LIFE in the Classroom: School district initiates search for a new superintendent

by Mark Jahne

Editor

After 14 years at the helm of the Rocky Hill Public Schools, Dr. Mark Zito decided to enter the next chapter of his life – retirement.

Dr. Mark Zito has retired after serving 14 years as superintendent of the Rocky Hill Public Schools. (submitted)

That means the district needs to find a replacement. The Board of Education has contracted Cooperative Educational Services to assist with that effort.

The Search Committee is composed of the board members and is led by Chairperson Jessica Loffredo.

“On behalf of the Board of Education, we are excited to lead this important process of identifying the next superintendent of schools for the Rocky Hill Public Schools. The board is deeply grateful for Dr. Mark Zito’s 14 years of dedicated service, leadership, and commitment to our students, staff and community,” she said.

“While we are happy to support Dr. Zito as he begins his well-deserved retirement, we recognize the importance of finding a successor who will continue to build upon the strong foundation he has helped establish in the Rocky Hill Public Schools,” Loffredo added.

“The goal of the board is to identify a dynamic educational leader who is innovative, collaborative and committed to fostering academic excellence, supporting educators, engaging the community, and who shares our commitment to student learning and will continue to foster the growth, success and excellence of the Rocky Hill Public Schools for years to come.”

“When Dr. Zito arrived in Rocky Hill 14 years ago, I was told that our schools were in significant disrepair. At the time, the town was responsible for managing the school facilities,” she said.

“Dr. Zito worked with the Board of Education to make the decision to hire a director of facilities dedicated to our schools. That position has played an important role in maintaining our facilities and keeping them in excellent condition.

“Dr. Zito was also instrumental in making academic achievement a top priority for the district. Our test scores consistently demonstrate that Rocky Hill students perform among the top districts in our district reference group. Rocky Hill typically places either first or second within our group,” Loffredo said.

“This was particularly shown during COVID. While other districts were closing, Rocky Hill was able to maintain student safety and stay open for learning. The Rocky Hill Public Schools did not have the learning setback that other districts incurred after COVID,” she added.

“Dr. Zito also played an important role in supporting the board’s decision to build Moser School, our fourth and fifth grade school. Space at Stevens and West Hill schools was limited, and the a  of new school helped alleviate overcrowding and provide our students with the space they needed.

“More recently, during my time on the board, Dr. Zito supported the opening of the Dream Café. The cafe provides students with learning disabilities an opportunity to develop job training and life skills in a real-world environment,” she said.

“While the idea originated with a former special education director, Dr. Zito worked with the board to help bring it to fruition. The Dream Café is a unique venture that helps Rocky Hill stand out in Hartford County as a community committed to providing meaningful learning opportunities for students with special needs.

“Rocky Hill Public Schools is not without its challenges. Unfortunately, past education budgets did not adequately support staffing or capital improvements until this most recent budget cycle,” she said.

“The Board of Education championed a budget that included investments in a special education supervisor, a social worker at Rocky Hill High School, a guidance counselor at Griswold Middle School, a multi- lingual TESOL teacher and an additional special education teacher at Griswold Middle School. We also began the process of reducing class sizes by adding a kindergarten teacher at Stevens School.

“Dr. Zito was fully supportive of a phased-in approach to reducing class sizes across the district. These investments reflect a larger vision of providing every student with the support, instruction and opportunities they need to be successful,” Loffredo said.

“Dr. Zito announced his retirement at the end of April. The board has greatly appreciated his decision to defer his retirement until the end of December, which has given us the time necessary to conduct a thoughtful and thorough search for his successor using Cooperative Educational Service out of Trumbull. 

“The board is extremely grateful for Dr. Zito’s leadership and for the many contributions he has made to our district over the past 14 years. A tenure of that length for a superintendent is unusual in the state of Connecticut and speaks to the stability and leadership he has provided.”

School and community focus groups will be held. Access to a recently held survey, a schedule for the virtual focus groups including the Zoom link, along with other updates throughout the search, will be made available on both the district (rockyhillps.com) and CES websites (cestrumbull.org/services/execsearches).

CES has initiated candidate recruitment and distribution of the posting information. The posting is directly emailed to thousands of individuals holding the superintendent certification endorsement across the nation and is shared with state and regional superintendent organizations. The posting information can also be found on state and national education-related websites that support a diverse array of leaders.

CES is a regional educational service center based in Trumbull that provides support and services to school districts and communities in Fairfield County through its schools and programs.

Its Executive Searches Division has helped districts secure qualified candidates to fill superintendent, principal and other school administrative positions for districts and schools throughout Connecticut. Facilitating the search will be CES search consultants Dr. Charles Dumais and David Erwin. RHL