Back in September, LHS welcomed Mrs. Katherine Howard-Bender, better known as Ms. HB, as our new assistant principal, replacing Mr. John Taylor who took on the principalship at Baird Middle School.
Mrs. HB grew up in Hartford, Conn., and attended Siena College in New York. She originally intended to be a math teacher but changed her mind due to her passion for reading, writing, and discussing literature. She changed her major to English and enjoyed “connecting with others in a different way” through books and their big ideas.
Her “absolute favorite” book is Brave New World by Aldous Huxley; however, she also enjoys contemporary fiction such as Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, as well as nonfiction. She got her master’s degree in Reading and Language Arts from Central Connecticut State. She furthered her education at the University of Connecticut.
While as a child HB dreamt of being a singer, she also always wanted to be a teacher, especially admiring the consistency and organization that comes with it. She’s worked five different teaching jobs at various locations, and all of them provided her with unique experiences that qualify her to be an exceptional administrator.
When asked why HB chose to work with kids and as an assistant principal, she said she wanted to make sure “kids had a safe space.” After working for 17 years as an English teacher, she felt she was “tapped out” and went back to college to get her degree as an administrator. This is her third administration job. So despite being new to Ludlow, HB is very well-versed in working with kids and their learning.
HB prides herself in teaching and advocating for children, and this idea dominates her actions throughout the day. Her role as an administrator allows her to reach more students and teachers alike.
She said her first few years as a new teacher were difficult: “Nobody was supporting me. Nobody cared if I came or not. I don’t ever want that to happen with students or with teachers.”
Her goal is to “remove obstacles” for teachers and students so learning can take place.
In her free time, HB has various hobbies, ranging from athletic activities, such as tennis and walking, to more creative pursuits, such as music. She likes singing, as well as playing instruments like keyboard and guitar. She’s also fluent in Spanish, which she learned from school and further picked up in a month-long exchange program to Spain. She also enjoys spending time with her friends and family, as well as her two fish and her poodle.
As assistant principal, HB’s job is to ensure the school is a place where students can thrive. Some of her regular duties include creating behavior reports (in order to help students “make better decisions”), conducting teacher evaluations, managing the running of the school, and dealing with various problems that show up. She likes to discuss and set goals, help kids “connect to the services they need,” and ensure “teachers have support.”
She said that as a child she was very quiet, and because she was a good student she wasn’t often given much attention from staff. She says that now, working with kids herself, she wants to make each student feel seen, to ensure they have one or two staff or teachers to talk and connect with.
One task HB claimed to dislike was enforcing the dress code, which has since become a controversial topic. Enforcement of the code of conduct is something that she “has to do” and believes is “the right thing to do.”
Her stand on dress code is that, despite her beliefs in body positivity and personal expression, there’s a professional line that needs to be set.
“Telling people to pull their hoods down is irritating, but administrators have to ensure that students are following the rules,” she said.
Another thing HB has cracked down on is students leaving the cafeteria during their lunch block. She said it was reported to her that students wandering halls during lunch was interrupting learning time, and given that “the primary purpose of school is to learn, develop, and grow,” she took it upon herself to be more strict on hall-wandering, given that it would protect learning.
Since HB has so much experience, I was curious as to how Ludlow compared to other schools she’d worked at. She had nothing but positive feedback, calling it a nice school with “caring teachers” and “nice kids who do the right thing.”
She enjoys working with all of her coworkers, especially Mr. Gianni. She said that in her many years of work, she’d seen people who worked for the money and not the kids, but that you could tell the staff at Ludlow really cared.
When asked about improvements she believed could be made to the school, she said that despite not working at Ludlow for a year yet, she did wish she could protect events like Homecoming from being canceled, and add alternatives to the cafeteria, given that it can be a loud and sometimes overwhelming place. She also wants to take a look at why tardies are so common, and what could help students to be on time to their class.
Mrs. HB said she’s comfortable with where she is currently in her life. However, in the future, she might look to be a principal somewhere, or to some other higher administration position.
There’s no telling where she’ll go next, but in the meantime, LHS is lucky to have a qualified vice principal whose heart is in the right place: with the students.