Schools

Board of Ed. Hires New Assistant Superintendent

Board unanimously votes to offer once vacant job to Brigitte Crispino, current director of curriculum.

After a five-year break, the Board of Education voted unanimously Monday to re-staff the once vacant assistant superintendent position, giving the job to Director of Curriculum and Instruction Brigitte Crispino. 

The board’s decision to offer Crispino the job followed an hour-long executive session discussion at Naugatuck High School on the role of assistant superintendent, said Chairman David Heller. Crispino’s appointment also followed shortly after another major administrative change was announced — the  of Naugatuck High School.

Heller said the board felt Crispino was best for the job because of her history in the district and her experience working at Naugatuck’s central office in the .

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“The reality is, she was doing not only that job (director of curriculum) but she was doing many of the duties that an assistant superintendent would do,” Heller said.

The board will now negotiate a two-year contract with Crispino, Heller said. She currently is paid a salary of $121,000, but will earn roughly $131,000 when she assumes this new role, the chairman said.

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Despite the increase, the extra $10,000 will be offset by federal Title 1 grant money set aside for administrative costs, Heller said. So the revenue cost won’t be an increase for borough residents — something the board is aware of especially with the , he said.

“It’s a wash really, there’s no gain there’s no loss,” Heller said. “The Title 1 money, if it wasn’t used for this position, it would be available for certain other administrative costs.”

The last time the school district had an assistant superintendent on staff was 2006, said Superintendent John Tindall-Gibson. The position was eliminated that year, and since then the board has worked on reorganizing the district’s administrative offices, Heller said. 

Reached for a comment on Tuesday, Crispino said she was “very excited” for the opportunity the board provided her to continue her work in Naugatuck. 

“I’m confident I will be able to work with Dr. Tindall-Gibson to further the goals of the district and to collaborate with administrators, and everyone, in the district,” she said. “It will be an extension of the position I currently have and I am looking forward to the challenges.” 

Crispino has a long history of teaching in Naugatuck. She began in the borough in 1974, at , and then moved on to work at Naugatuck High School. She then said she worked at the elementary level for a number of years prior to coming to the Tuttle Building to assume the job of director of curriculum.

“(In 2011) I just concluded officially my 36th year of teaching,” she said, “not including leaves of absence when I had children.” 

Crispino credits her experience at all these different educational levels as giving her a “true understanding of the entire district."

Heller said Crispino had been thinking of retiring this year, which was something the board was concerned of in light of having to hire a new superintendent next year. Tindall-Gibson is slated to leave after his contract expires in 2012.

The concern involved the continuity of staff at the Tuttle Building, Heller said. Now, by the summer 2012, when a new superintendent is hired, Crispino will already be there to assist the new school chief, he said.

As for her old job, that position will remain unfilled at this time, the chairman said. Ideally the board would like to fill the position, but with the budget issues and the oncoming referendum it will hold off he said. 


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