CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
AMS Principal Pete Colaccino (left) and Business teacher Rubin Little, at the new bench in front of Ansonia Middle School.
ANSONIA – Rubin Little has brought a little something extra to his style of teaching: a wealth of experience as a financial advisor and consultant in financial planning. He also has a few years in law enforcement under his belt, having started his working career as a State Trooper. But a year ago, as he joined the staff at Ansonia Middle School, he knew he was finally home.
This summer, he used his knowledge of finances, and with a little help, completed a state grant application for a new Personal Finance program at AMS. The grant, totaling $15,000, has been approved.
“I’m about 30 years late to the game,” he said with a big smile, explaining that he was told many years ago that he was in the wrong field, that he was born to be a teacher. At the time, Little had already left the State Police and was working at Yale as an accountant in the Department of Pediatrics. “I was teaching [the staff] how to do something. I used the story of Alice in Wonderland to teach the class. Everyone stopped going to the other teachers and wanted to be in my class.”
He then became an assistant teacher at Career High School in New Haven for a year, teaching conflict resolution to teens, under the tutelage of Dr. Charles Williams. Little told Dr. Williams that he wanted to apply his interest in business to teach Career students how to trade live stocks. “I told him that I wanted to use real money,” he recalled. He explained that he would get a sponsor and began interviewing investment firms, such as Merrill Lynch, Charles Schwab and American Express Financial Advisors. After a second meeting with American Express, he said they “slid a piece of paper across the table, and it was an offer to hire me to work for them.”
“It derailed me,” he said, as he began a long career, in which he became one of the American Express franchise owners. “But I always toyed with the idea of finishing my working years in a classroom.”
That’s where Little’s wife stepped in. In a random circumstance more than two years ago, she met Dr. Joseph DiBacco, who is now Superintendent of Schools in Ansonia. They talked about education, and Mrs. Little spoke about her husband who always wanted to go into education. She gave her husband’s phone number to Dr. DiBacco, who made the call.
“After we talked for a while, he told me he agreed with my wife, that I belonged in the classroom,” Little recalled. “He said he would be happy to help me any way he could.”
Several months later, Little enrolled in the Alternate Route to Teacher Certification (ARC) program, and he met with a panel of people. “I was told that there were 10 schools that would want to hire me. I told them, I already have a school to go to. I am going to go with Joe DiBacco.’”
The rest is history. Little was interviewed by Pete Colaccino, who was the new principal of AMS, Assistant Principal Steve Marchetti, and former math specialist Jess Bedosky. “You don’t find teachers with this type of experience,” Colaccino said of Little’s business background. “It’s a total win. I just love the work he is doing.”
Little’s smile just lights up the room, especially when he talks about his students in Ansonia. “We have some beautiful kids here in Ansonia,” he said, noting that he wants to open the world to them. He will start with the new personal finance class, with the grant purchasing Chromebooks, textbooks and other educational material. Little recently completed his ARC course work and is working under a 90-day certificate.
“I’m part of the dream team,” he said of his supervisors and Dr. DiBacco. “Where they go, I follow.”
TeDiBacco said Little is the type of person who brings a a great skillset to the classroom from a non-traditional field. “We look for unique talents, and Rubin fits the bill. We are grateful that he has chosen Ansonia Public Schools.”
This post is a press release from Ansonia Public Schools.
