Susanne Vitcavage Named Next Kennedy Assistant Principal

Southington schools will lose a talented educator and administrator at the end of the calendar year as Kennedy Middle School Assistant Principal Pamela Aldi retires, but they are excited about the new opportunities that her successor, Susanne K. Vitcavage, can bring to the community.

Members of the Southington Board of Education on Thursday hired Vitcavage unanimously on Thursday, saying her experience at all levels of education and leadership at Meriden’s Platt High School will help provide a unique set of tools that will further the continued progress seen at Kennedy and across the district in recent years.

“We are always talking about transitions and (Susanne) showed that would be an area of talent and expertise she can bring to the district,” said Board of Education Chairman Brian Goralski. “We were impressed with her resume, but when we sat with her in the interview, the board knew she was what we needed to help in creating a seamless transition for students.”

Goralski said the board was impressed by the fact that she started as an elementary school teacher and worked her way up, serving as an educator at the middle school level before taking on the challenges of a leadership position at Platt High School.

A 16-year resident of Southington where she lives with her husband Joe and their two children and Southington high students Andrew and Eddie, Vitcavage first began her career in education as a teacher at several schools in Meriden in 1988.

By 1999, she was promoted to the role of school guidance counselor at the Nathan Hale Elementary School in Meriden and later became an instructional associate as well. For the past 8 years, she has served as the director of school counseling at Platt.

Vitcavage has received her bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree in school counseling and sixth-year degree in educational leadership, all from Central Connecticut State University.

In her new role, Vitcavage said she is looking forward to working even more directly with the children to help establish long-term plans that will help them achieve their goals.

“This is a district that has done well in preparing my own children for success and a district that has an excellent staff. I am excited to be able to give back in my home community and am really hoping to serve as well as the district has in preparing Southington children for success.”

Vitcavage will officially start on Feb. 1. She will receive a salary of $118,606 annually, Board of Education member Jill Notar-Francesco said.

In other notes…
The Board of Education on Thursday also acknowledged the hiring of a new district-wide K-12 Science Coordinator, naming John Duffy to work alongside Dale Riedinger at the central office. Duffy comes to the district effective Jan. 27 from Canton.

“There are so many newer ideas of instruction (in Southington) and I am looking forward to hopefully building on high performing school district and making it better,” Duffy said. “I’m really looking forward to starting with the school system.”

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