Raffaela Fronc Running for Board of Education

The following is a profile of Raffaela Fronc, Republican candidate for the Board of Education:

Born 1968 in New Haven, Raffaela lived in Durham until the age of two.  She moved overseas at a young age and completed 1st -12th grade schooling in Italy.  Raffaela returned to the U.S. in 1987 as a freshman in college. She currently lives in Durham with her two children, husband and mother. She has four siblings, one a resident of Middlefield.  Raffaela has a sixth grader at Memorial Middle School and a freshman at Xavier High School. Her husband Ed is a Navy Veteran and a works as a senior solution engineer for SAP Americas.  They have been married for 18 years. 

Occupation:

Raffaela grew up in the restaurant business helping her parents, and making education her first priority.  Raffaela received a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Qunnipiac University in 1992. She started her career at Yale Medical School working on Developmental Brain Research with Dr. Laura Ment and Dr. Joe Madri which resulted in a published work. 

Raffaela completed her Master’s Degree in Environmental Science from the University of New Haven in 1996, and received her teaching degree from Southern Connecticut State University in 1997. She then moved from research to teaching science to high school children.  She has taught all levels of classes: from honors, AP (Advance Placement), to inclusion, and became very involved with the school community. In 2003, Raffaela received teacher of the year honors for West Haven High School. As a teacher, Raffaela successfully chaired the accreditation process for the high school (NEASC) – the first time for West Haven High to receive full accreditation.  Raffaela was also class advisor for 8 years organizing pep-rallies, proms and field trips. As part of the high school community Raffaela served on the safety, curriculum and instruction, honors, senior awards, and school improvement committees. In 1999, Raffaela went back to school to complete her Sixth Year Degree in Educational Leadership and became the high school Dept. Chair in charge of curriculum, instruction, budget and supervision.

Today, Raffaela is the Science Coordinator and Bilingual Director for the West Haven School system. As a central office employee, she has worked on developing and implementing curriculum with experts such as Larry Ainsworth. Her work in science was used by Mr. Ainsworth in his book “Rigorous Curriculum Design”. Raffaela works on training teachers on implementing curriculum and different instructional strategies. She has worked with the Connecticut State Department of Education on prioritizing and unwrapping the Common Core Standards in math. She also works with the State of Connecticut on aligning English Language Learners standards to Common Core. She is in charge of writing (narrative and budget) and supervising grants in the bilingual area.  As a member of the central office team, she is certified in the data team and common formative assessments process.  She trains all staff in the district in both processes.  Raffaela is also involved in the evaluation process for her staff in Science and ELL (English Language Learners).

Raffaela is in charge of writing the budget for the science and ELL department at the district level. She is also involved in the district wide budget process. Raffaela leads the Yale Science Partnership with West Haven. She has worked with Yale professors and coordinators to develop multiple programs that are aligned with the science curriculum in the district: starting in kindergarten with nature walks, to the grade 6 geology institute, to high school, and a forensic science crime lab experience.

Volunteer Work

Raffaela is the Director of Coaches for Coginchaug Soccer and coaches the U12 Girls competitive team.  She has been a coach for 7 years and loves working with the girls.

Goals

Thanks to her working experience, and passion for education, Raffaela has a clear understanding of the needs and importance of education in our district. Her experience on writing and revising curriculum and instruction will help to facilitate what we are doing in Regional District 13. She is interested in enabling our students to be competitive in the college application process. Raffaela’s budget experience will be an asset in examining the budget for areas of flexibility, while retaining the best within the system.