In the News

Hamden ACES Teacher of the Year Does It All

June 17th, 2013

Rossomando-Heise does it all. She’s a mom, she directs the WIMS School Band and Marching Band, and leads TheaterWorks, an afterschool theater and performance workshop for students.

With all these different projects, Rossomando-Heise still manages to remain active in the local music scene. She plays bass and vocals for the soul/ska band called The Royal Swindle.

Rossomondo-Heise and her husband Dave were also former members of indie/folk band Arms & Legs. They traveled twice to Beijing with the group, where they performed at two festivals in front of thousands.

Music is in the family’s blood. Rossomando-Heise’s father, Fred Rossomando, worked as a music teacher for 32 years at Moran Middle School and Sheehan High School in Wallingford.

Her older brother Anthony is a rock musician and composer, most notably associated with the UK band Dirty Pretty Things, and her younger sister, Felicia, is also a musician but focuses more on art.

Rossomando-Heise decided to take the teaching career path. She started taking piano lessons when she was five, and began playing bass and the flute in fourth grade.

“I think I always knew I wanted to be a teacher,” Rossomonado-Heise said.

“Family is so powerful,” her father said. “We weren’t the Von Trapp family, we didn’t sit around at home and sing Kumbaya … but I told them to do whatever you want to do.”

Her teaching style strikes a chord with many students.

“Just watch her students,” colleague Suzanne Duran-Crelin said. “Watch how much they love and respect her. Watch them as they perform and how they respond to her direction.”

Rossomando-Heise wants to introduce her students to new types of instruments and music they may not have heard before.

“There’s so much music they need to learn that’s not just on the radio. They don’t realize these composers that are out there, or these styles of music …,” she said. “I understand that they listen to different things outside and that’s fine, but there’s more to it than that.”

As ACES Teacher of the Year, Rossomando-Heise is now preparing to apply for the statewide Connecticut Teacher of the Year award. The selection process begins in July.

Others recognized included five recipients of the Executive Director’s Award: Nora Baxter of Whitney High School East and Mill Road School, James Moyle in Technology Services, Leticia Nieves of Mill Road School, Wilfredo Ortiz of Whitney High School North/West and Christina SanGiovanni of Village School, EIBI.