School District Hires

 A Superintendent

By Laurie Borst

The Board of Education announced October 2 that it had appointed Dr Janet Robinson as the new Superintendent of Newtown Schools. Dr Robinson’s starting date and other contract details are still to be negotiated.

“We are excited to have Dr Robinson come to Newtown,” said board Chair Elaine McClure. “She is approachable. She has a strong financial background and she understands the needs of the community as a whole.

“One of her strengths is academic development. We hope she will take Newtown from a great school system to an even greater school system.”

Dr Robinson has had a wide range of educational experiences. She was a classroom teacher for the gifted program in the Anaheim City School District in California. She was an instructor in Family-Community Relations at Cypress College, North Orange County, Calif., and an adjunct at Long Island University, Southampton.

Her master’s work led to school psychologist certification and working in the guidance departments of two California school districts. She earned her doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Connecticut.

Dr Robinson served as the school psychologist for RESCUE, now Education Connection. In 1979, she opened Robinson Educational Services conducting seminars throughout the country on Assertive Discipline, Succeeding with Difficult Students, and Violence Prevention, and others, for educators and parents.

In 1998, Dr Robinson joined Cooperative Educational Services in Trumbull, serving as the deputy executive director and director of learning services. Her responsibilities included obtaining and monitoring interdistrict grants, implementation of BEST program training, development of state curriculum frameworks, monitoring more than 48 budgets, school-to-career initiatives, and facilitating the Educational Leadership Institute.

She has served as superintendent in the Preston district and most recently in Derby, both small school districts.

“Dr Robinson is a woman of depth and experience,” Ms McClure said. “As deputy director of CES, she worked with three of the largest districts in Connecticut, namely Bridgeport, Stamford, and Norwalk.”

Dr Robinson is replacing Dr Evan Pitkoff, who led the district for five years. Dr Pitkoff left at the end of June to assume the position of executive director at Cooperative Educational Services in Trumbull.

“In our interviews, and especially when we went to Derby for the site visit, we knew that we are getting an extremely intelligent woman, an extremely compassionate woman,” said board member Lillian Bittman, “and someone who does know how to lead, both in the political environment and also within the district. She is an academic visionary but also has good financial acumen.”

“I am very delighted to be here,” Dr Robinson said. “I have really gotten to know your board and your community. This is a high achieving district and will continue to be an even higher performing school district. I am looking forward to working with you all.”