Published: 2/26/2019 10:07:01 PM
Modified: 2/27/2019 10:57:06 AM
PLAINFIELD — Citing a desire to work fewer hours, Frank Perotti is stepping down after four years as the Plainfield School District superintendent.
Perotti, 72, notified the SAU 32 Board that he would not return next school year in a letter he read aloud during the School Board’s regularly scheduled meeting on Feb. 14, according to draft meeting minutes.
Perotti’s last day is on June 30, and the School District has posted an advertisement to recruit a successor for a three-quarters-time, year-to-year position that is paying Perotti $120,840 this school year, according to School Board Chairwoman Kate Whybrow.
The position was half-time when Perotti came out of semi-retirement to take the job in 2015. He’d originally retired as the Springfield (Vt.) superintendent in 2013 after a 45-year career in public education that also included a stint as Plainfield Elementary School principal from 1995-99 and superintendent stops in Hartland and the Ludlow, Vt.-based Rutland-Windsor Supervisory Union.
The Plainfield School District superintendent’s position became three-quarters time when SAU 32 began providing administrative and special education services to neighboring Cornish Elementary School in 2017.
Perotti was in the Cornish School District office when reached by phone on Tuesday.
“I’d been doing some consulting (after leaving Springfield), but I essentially came out of retirement because I thought I could help (Plainfield) School District out,” said Perotti of his decision to apply for the job four years ago. “I had two children in the school at the time and had some concerns as a parent. I thought about joining the School Board, but this position opened and half-time was perfect.”
Perotti helped select Sondra Brake as Plainfield Elementary principal in 2017 and hired Amy Dressler as director of student services in January 2018.
That pair and other administrative changes helped reverse what Perotti called “climate issues” present when he took the job.
“I believe the district was struggling with its identity and had a bit of a morale problem when I came in,” Perotti said. “There were concerns about whether the middle school (curriculum) was rigorous enough and did enough for STEM education, for example. But there is a really super staff there now and the direction the school is headed is much clearer.”
Perotti helped finalize a three-year strategic plan for the district, a draft of which he expects will be available to the public by the end of this week.
The annual Plainfield School District Meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on March 8 at the elementary school.
Perotti, who lives in Plainfield, intends to return to part-time education consulting.
Jared Pendak can be reached at jpendak@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.
Correction
SAU 32, the Plainfield School District, began providing administrative and special education services to neighboring Cornish Elementary School in 2017. An earlier version of this story misidentified the SAU in regards to those services.