Comer Nominated To State Board Of Education

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has nominated Andrea Comer, chief operating officer for the charter school group FUSE, to serve on the State Board of Education.

Malloy submitted his recommendation to the General Assembly last week:

Pursuant to Sections 4-1 and 10-1 of the Connecticut General Statutes, I have the honor to nominate and, with your advice and consent, appoint ANDREA COMER, from Hartford, to be a member of the State Board of Education, to serve a term ending February 28, 2017 or until a successor is appointed and has qualified, whichever is longer, in succession to Patricia B. Luke.

Luke’s term expired in February.

Comer, 47, a former Hartford Board of Education member, has held various city positions and most recently was communications director for Mayor Pedro Segarra before resigning last April and joining FUSE (Family Urban Schools of Excellence), the Hartford charter organization that manages Jumoke Academy.

Comer recently addressed the legislature’s appropriations committee in support of the state Commissioner’s Network and charter school funding. Jumoke Academy is managing the city’s Milner School as part of the network. (The State Board of Education approved that arrangement last summer.)

Between 2009 and 2011, Comer served as community outreach director for the charter group Achievement First. In the ’90s, Comer was a Courant reporter and copy editor.

We’re told that the executive and legislative nominations committee approved her nomination today. Lawmakers are expected to vote on Comer’s appointment in two weeks.

UPDATE: Here is the text of Andrea Comer’s testimony to the nominations committee.

UPDATE: Kathleen Megan reported on March 26 that the Hartford teachers’ union is unhappy with Comer’s nomination. ”It’s just a slap in the face of every public school teacher,” union president Andrea Johnson said. “It’s terrible.” Vote could  happen in early April.