New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Hamden educator hired as Newtown schools chief
NEWTOWN — The school board chose a veteran educator from Hamden with a record of relationship building to replace retiring Superintendent Lorrie Rodrigue at the end of the year.
The news late Tuesday that Christopher Melillo will be Newtown's new superintendent means that he is out of the running for the top educator position in Hamden, which is looking to replace Jody Goeler, who announced his retirement in January.
“I have strong political capital here (in Hamden) but sometimes you have to find a new trail and go a different way,” said Melillo, 53, the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction in Hamden, where he has been an educator for 29 years. “My leadership style fits the wants and the needs of Newtown.”
Melillo's comments on Wednesday followed a unanimous vote by the Newtown Board of Education Tuesday night to offer him the superintendent's position.
“[H]e is a highly-regarded leader who actively engages with both staff and students,” the school board said in a statement released Wednesday. “Also, he is known as a natural and effective relationship builder throughout the school district and broader community.”
Details about the contract were not immediately available as it was not yet signed, Melillo said. His first day will be July 1, but he will begin making the transition as soon as Thursday, when he is scheduled to meet with Rodrigue.
At the same time, Melillo will finish his duties in Hamden, where he taught for 12 years and was assistant superintendent for the last nine years, including a fivemonth stretch in 2014 as interim superintendent.
His last day in Hamden is June 30, although he had yet to officially resign on Wednesday.
“This has been a really quick turnaround,” Melillo said. “My last interview (in Newtown) was Thursday and they informed Thursday night that I was their pick.”
Melillo's selection brings to a close a search process that began after Rodrigue announced in late December that she would retire after five years as Newtown's top educator to care for her parents.
Rodrigue, who marshaled social and emotional learning resources to help smooth the aftershocks of the Sandy Hook shooting, brought her skills as a communicator to the school district as Newtown transitioned from federally funded trauma support to its own in-house services.
Rodrigue also led the district through the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic, making adjustments for gaps in student learning due to remote instruction.
Melillo said he was expecting to lead in similar style.
“I am the kind of leader who is going to be compassionate and bring families into the fold, and do the work with teachers,” Melillo said. “I am not the type of guy who is top-down.”
In addition to responding to pandemic-related challenges such as learning gaps and bus driver shortages, Melillo will oversee the transfer of 300 Hawley Elementary School students to two buildings for the 2022-23 school year while Hawley undergoes an $8 million renovation.
“We need to make sure there is a connection maintained with the Hawley families so that Hawley stays a school community and stays united,” Melillo said. “We need to make sure they are accepted in the new schools while at the same time keeping their identity.”
Melillo said he chose to come to Newtown rather than stay in the running for the top position in Hamden because Newtown was a good fit.
Among those he spoke to during his deliberation was former Newtown superintendent Joseph Erardi, who came to Newtown in 2014 with the challenge of leading a community devastated by the 2012 massacre of 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Erardi retired in 2017, the same year he was named Connecticut Superintendent of the Year.
“I did my research and talked to friends who lived in Newtown,” Melillo said.
“My strength is around relationship building and bringing stakeholders to the table and finding common ground, and I am ready to lead.”