In the News

Alicia Clapp: Approaching 82 And Still Running The Board

April 10th, 2014

She has also served 20 years on the North Haven Board of Education. Before that, Alicia was a teacher in North Haven for 30 years.

"I retired when the two grandkids I live with were in daycare," she says, noting her kids were building an addition on their house because the family was getting larger and asked her if she would come live with them.

"I accepted on one condition: that I could take the children [Evan and Molly] out of daycare," says Alicia.

Those grandkids are now 22 and 20 years old.

She adds, "It has been the best 20 years of my life."

She has nine grandkids in total and says laughingly, "If I'd known how fun grandkids were, I might have had them first."

Her three kids all followed in mom's footsteps and went into teaching. Her older son, Spencer, was an attorney who became a teacher and is now is an assistant principal in East Hartford.

David is an English professor in Chile, and her daughter, Rosalind, is a special education teacher in New Haven.

Alicia says that while she got great joy out of teaching kindergarten, "the restrictions, the requirements, the data, and all of the rest of the foolishness that have nothing to do with children" would have made her look toward another career.

"I could never do it today, and I have such total admiration for the younger people that are teaching," Alicia admits.

Alicia says that "first and foremost, mutual respect and trust is the basis of all other learning." Alongside that, you try to "teach a child social, emotional, and physical competency before you ever go into the academics."

She notes with regret that "it's all about the testing now."

She adds, "We have excellent teachers in the classrooms today and quite frankly you can look at a child, and observe and watch and come to the same conclusions" as any test.

Alicia says some kids cannot deal with tests, but "that doesn't mean they are not equally as bright or know as much as the next child."

She believes the increased academic pressures kids face today carries into their professional lives.

"They get to age 17 and are graduating, and we expect them to know what they want to do with their lives, yet we did not know what we wanted to do with our lives then," she says, adding with a laugh that "it's one of the things that they can't look up on their iPhones."

In her speech at the ACES gala, she said, "We all have an element in our lives, and the element is where your natural aptitude meets your personal passion." It's a quote from the book The Element by Dr. Ken Richardson, a book she highly recommends for high school kids.

She says the book shows that those who "followed their passions and natural aptitude have had more success in their life, and more importantly, satisfaction."

One of Alicia's other passions is knitting, and she says everybody in the family has handmade socks. In fact, her grandson Evan loves his knitted socks so much, he has never known store-bought socks.

North Haven Courier