Schools seek new superintendents
Danbury, Newtown, Region 12 are hunting for chiefs
DANBURY — The boards of education for three area school districts are now on the hunt for their next superintendents.
This week, the Newtown Board of Education was notified by its schools Superintendent Chris Melillo that he plans to step down at the end of the academic year to take a new school principal role in Darien in the upcoming school year.
So Newtown joins Danbury and Region 12, which includes Bridgewater, Roxbury and Washington, as those districts also seek new leaders to guide their schools.
Newtown Board of Education Alison Plante told Hearst Connecticut Media that the board hopes to hire Melillo’s successor by mid-summer.
“We realize that the timeline is aggressive,” Plante said. “We will appoint an interim superintendent if we are not able to find a full-time superintendent by July 1.”
Plante said a firm timeline on that superintendent search is not yet in place. The board will soon meet to discussion the potential appointment of a personnel search committee and other logistics related to the upcoming search.
The searches for leaders in all three districts began under significantly different circumstances.
Danbury’s search for a schools chief began several months earlier, in late January, with the sudden negotiated departure of then-Superintendent Kevin Walston.
Although Walston is technically still employed by the district and his official resignation is June 30, he relinquished his duties as the district’s top educator, according to the separation agreement. The board promoted Kara Casimiro, then an assistant superintendent, to interim superintendent, while the search for Walston’s successor is underway.
The Danbury Board of Education is leading that search, having appointed itself as the personnel search committee.
Board Chairperson Gladys Cooper said the board will meet in the coming weeks, and intends to make a public announcement regarding the next steps in the search, including the possible enlistment of an executive search firm to assist the board.
“The hope is to have someone in place” in August, before school opens, Cooper said.
“We hope to make a statement as to the decision of the search committee as to what will be the next steps,” Cooper said.
In Region 12, the Board of Education appointed its interim Superintendent Lorrie Rodrigue last December, when former Superintendent Marc Gosselin Jr. resigned, after less then one year in that role.
Board chair Greg Cava indicated the board will launch its search “eventually.”
“Lorrie has indicated is willing to stay with us through June 30, 2025,” Cava said. He described Rodrigue’s leadership over the last several months as “outstanding.”