Patricia Politi Phelan was born and raised in Newburgh, New York, a northern bedroom community of New York City.  She became a Connecticut transplant 40 years ago when her late husband, Jack, a Hartford native, accepted a Division I basketball coaching position in Connecticut. Patti is the mother of three grown sons and daughters-in-law, along with seven grandchildren.  A West Hartford resident, Patti has worked for the past 36 years in Connecticut Public Schools in both suburban and urban settings.

She graduated from Saint Francis University of Pennsylvania with an undergraduate degree in Elementary Education and then received a M.S. in Reading from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.  She received her 6th year degree in Educational Leadership in 2000 from the University of Hartford.  In 2015 she completed a Superintendency Certification at Central Connecticut State University.

Patti began her teaching career in Hartford working at various elementary schools for 13 years, as a classroom teacher, reading teacher and literacy facilitator. Her first position as administrator was in the role of assistant principal at JC Clark School and then McDonough School.  In 2003, she became the principal of McDonough School and remained in that role until 2006 when she accepted the position of principal at Oliver Ellsworth School in Windsor.  In 2012, she accepted the opportunity to move to CREC to open a new elementary school, the Ana Grace Academy of the Arts. As the founding principal, she has been at the school for the past 12 years.  Patti retired in July 2024.

During her tenure at CREC Patti has been at the forefront of unionizing her administrator colleagues. She served as the CREC Administrators President since unionizing in 2020.  She sat on the initial and subsequent negotiations teams, working to write the original contract from scratch. 

Patti has mentored many administrators to take on their own leadership roles in their respective districts. She is looking forward to taking on the role of Co-President to continue this important work.