WEATHERSFIELD School officials considering next move

The Weathersfield board plans to fill the superintendent's post internally.
By MARY SMITH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MINERAL RIDGE -- Rocco Adduci is leaving one school district under state fiscal watch in Weathersfield to help the Niles district emerge from its own fiscal watch.
"If I had my druthers, I'd rather that Mr. Adduci stay with us," Weathersfield school board president Douglas Darnall said Monday.
"I'm very personally disappointed. I think he's done a super job," Darnall added. "He's going to be very missed."
Adduci said Monday afternoon he will accept the Niles position and will resign from Weathersfield schools at the Wednesday meeting of the board of education. It will be effective March 8.
Adduci said he has taken the Niles job because he has been asked to work with the superintendent there to get Niles out of fiscal watch.
Weathersfield school board member Fred McCandless said the board had been advised informally by Adduci that he had r & eacute;sum & eacute;s out.
He said the matter was discussed recently in executive session. "There was an indication he might be leaving. It's not a total surprise but was anticipated," McCandless said.
He added that until the Niles school board vote, nothing was definite.
Work history
Adduci worked at Niles before coming to Weathersfield as superintendent in 2000. He was assistant principal at Niles McKinley High School for 11 years.
He and his wife, Deborah, reside in Niles. He has three children, two of whom have graduated from Niles McKinley High School.
The superintendent said there is a plan in place with the Weathersfield board for a special meeting March 3 to name a new superintendent and a new high school principal.
"All positions will be filled from within," he said.
Darnall, a board member for six years, confirmed that putting Michael Hanshaw, high school principal, in the position of interim superintendent is being "seriously looked at," but noted that the final outcome of that plan will depend on the vote.
"The feeling is he's very qualified," he said, adding that Hanshaw would be an interim superintendent, because he has to take some more courses to meet criteria for superintendency.
The board president added, "If it's possible to do it all internally, it will help us save money. We still have to reduce costs."
What's being done
The Weathersfield district is under state fiscal watch and has made numerous cuts, including the highly controversial cut of busing to all but children in grades K-8 who reside more than two miles from school.
The Niles board voted 3-2 Monday morning to hire Adduci as an assistant superintendent at a daily rate of $341.37. He is expected to begin the new job March 8 but will not be paid until April 1, working for 18 days without pay, according to Niles school board president John H. Davis.
The Niles assistant superintendent position was created after Patrick N. Guliano announced he will resign as superintendent as of July 31.