Tina Marsan Named All-Star Educator of the Year

Mar 20, 2025

By Michael Fornabaio (@fornabaioctp)

Tina Marsan was planning to come to Sunday’s Bridgeport Islanders game already. She will have a much bigger role than she figured when she got the tickets for Autism Appreciation Night.

Marsan, who teaches American Sign Language at Fairfield Warde High School, is the Islanders’ All-Star Educator for 2024-25. The team chose her earlier this week off a nomination sent in by Marsan’s husband, Mike. She’ll conduct the ceremonial faceoff before the game against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at 3 p.m.

“Her (nomination) really stood out to us,” said Haley Castellari, the Islanders’ manager of digital marketing and community relations. “It was really unique in the sense that she’s been teaching students who are hard of hearing for 26 years. That’s something pretty rare.”

Marsan is in her third year at Warde after 21 years in Stratford Public Schools teaching and serving deaf and hard of hearing students. Castellari said she talked to several people about Marsan, coworkers, administrators, and every one said Marsan was a great pick.

“I didn’t really know what was sort of happening,” Marsan said. “Haley called me and explained it — I was a little in shock. It’s exciting.”

Bridgeport teams have had nights honoring first responders, the military, other local heroes. The All-Star Educator, in its third year, lets them honor another. The team has good relationships with local schools, too: Bridgeport teams have played successful morning games since 2003, almost all of them with large crowds of local students. There’s another one coming up April 2.

“Teachers as well, I don’t think, get a lot of recognition,” Castellari said.

The American Sign Language program in Fairfield’s public schools began three years ago. They had two teachers; now there are three. They’re working on a curriculum now for a fourth level. It’s important to Marsan that native signers are involved. “It’s a real forward-thinking thing making Fairfield Public Schools stand out,” she said.

“It’s a great opportunity for a world language,” Marsan said. “If the spoken-language option isn’t exactly working for them, it gives them a visual option. Some kids do very well, as visual learners.”

Mike Marsan is assistant coordinator of student support services at the American School for the Deaf. He is himself deaf.

“No, there’s no romantic story, like, ‘I learned sign language for him,'” Marsan said with a laugh. She’d gone to…