Milford Teacher of the Year Goes to 35-Year Veteran of District

The following is a press release.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Elizabeth Feser is pleased to announce Mrs. Mary Ellen Minichiello has been named Teacher of the Year for the Milford Public Schools.

Mrs. Minichiello is a 35-year veteran of the district and currently serves as the Media Specialist for Calf Pen Meadow Elementary School.

Mrs. Minichiello joined the Milford Public School district in 1978, where she got her start as an English teacher at Jonathan Law High School, a position she held for 26 years.

Countless students who had Mrs. Minichiello remember her love of literature and the substantive feedback she gave on their written essays.

In 2004, she moved into the area of Media Specialist, a role where she used her vast background in technology and literature to engage learners of all ages.

Beginning in 2009, she served as the Coordinator of Media Services and Instructional Technology across the district for three years and was a catalyst for strengthening media centers in all of the schools.

This year she took on the role of Media Specialist at Calf Pen Meadow School. The changes she has put in place have been “transformational” according to Principal Amy Fedigan who said, “Mary Ellen wasted no time in renovating the entire media center space to make it ‘kid’ friendly,” putting together a team of volunteers to ‘re-engineer’ the entire academic space.

In fact, Fedigan reports that the media center is now “the most appealing and friendly place in the entire school.”

Beyond the physical layout of the media center, staff nomination letters all referenced the incredible quality of program Mrs. Minichiello has injected into the Calf Pen community.

She has memorized every student’s reading level and interests, and makes sure she has a healthy supply of books for every child’s level of expertise. She is often found ‘conferencing’ with students of all grades, asking them for their thoughts on a recent ‘read’ and for suggestions their classmates might enjoy.

Students comment about the great conversations they have with Mrs. Minichiello.

Beyond the day-to-day enthusiasm Mrs. Minichiello emanates throughout the school, she has initiated several extended learning opportunities for the Calf Pen community, including a student-reported Morning Announcement SportsCast; aSpot the Station update (information about the SpaceStation and where to look for it in the night skies of Milford); a TerraCycle Club; an official school-widePresidential Election (with real voting booths); the Calf Pen/Foran High SchoolMentor Club; and a revival of the Calf Pen Chess Club.  All this in one year!

In addition to her work day responsibilities, Mrs. Minichiello serves on a wide variety of community-based organizations, including the Calf Pen Parent Teacher Association (PTA), the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), and the Connecticut Association of School Librarians (CASL).

As if this isn’t enough, she works in the evenings of the Stratford Public Library Children’s Department, and as an adjunct instructor at Southern Connecticut State University.

One of Minichiello’s colleagues stated, “She keeps the door open to everyone, all day, every  day, before and after school. She is waiting, smiling, with the door open for business.”

Upon learning the news last week of her selection as the district’s Teacher of the Year, Minichiello was classically humble.

“To come to this school every day, and to work with this wonderful group of students – to talk about books – to work together on problems and coming up with solutions  -- I consider myself so lucky to be here and to do what I love.”

We consider ourselves fortunate to have such a fine educator as Mrs. Minichiello.