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Bob Hale: Making Education (and Town) Better Since 1956

After two terms, Robert Hale has announced he won’t seek a third term to the Madison Board of Selectmen. While he’s ending his elected career as a selectman, his career—both political and professional—began and long remained in education, which helped him to become the community leader he is today.

Bob grew up in Essex and completed his secondary education at Pratt High School in Essex Village but was technically a member of the first graduating class from Valley Regional High School, though he never actually attended the new school.

Essex “was a lot of fun, a great place to live when you’re a kid,” says Bob. “I was on the [Connecticut] River from March to November.”

While growing up, Bob held jobs at Essex Hardware, Essex Paint and Marine, and at the Essex Square Theatre before he went to the Teachers College of Connecticut, which is now Central Connecticut State University. He also received his master’s degree from Central Connecticut State University and completed a sixth year of education at Syracuse University.

When he was still in college (he graduated in 1956), Bob married his wife of 63 years, Pauline. Pauline grew up in Madison.

“Her cousin—who now lives in the house I lived in in Essex—lived across the street from me,” says Bob. “In those days, families would get together on Sundays and she would come visit her cousin and that’s how we met.”

Together, Bob and Pauline have three children—Robert Jr., Kathleen, and David—and seven grandchildren and “3.95 great grandchildren,” with the newest great grandchild due this week.

His decision to enter into a career in education was one he was sure of from the start.

“I was influenced by a teacher in high school that taught industrial arts and I thought that would be a great thing to do,” says Bob. “In those days education was not as financially rewarding as it is today, I signed my first contract to teach for $2,800 per year, but it was a very rewarding career.”

He retired from education after 38 years working in the field in different roles, local school districts to the Connecticut Department of Education.

“It was a very exciting time for education,” Bob says. “Connecticut was the leader of education in the United States. We developed the first set of common core standards and we’d get phone calls from all over the place wanting to get copies of our standards.”

He started his career in Manchester as a woodworking teacher and then moved to Branford to teach power tools and electronics. In 1967, he moved the family to Syracuse for a year to complete a fellowship at the university—to do so he received the first sabbatical leave ever given in Branford.

“About 1968 or 1969, I made the switch from teaching to administration,” says Bob. “I stayed in Branford until 1980 and in 1980 moved to work at the Department of Education.”

In Branford, Bob was in charge of educational technology in the libraries and all of the federal grant programs. When he was at the Connecticut State Department of Education, he was the head of the educational technology unit and also was involved with the unit that ran instructional television through Connecticut public television. He was also the president of the International Association for Educational Communications and Technology.

Afterwards, he started his own consulting business and worked with libraries, advising them on their use of technology. After eight or nine years, though, he decided he wanted to devote his time to community service instead.

Before serving on the Board of Selectmen, Bob was on the Senior Citizen Commission for four or five years and was a part of the Madison Board of Education for 18 years, 10 of which he spent as chairman.

During his time on the Board of Education, the town was working on building a new high school. It also added modular classrooms to fit more students on Island Avenue and at the learning center at the Town Campus—classrooms that are still used today.

“I guess that one of the biggest accomplishments we had in town was that we were completely reorganizing revising the curriculum,” says Bob. “Daniel Hand High School was in the top four or five in the state, top 10 in the country, and the first district to have accreditation in the state for K-12.”

He also served as president of the Madison Chamber of Commerce and was president of the Madison Lions Club several years ago.

While he won’t be running for re-election this November, he does aspire to land a seat on an appointed board. Bob says that the selectman position limits the ability to travel in the wintertime, when the board is creating the budget from December through March.

“I would like the ability to be flexible in the wintertime so if we want to go south for a week or two we can do that,” says Bob.

Apart from serving the community, Bob enjoys traveling, attending the theater—he and his wife have a subscription to the Ivoryton Playhouse and the Goodspeed—and recreational reading. It’s safe to say Madison will remain their home base going forward.

“I just think that Madison is a great place to live,” says Bob. “I’ve been here since ’58, my wife has been here since 1935, and we’re not planning on leaving.”