Meet Executive Director
Ms. Karen Lott
Women’s League Child Development Center appointed Karen Lott as its executive director in 2018. In March 2023, Governor Lamont selected her to serve on his Blue-Ribbon Panel on Child Care to develop an equitable, high-quality, and sustainable system that ensures that every child has a quality educational foundation that will prepare them to grow, learn, and succeed.
A champion of school reform throughout her 20-year career in education, Ms. Lott has worked to transform historically low performing schools in urban areas. Unrelenting in her advocacy, she’s strived to ensure children from families with lower incomes have environmental supports and quality learning experiences provided by highly effective teachers and adequately resourced schools.
Ms. Lott has served as a principal at every grade level from pre-school to high school. She believes education is a necessity and a great equalizer, especially for children subjected to the implications of poverty.
From 2013-18, she proudly served as principal of Thirman L. Milner School in Hartford, one of Connecticut’s lowest performing schools. She focused on transforming the school and unleashing the boundless potential of its students. Among her achievements at Milner, she successfully implemented child/family centered innovative practices to foster a positive environment and provide necessary educational supports.
From 2009-13, by employing federal and state strategies, Ms. Lott led the successful turnaround of one of New Haven’s lowest performing public schools, Katherine Brennan School (later named Brennan Rogers School) from 2009-13.
At the Women’s League Child Development Center, Ms. Lott remains committed to meeting the needs of students and families. She seeks to address social, emotional and environmental challenges and to instill a sense of hope, empowerment and possibility.
Her focus is on ensuring children leave the Center and enter kindergarten with all the skills needed to thrive. She seeks to eradicate the ever-growing achievement and opportunity gap.
Ms. Lott has appeared in a documentary created by the Connecticut Council for Education Reform, Great Expectations: Raising Educational Achievement. Her work has also been chronicled numerous times in publications including the New Haven Independent, Hartford Courant and U.S. Education Weekly.
Her honors and awards include 100 Women of Color (2018), three citations from the State of Connecticut General Assembly, and community service awards from several Hartford-area faith-based communities.
Ms. Lott is a lifelong learner. Educated in Springfield, Mass. public schools, she graduated cum laude while earning a bachelor’s degree from Springfield College. She later earned a master’s degree in social work from Virginia Commonwealth University, and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies (CAGS) in School Leadership from Westfield State University. She recently completed the Executive Leadership-Superintendent Program at the University of Connecticut.
Ms. Lott currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Science Center.
Ms. Lott resides in Bloomfield. She is the mother of Captain Maiah Moore of the United States Army and the boastful grandmother of a lovely granddaughter, Aaliyah.
