The 2026-2027 academic year officially dawned Monday for teachers in West Hartford Public Schools with a lively and inspiring convocation ceremony.

By Ronni Newton

Superintendent of Schools Paul Vicinus loves the dawn, he said, sharing a slide of a sunrise in Alaska taken during his summer vacation.

“There’s something about the reawakening of a new day. The first light breaking through the darkness, the warmth that follows that has always represented possibility, a chance to begin again. A chance to see something that only moments before they couldn’t quite see.”

As Vicinus welcomed more than 1,000 teachers and staff at the annual West Hartford Public Schools Convocation ceremony on Monday morning at Conard High School, he said dawn is a great metaphor for what teachers do every day for children. “There’s an old idea that education is not the filling of a vessel, it’s the lighting of a fire. I think that’s right, because education brings the light of knowledge, the glow of inspiration, and the flash of wonder into places that were previously unknown or unexplored. … You bring the light. You give children hope when they need it. You invite them to dream beyond what they already know,” he said.

Vicinus, now in his fourth year as superintendent and 33rd year with West Hartford Public Schools, was the final speaker of the morning, and in his message reflected on what some of the previous speakers said, including rising Bugbee fifth grader Maxie Provost, who provided “Insights of a Student.” She invited the teachers to “bring the hope, invite dreams, spark wonder. I love that last one – spark wonder – because wonder is where so much of learning begins,” Vicinus said.

While teachers “carry the dawn,” he said,” they don’t just provide answers but rather help students make connections, look for questions, experiment, find inside books worlds they didn’t know existed, and provide children with a chance to talk, imagine, struggle, create.

“Technology can do extraordinary things,” Vicinus said. “It can connect us, expand access, give students tools for creation … it absolutely belongs in modern teaching and learning, but our goal has never been to simply give children more technology. Our goal has been to develop more capable human beings.” And that, he said, requires a balance to understand what a moment of learning requires – a tool to deepen rather than replace thinking, to invite creation rather than consumption, to strengthen rather than interrupting connection.

“And perhaps, in an age when answers are increasingly easy to find, one of the greatest gifts a teacher can give a child is something altogether different: a reason to keep wondering,” Vicinus said, to find a path, to see possibility.

Convocation – the “Celebration of a New Year” – is traditionally held on the first official day teachers return to work. It’s held in the Conard auditorium – which is the district’s largest space – but other district schools take turns hosting the event, and this year the honor fell to Bugbee Elementary School.

The Bugbee choir opened the ceremony with “Here Comes the Sun,” and Principal Susan Horvath, who herself graduated from Bugbee, welcomed the teachers and staff. “It is my hope that the past weeks have provided each of you with rest, relaxation, laughter, and doing oodles of whatever gives you pleasure and rejuvenation,” she said.

Horvath said her own summer activity included attending a leadership conference, and her takeaway from keynote speaker Tim Elmore was his practice of using different colored highlighters to keep track of what he gains from books that he reads. “One color is for important ideas, another is for good stories, another for statistics and data, and another for action steps,” she said, and she encouraged teachers to broaden that analogy as they write the stories of their upcoming school year, and reach for that “juicy” highlighter.

“When you reach out for that highlighter, what’s your ‘why’?” she said. “We each highlight what is personally meaningful to us as individuals, and the beauty of the highlighter is there is no wrong way to use it. It is my belief that as we begin a shiny new school year we are each beginning to write our own unique book that tells our personal moments of the school year,” said Horvath. “When we rely on one color, we risk missing the big picture,” she said,  urging teachers to picture activities as a highlighter color and live the year with deliberative moments. … Have a colorful year, West Hartford.”

Executive Director of Human Resources Shannon Mlodzinski was emcee for the event, welcoming the nearly 50 new teachers and staff, as well as Town Manager Rick Ledwith, and members of the Board of Education and Town Council who were in the audience. She also asked teachers who have been with the district 25, 30, 35, or more years to stand – including the two teachers who have been with the district for more than 40 years.

Mlodzinski also shared some words of wisdom from one of her favorite TV shows – Ted Lasso – urging teachers to “be curious, not judgmental.” A prevalent theme of Ted Lasso is “believe,” she said. “Believe that a student who struggled last year can have a different experience this year. … Believe that the work you are doing matters,” said Horvath even if you don’t see the destination, you are still part of the journey.

“Be a goldfish,” she added, noting that the character Ted Lasso says that a goldfish is the happiest animal on earth “because it’s got a 10-second memory. Each day is a clean slate. Learn from the hard days, reflect and try something different. Give yourself and your students the grace of another chance,” which she said is the beauty of starting a new school year.

Board of Education Chair Shannon Marimón said there was a tangible energy in the air walking into Conard for the start of the new school year. “We are all in that goldfish moment,” she said.

Last year there were “remarkably headline-worthy achievements” across all schools, Marimón said, noting among accolades that included Conard being named the Connecticut Association of Schools High School of the Year, Hall Principal Sarah Isaacs being named Outstanding First-Year Principal of the Year, Webster Hill Elementary School being named one of six Connecticut Blue Ribbon Schools, and both high schools being recognized as among the top in the state and toop 3% nationally. “These accolades aren’t isolated wins; they represent the collective, daily work happening across all of our schools. … They happened because of you. They are the direct result of your dedication, your hard work,  your patience, and your unwavering belief in the potential of every child who walks through our doors,” she said.

