's very jealous that I have my summers off.