HARTFORD - State Representative Gail Lavielle (R-143) today applauded the appointment of Westport resident Jennifer Tooker to the Board of Directors of Connecticut's State Education Resource Center (SERC). The appointment was made by House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero.
SERC is a quasi-public agency that assists the State Board of Education with programs and activities that promote educational equity and excellence. Its activities include training, technical assistance and professional development for local and regional boards of education, educators, families, and community partners, maintaining a state education resource center library, publishing technical materials, research and evaluation, and writing, managing, and administering grants. SERC can support programs focused on early childhood education, improving school and district academic performance, and closing academic achievement gaps between socio-economic subgroups.
"Jennifer's service on Westport's Board of Education and Board of Finance has prepared her very well for service on the SERC Board," said Rep. Lavielle, a member of the General Assembly's Education and Higher Education Committees. "She has a solid understanding of the challenges school districts are facing due to the requirements of implementing many significant changes at the same time, like new teacher evaluation systems, the Common Core standards, and new testing protocols. She is sensitive to the different effects that one-size-fits-all mandates have on different types of school districts, and to the different services they may need for meeting these requirements. During Jennifer's many years in business, she developed strong consensus-building and analytical skills which will be very valuable to SERC. I know Jennifer will serve on the SERC Board with the same energy and commitment that she brings to everything she does, and I thank Rep. Cafero for appointing her."