Hampshire Regional School District Superintendent Vito Perrone in his new office.
Reminder Publishing photo by Ryan Feyre
WESTHAMPTON — Vito Perrone was only in his third week as the new Hampshire Regional School District superintendent, but based on what he wrote on his office white board, it appeared that a districtwide culture was already starting to manifest.
Words and phrases like “expectations and accountability” and “roles and responsibilities” indicated that Perrone, who signed a three-year contract with the district, was not wasting much time building the initial steps to what he hopes is a successful 2024-25 school year.
In his first two weeks on the job, Perrone, a Westhampton resident, said he had already communicated out to the district’s families, caregivers and students to introduce himself, and he also met with principals and central office staff to get to know them more.
He also plans to send out a survey or some type of Google form to families, students and other stakeholders in the district to hear what is on their mind, what feedback they have for Perrone, what questions have arisen and what concerns they may have.
“I’ve been trying to help people feel on solid footing and create a foundation on what we can build upon,” the new superintendent said.
What also graced the white board adjacent to Perrone’s desk is the crux of the culture he aims to spread throughout Hampshire’s five towns, which include Chesterfield, Goshen, Southampton, Westhampton and Williamsburg.
He told Reminder Publishing in an interview on July 15 that he calls these basic principles his “four C’s:” communicating effectively, collaboration, building a cohesive community and leading with compassion.
“I intend to have that platform so that everybody understands that they’re important, that I’m going to collaborate with you; I’m going to communicate with you, things are going to be transparent,” Perrone said. “There’s a synergy there between all those things.”
A 30-year educator, and most recently the assistant superintendent for West Springfield Public Schools, Perrone officially began his position as the Hampshire Regional School District’s superintendent on July 1, one day after former superintendent Diana Bonneville officially finished her tenure on June 30.
Bonneville announced in December that she was resigning at the end of the 2023-24 school year after two unions representing Hampshire Regional teachers voted no confidence in her leadership ability in July 2023. During that time, teachers cited reasons like restructuring of staff, lack of nurse staffing, lack of transparency and facilitating a toxic workplace as reasons for losing trust in her ability to lead the district.
Perrone said that he heard about this tumultuous period in the district, but he did not know the full story of what went on. However, he told Reminder Publishing that one of his main goals is to establish that trust between himself and all the stakeholders in the district, whether students, teachers, principals or other staff.
“You can’t just build trust in isolation … it’s about building relationships,” Perrone said. “It’s about setting expectations and following through … it’s about owning mistakes.”
When he was principal at the West Springfield High School before he became assistant superintendent of that district, Perrone said he would meet with his department heads twice a month to discuss important aspects of the school and figure out ways to make difficult decisions together.
He hopes to apply that same process to his new role; the idea that, yes, as superintendent, he is the one making the ultimate decisions on things, but to make those decisions, he must collaborate and build consensus with the people he works with.
“That’s how you build trust,” Perrone said. “You work with people, you establish a relationship with people, and you make sure that they understand that what you say is what’s going to be done, and that if something happens, you can own it.”
Before building that trust, though, Perrone must first build the right team around him and listen to the voices of the students, families and teachers to learn about their concerns, hopes and dreams for the district.
Perrone said he is already forming what he calls his “central office team.”
As of press time, he already conducted interviews to fill the district’s business administrator position and he had plans to interview candidates for the director of people services and for the district’s assistant superintendent.
Filling those positions is an important initial step for Perrone in his new role, mainly because of the mass exodus the central office has recently experienced, but also because he wants to have a mid-August meeting with the central office team and site-based leadership to go over the needs of the students, teachers programs and schools.
“I definitely feel the urgency,” Perrone said, when speaking on his hiring process so far.
Hiring and retaining staff at all levels of the district is something Perrone said he intends to focus on during his superintendency, especially since districts across the country are struggling to attract and maintain people at their schools and administrative offices.
As someone who is brand new to the position, Perrone said the key to hiring is posting, reviewing and vetting the people who are interested in a position and inviting people to consider applying.
After that, it is about maintaining a high retention rate, which, for Perrone, means developing a positive, transparent and supportive culture where everything is working with harmony. In his eyes, it all circles back to those “four Cs.”
“I want to find out as educators, how can we communicate, and then how we, with compassion, make sure we keep our students first in the lens of what we’re doing and how we’re building community,” Perrone said.
The team-oriented rhetoric the new superintendent possesses comes from the novel stages of his career.
Perrone was a football star at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the 1980s, who garnered some notoriety with a few teams in the NFL.
After some unsuccessful tryouts, Perrone eventually landed in Italy thanks to his position coach at UMass. It was there where he played football for four seasons and worked with children to help grow the sport.
“I was really enjoying the interactions with the kids, throwing the ball around, teaching them things about safety,” Perrone said.
From there, the rest was history.
Perrone eventually moved back to the states, got certified to teach, met his wife and then started his career as an educator while living in Nevada, where he and his wife each earned a teaching position, and he secured a coaching gig.
Over his 30 years as an educator between Nevada and Western Mass., Perrone has been a teacher, vice principal at a middle school, a principal in Easthampton, principal in West Springfield and then assistant superintendent of West Springfield Schools.
The journey to get to his new position at Hampshire Regional has not always been smooth, however.
Perrone almost landed the superintendent position in Easthampton last year, but his offer was eventually rescinded because of his contract requests and his use of the word “ladies” in an email.
The entire situation made national news.
He eventually landed back in West Springfield because of it.
When asked about that, Perrone said that the moment was sad for him, especially since he already had experience in Easthampton as a principal.
“In the moment, it broke me,” Perrone shared. “I truly loved Easthampton and what it was all about and how they treated me … and so, when that happened, it was devastating.”
Perrone said the saving grace of the situation was experiencing the outward support from the community, students and teachers who spoke highly of his leadership ability in various forums.
He said that support has allowed him to move forward in a positive way while learning how to grow as a leader.
“It helped me reflect on what I could have done differently, how I could have handled it differently,” Perrone said. “I was obligated to move forward in a positive way, to think about what happened and to learn and grow.”
“I’m still sad about what happened … but I couldn’t be happier to be in Hampshire,” he added.
After filling out staff, Perrone’s focus will shift toward short-term and long-term goals in the district. He said his short-term goals will include setting rules, responsibilities and expectations while holding himself and everyone else in the district accountable.
“That’s going to be my goal in the 2024-25 school year,” he said.
He said other goals in his tenure will be finding ways to address the needs of the most vulnerable learners like students with disabilities, English language learners and low-income students.
Perrone also wants to make sure the district maintains its “instructional core,” which means teachers, students and curriculum are all seamlessly working together without a hitch.
“We have to make sure we’re looking at data, and we’re addressing the instructional core, and supporting the three aspects of it so that it’s working together,” he added.
Although Perrone is only signed to the position for three years, he said he hopes it turns into a six- or seven-year tenure. He talked about the excitement he feels about the possibility of ending his career in the district.
“I see myself doing everything I can to have a positive effect on the five districts, and to really close out my educational career here,” he said. “We’re no more than 15 or 16 minutes from our house to any school in the district, so it’s awesome.”
