menzo


 * 1) //What are the day to day responsibilities of a superintendent?//
 * 2) //What are the qualifications to become a superintendent?//
 * 3) //What positions did you hold prior to this opportunity?//
 * 4) Tell us about the accomplishment you are most proud of in your career?
 * 5) What skills/abilities do you feel students need to have to be successful in the 21st century?
 * 6) What types of technologies should our students be proficient at using?
 * 7) There is a lot of discussion in K-12 education about the importance of content knowledge (knowing a lot of “stuff” about math, science, social studies, language arts, etc.) versus the importance of learning skills and students being able to construct their own understanding of material/ideas that are new to them (being able to “learn how to learn”). What are your thoughts regarding how much we should focus on content knowledge versus focusing on students’ ability to learn/adapt/grow?
 * 8) **In a recent interview in the Record Journal, you said that you learned so much from your students. What was the most valuable thing that you have learned from kids?**
 * 9) **In your last district you started a collaborative project with China...tell us more...how it'd go...how to get more programs like that in Wallingford?**
 * 10) What was the best learning/educational experience you have had? Why?
 * 11) If you were going to design a 21st century school from the ground up, what are three key features you would include? These features could be physical (building features), pedagogical (teaching techniques/approach), structural (curriculum, schedule, etc.), technological (specific tools/software/experiences), etc.
 * 12) **Presidents have big plans during their first 100 days in office and Obama just finished his, can you give us an idea of what you are going to do during your first 100 days?**
 * 13) Tell us a little bit about any changes you foresee for schools in the next 5-15 years (and beyond). What do you think this means for students currently in high school and for K-12 education in general?
 * 14) //__What is one question we should have asked you?__//
 * 15) When we're done today, what's the one most important "take-away" message you'd like our teachers and students to hear?



WALLINGFORD - It took a little more than a decade for Salvatore Menzo to climb the educational ladder from classroom teacher to principal and then school superintendent in Marlborough, where he's been since 2005.

Just last year, the 38-year-old completed his doctorate in education and has since traveled internationally, presenting his findings in Dubai and China on how to increase parental involvement.

This summer, the West Hartford resident will become Wallingford's school superintendent, earning a $165,000 salary. That's almost 26 percent more than he's making now, and more than his counterparts in Southington, Cheshire and Meriden, but only slightly above the state average.

Many who have worked with Menzo throughout the years say Wallingford is lucky to be getting a man considered to be a master-strategist and savvy negotiator who brings people together. Menzo is excited about the work and says that when he begins his tenure on July 1, it will be for "a long time."

It is also evident, however, that moving to a district more than 10 times the size of Marlborough's fits with Menzo's broader career goals.

The incoming superintendent may just have his eyes on - and potentially become - the state commissioner of education one day. But first up is leading Wallingford's 6,700 students and approximately 550 staff during unprecedented and challenging economic times.

The New York Yankees fanatic, who is single and has what he calls a "quirky" sense of humor, insists he's up for the challenge.

His humble yet newly renovated Marlborough office is decked out in Yankees paraphernalia, including a framed Menzo jersey, a World Series book and countless team doodads. The season ticket holder plans to spend many weekends in the city enjoying the new Yankee Stadium, where he has "very cheap, cheap seats" and checks his BlackBerry to keep abreast of his district and its 641 students.

"We found him very disruptive to the students because he's a big Yankee fan," joked Marlborough Board of Education member John O'Toole. "Kids are always bickering with him about it."

Like a professional sports coach, Menzo likes the idea of a team and is focused on defining and implementing a strategy. The mission is achieving quality education, and his methods involve a strong vision, collaboration and checking items off a list as he goes.

"You have to have a plan for everything," said Menzo, sitting at a circular conference table in the middle of his office at Elmer Thienes-Mary Hall Elementary School, the district's only hometown school. The school posts high test scores and is making "adequate yearly progress" under No Child Left Behind, according to the state Department of Education. Middle and high school students feed into a Hebron-based regional school district, which also includes Andover.

Things are a bit hectic as Menzo juggles his current and future jobs. He's busy with tasks such as holding lunch dates with sixth-graders as part of an incentive program, balancing the Marlborough schools' $7.2 million budget for next year following a $250,000 cut and rushing to Wallingford to attend school board meetings and absorb as much information as he can from district officials and Superintendent Dale Wilson before the 36-year veteran of the town's school system retires in June.

"He's always one step ahead of us all," said Louise Concodello, a 14-year board member in Marlborough. "He's leaving us and he's already figured out what we should do next year and the year after that. He's going to leave those plans with us."

