Change pg 1 8-30-12
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- Category: Past Issues
New leadership here,
'almost new'
building coming
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM --- After the appointment of Joseph Ptaszynski as the new principal of Putnam High School, Board of Education and school department officials are already working to find an assistant principal to take Ptaszynski's place.
Ptaszynski stepped up to the top spot after Paul Brenton left to become principal of a magnet school in Hartford.
Ptaszynski's appointment became official at an Aug. 21 Board of Education meeting. In anticipation of Ptaszynski's appointment School Superintendent William Hull ran advertisements for the assistant principal post. According to Board of Education member J. Scott Pempek, the large pile of applications received contains many strong candidates. He said Hull hopes to bring assistant principal candidates to the Board of Education in early September.
Pempek said Ptaszynski will be part of the interviewing committee. "We asked that they bring the board at least two to three final candidates," Pempek said. How soon the winning candidate starts would depend on who is selected and their contractual obligations to their current district.
Ptaszynski has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Central Connecticut State University, an MBA in Management Information Systems from the University of Hartford and an administrator’s sixth-year certificate from UConn. After an extensive career in business, Ptaszynski began his educational career at Bacon Academy in Colchester as a business teacher. He joined the Putnam School District as a business teacher in 2002 before becoming the assistant principal in 2007.
In addition to familiar faces in new places, the Board of Education is already working with the Board of Selectman to initiate a plan to "renovate as new" the 50-year-old-plus Putnam High School Building.
The building committee members include: Norman "Barney" Seney and Richard Loomis, both of the Board of Education; Peter Benoit of the Board of Finance, Jamie Purdon of the Board of Education, John Peters, a teacher; Kerry Blackmar, a parent; and three citizens at large: Mark Caswell, Paul Cotnoir and Peter Serafin. The selectmen must authorize the Board of Education to apply to the Commission of Education and to "accept or reject a grant for the Renovate as New Construction Project," officially establish the building committee, and authorize at least the preparation of schematic drawings and "outline specifications for the Renovate as New Construction Project."
In February, the committee looking at the options for the high school picked "renovate as new." That would mean "Basically when you walk in, it will look like a new school. All the codes have to be updated, meaning wider doors, all ADA compliant.” He said, “It would look like a new school with very little left to the old one," according to Pempek. The options included doing nothing, closing the school, and building a brand new high school.
Reimbursement from the state would be between 60 and 70 percent.