Schools chief to retire
Worked in Newtown at time of shooting
STRATFORD — The town’s superintendent of schools will be stepping down when her contract expires in spring.
Janet Robinson, who has led the school district since 2013, made the announcement during Tuesday’s monthly Board of Education meeting.
“This is my eighth year here and I’m announcing tonight that it is my final year,” Robinson told the school board. “I will be retiring in June.
“I finally came to the conclusion that the work is never finished, and if I was looking for it to be done, I would never leave,” the superintendent said.
In her remarks to the school board, Robinson recalled the day in December 2012 when three Stratford school board members visited her in Newtown, where she was superintendent at the time, to offer her the job.
The offer came a day before the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which vaulted her to nationwide notoriety.
Overwhelmed by dealing with the aftermath of the shooting, Robinson said she thought she’d have to renege on the offer from Stratford — but a recruiter said the school board would wait for her to take the job.
“I was impressed by what a class act Stratford was,” Robinson said.
Soon after she was hired in 2012, Robinson said, she tried to address curriculum development and technology, where she said the school district had excelled in the past but had struggled recently.
“So many areas I knew were strengths of the Stratford school system had disappeared,” she said.
“I’m proud of the work we have engaged in, and it is ongoing,” Robinson said, noting many administra
tors and schools have received awards during her tenure.
“Prior to COVID, every one of our schools had overcome a significant achievement gap, and Wooster Middle School was named Connecticut Middle School of the Year,” she said.
“I thank all the wonderful dedicated people who have supported me,” Robinson said.
Robinson was given a two-year contract extension last June, but a further extension looked unlikely after the 4-3 vote.
The superintendent’s retirement announcement comes months after the school board voted in May to reprimand Robinson for what it called poor communication and “the giving of misinformation to board members.”
The board’s vote to reprimand Robinson came without any public discussion. The one-page letter sent to Robinson contains six bullet points as “evidence” without further elaboration.
The only school board member to weigh in after Robinson’s announcement Tuesday was Allison DelBene, the chair, who did not allude to the prior clashes with the superintendent.
“Thank you Dr. Robinson,” DelBene said. “Your guidance and leadership have helped so many in our district, and we thank you. We also appreciate the announcement and the opportunity for our board to have the greatest amount of time to search for our new superintendent, so we do appreciate that.”