Marimón said what the West Hartford teachers create in their classrooms and offices every day “isn’t just prep work for a distant future – it is a living, breathing community of care and compassion,” and on behalf of the Board of Education she thanked all for their care and compassion.

The tradition is for the outgoing Teacher of the Year to introduce their successor and Charter Oak fifth-grade teacher Christine Feldolfi, the 2025-2026 Teacher of the Year, introduced her successor, Duffy Elementary School special education teacher Elizabeth Ploof.

Ploof said she is proud to represent the teachers in the district, especially special education teachers and the pupil services department.

“As we slowly wake up from our summer hibernation and jump back into our world of planning, paperwork, and never-ending to-do lists, I would like us to take a moment and remember why we chose this calling and why we do this difficult work,” she said. “I believe the ‘why’ can be boiled down to one word: ‘relationships,'” said Ploof, with students and colleagues.

She shared a story from her own elementary school years – as a Morley Mustang in third grade – where one of the highlights was playing the “Oregon Trail” game on the one desktop computer in the classroom. “My third grade teacher and I shared the same first name, and she always made a big deal of how Elizabeths are so great,” said Ploof, showing her how to make extra fancy “E’s” when learning cursive “because we Elizabeths are special and deserve a fancy name signature.” To this day, she thinks of that when she signs her name with a curlycue “E.”

“I think of my teacher, I think of the way she made me feel that school year, how the little moments of connection boosted me up and made a shy little girl feel so valued,” said Ploof.

And then, she invited Elizabeth “Liz” Wallack, who is still teaching third grade at Morley, up to the stage. presenting her with a bouquet of flowers and a thank you for being a difference maker in her life.

“My goal as an educator is to make each student feel special and loved, just like I did as a child,” said Ploof.

She shared a video featuring several of her students, who shared ways in which they feel seen and heard, and feel joy because of their teachers. “Creating confident students who love learning and are willing to face challenges does not rest on a single educator, but on the collective school community,” said Ploof, and she is lucky as a special education teacher to be part of many teams.

“As dragons we fly together,” said Ploof, as all of the Duffy teachers – and the dragon mascot – joined her on the stage. “As we get ready for our 2026-2027 school year, I urge us all to build teams. … We are stronger together. The kids are worth it. Remember to take that extra step to connect with each and every student.”

Maxie, who will start her fifth grade year at Bugbee on Wednesday, said she was welcomed with open arms when she came to Bugbee in second grade. She said she loves reading mysteries, and last year loved studying the Greek gods and goddesses.

“This project really inspired me,” said Maxie, sharing that since then she has watched a movie, seen a musical, and read 15 books about gods and goddesses to keep learning.

Maxie likened some of her teachers to the Greek characters, but noted that “sometimes the Greek gods are pretty dark,” like Pandora, who was given a box and told not to open it. “Of course this made her want to open it immediately,” said Maxie. “Pandora lasted for three days but then she had to open it. Her curiosity got the better of her. Inside the box were diseases and evils, that plagued man forever. But when she opened it one thing stayed with the humans forever – the spirit of hope,” she said.

“I bet some days teachers try to keep Pandora from opening that box. You want to protect us from all bad things in the world, and we’re so curious about everything but that’s tough for teachers,” said Maxie, but like Pandora, they also give the gift of hope, “the hope that when math is hard we will be able to learn … we’ll learn how to get along with our classmates and make lasting friendships, the hope that we’ll finally remember to check our work. And I hope that us kids give you the hope for the future sometimes, too.”

“You don’t walk the path for them. You help them find enough light to take the next steps themselves. That’s carrying the dawn. But then, something else Maxie said this morning that I haven’t been able to shake,” Vicinus said as Convocation came to a close. “After all this talk about what we give our students, hope, dreams, wonder, she turned it around. She said, ‘I hope that kids give you hope for the future, too.’ … And maybe that’s something that we need to remember as we begin yet another year.”

While teachers have the responsibility for kids, “there’s something they carry for us, too – their curiosity, their humor, their ridiculous questions and their brilliant observations, their capacity to surprise us, their willingness to try again and again, their dreams that are still taking shape, their wonder. They remind us why this work matters,” he said.

“That’s the extraordinary exchange at the heart of this profession. Teacher and student. Hope given and hope returned. Wonder sparked and then reflected back,” Vicinus said. When thousands of students walk into school on Wednesday morning they will be nervous, excited, confident, uncertain, and the teachers will be waiting to bring hope, invited dreams, spark wonder.

“You carry the dawn,” he said. “It will soon be Wednesday morning. The sun will rise whether we’re ready or not. But what happens next, the hope our children feel, the dreams they begin to imagine, the wonder they discover. That part is up to us.”

Before the ceremony began, as teachers arrived they were “clapped in” – by Conard and Hall student-athletes who were outside the main doors, and then by administrators who lined the hallway leading to the auditorium. “Clapping in” became part of convocation for the first time three years ago, but has been a tradition that started at Conard several years ago with teachers greeting students as they arrive at on the first day of school.

We-Ha.com met with Vicinus last week to talk about what to expect in the new school year, and that information can be found here.

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