Windham and Baltimore

Menzo's career in education began in 1993 as an eighth-grade language arts teacher at Windham Middle School. It was in the classroom where he first realized he wanted to make a contribution in the lives of students that would impact more than one class at a time, he said. "I learned so much from them that I could have never taught them," Menzo said.

From there he became the assistant principal of Silas Deane Middle School in Wethersfield for one year, and then principal for the next four years.

His exposure to the field of education started many years earlier, growing up in an Italian-American household in West Haven with an aunt who taught and a mother who was a special education paraprofessional.

Menzo attended public schools up to the fifth grade, Catholic school from grades six to eight and the private Notre Dame High School in West Haven.

His dissertation at the University of Connecticut looked at the Baltimore County School District in Maryland and examined student performance in mathematics and ways to encourage both school and parent involvement.

The key point in his findings, Menzo said, was that educators have fallen short in terms of marketing lessons to parents in a way they can understand. So he proposed algebra workshops for students and parents in Baltimore and measured their results.

He found the program engaged parents and strengthened parent-teacher relationships and communication between the groups. Learning about algebra allowed parents in one of the nation's 25 largest school districts to become more involved in their children's coursework.

His interest in bringing families and schools together really impressed Michael Votto, Wallingford's board chairman, during the interview process.

"He just seemed to have a little more knowledge in some of the areas that we specifically asked him about," Votto said. "He already had experience with 21st century kinds of things."

Beyond sharing the results internationally, during the last two years Menzo implemented writing and study skills workshops in Marlborough for parents and students in grades four through six.

Additionally, he set up a sister-school program with a Shandong, China, elementary school that allows the two schools to share lessons, videoconference, form pen-pal relationships and host international visitors. He's interested in seeing similar programs carried over to Wallingford.

"I don't have all the answers," Menzo said. For that reason he's receptive to input from personnel and administrators during the transition process. "If teachers have ideas, then we need to process them, even getting ideas from students. The challenge is trying to figure out what the needs are of the students we have in our schools right now."

Cutting overhead

But in a town where some say change is slow to come, the key is to map it out very carefully so that it's not overwhelming to the teachers who are implementing the new ideas, Menzo said.

His two biggest challenges yet have been scrutinizing Marlborough's budget for areas to cut as far away from the classroom as possible, and negotiating a contract with the teachers at the start of the school year that included a two-to-four-percent salary increase in exchange for higher medical insurance deductibles.

Marlborough school board members mentioned that Menzo made committee appointments within the district while negotiations were ongoing, which upset some teachers. Tina D'Auteuil, the union's representative, could not be reached for comment.

Menzo established a consortium of 14 school districts and negotiated with vendors such as custodial and technology suppliers to receive a 15 percent discount on items and services to ease budget woes. The rates he received are lower than the state bid list. The districts will hold a live reverse auction on May 1 in East Lyme. Menzo also negotiated lower fuel prices for four towns.

"He'll come to us at a meeting and say, 'Oh, I got a better rate on oil or gas and heating," said Maria Grove, Marlborough board chairwoman, who joined the board around the time Menzo was hired. "It's because he builds wonderful relationships with all these vendors, and it's really to the benefit of our district."

Joseph Cirasuolo, executive director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents and Wallingford's superintendent from 1990 to 2002, said he's happy about Menzo's appointment both as a town resident and as someone who knows the new superintendent well.

"First of all, his integrity is beyond question," Cirasuolo said. "I think he's going to be quite successful in Wallingford, since I have some idea what that job is like."

According to the association, the average stay of a superintendent nationwide is seven to eight years, and two to three years in urban areas like Bridgeport and Hartford. His executive assistant, Cherie Celmer, who has worked in Marlborough for more than a decade, said she's sad to see him go but that it's a good career move for Menzo.

And after Wallingford ...

Concodello asked Menzo about his career plans when the board interviewed him for the superintendent position in 2004.

"He said, 'I want Theodore Sergi's job,' " she said, referring to the state's former education commissioner, who left the post in 2003 after 10 years. Menzo continued, telling Concodello that his plans involved moving to a larger K-12 school district and then from there on to something bigger.

"He said, 'I want to be commissioner of education,' " she said. "You know what? I can see him doing that. He doesn't want to be president of the United States."

When asked about his aspirations, Menzo did not elaborate beyond saying that he sees himself in Wallingford for "the foreseeable future."

That's fine with Votto, who said he wouldn't begrudge Menzo moving on in five to 10 years as long as he gives his all while he is in Wallingford.

"I'm certainly all for a person bettering themselves," Votto said. "He's young. He's got to prove that he can operate the way he's operating now in a larger school system."