Rutland Southwest Supervisory Union

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Supervisory Union Administration

Joan Paustian ~ Superintendent   802-287-5286 x203 joan.paustian@rswsu.org
 
Thomas Gallagher ~ Director of Educational Advancement   802-287-5286 x209  thomas.gallagher@rswsu.org
 
Bonnie Lenihan ~ Director of Student Support Services 802-287-5286 x208 bonnie.lenihan@rswsu.org
 
Darren McIntyre ~ Assistant Director of Student Support Services 802-287-5286 x207 darren.mcintyre@rswsu.org
 
Louis Milazzo ~ Business Manager 802-287-5286 x201 louis.milazzo@rswsu.org
 
Aaron Boynton ~ Principal, Middletown Springs Elementary School 802-235-2365 aaron.boynton@rswsu.org
 
Jean Oakman ~ Principal, Poultney High School 802-287-5861 x204 jean.oakman@rswsu.org
 
Joe DeBonis ~ Dean of Students, Poultney High School 802-287-5861 x203   joe.debonis@rswsu.org
 
Tracy Gallipo ~ Director of Guidance, Poultney High School 802-287-5861 x241 tracy.gallipo@rswsu.org
 
Kristen Caliguiri ~ Principal, Poultney Elementary School 802 287-5212 kristen.caliguiri@rswsu.org
 
Susan McKelvie ~ Principal, Tinmouth Elementary School 802-446-2458 susan.mckelvie@rswsu.org
 
Linda O'Leary ~ Principal, Wells Village School 802-645-0386 linda.oleary@rswsu.org
 

Joan Paustian

Dr. Joan Paustian is the superintendent of schools for the Rutland Southwest Supervisory Union serving the communities of Ira, Middletown Springs, Poultney, Tinmouth, and Wells. From July 2007 to June 2009, Joan served as the superintendent of schools for Windsor Southwest Supervisory Union also in Vermont. The focus of Joan’s work in Windsor Southwest was on improving communications, building positive learning environments, and improving student achievement. The concentration of work in Rutland Southwest will center on developing a long range plan for writing, implementing, and assessing a coordinated kindergarten through twelfth grade curriculum with aligned assessments in all content areas, in addition to establishing of a long range plan for professional development. Policy development will continue to be a priority. Assessing the use of technology to meet the needs 21st Century demands for our students will be another area to work for RSWSU.

For the 17 years prior to becoming a superintendent, Joan’s administrative career included serving as principal for both Pownal Elementary and Sunderland Elementary Schools. She also served as associate principal of Mary Hogan Elementary School in Middlebury for 2 of those years. During all of these periods, Joan was an educational leader who led standards based curriculum development and analyzed assessment for learning to ensure that student learning was maximized.

Joan first began teaching physical education in 1971 in suburban Massachusetts where she taught junior high one year and coached and taught at the high school level for many years. She then taught physical education and was the Athletic Director for 9 years in a kindergarten through eighth grade Vermont School. Joan was named Vermont’s Elementary Physical Education Teacher of the Year 1988.

In May 2004, Joan earned her Doctor of Education degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Development from the University of Vermont. She received her Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study in 1989 from Castleton State College in Educational Administration. In 1972, Joan was awarded a Master of Science Degree in physical education and as an athletic director from Springfield College and got her Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of New Hampshire in physical education and health in 1970.

Advancing educational achievement for all students has been the concentration of Joan’s committee work. For seven years, she served on the Executive Board for the Vermont Principals’ Association. In addition, she collaborated in Vermont state initiatives such as on the Department of Education Committee for Assessment and Accountability, the Vermont Task Force for School Quality Standards, the Education Commissioner’s Team on Restructuring Professional Development, and the University of Vermont’s Educator Network. Joan also chaired and was a member of Public School Approval Teams and also evaluated the Teacher Preparation Programs for Norwich University and Vermont College.

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Thomas Gallagher

Tom Gallagher was the interim superintendent of the Rutland Southwest Supervisory Union during the 2008-09 school year.  In this capacity he has facilitated the Boards’ clarification of its policy-making responsibilities and has helped to establish a systemic approach to comprehensive long-range planning.  He was the lead auditor in the Supervisory Union’s comprehensive curriculum audit.

Tom’s professional experience includes serving as superintendent in Rome, New York, Southwest Vermont Supervisory Union in Bennington, Little Silver Schools and Wood-Ridge Public Schools in New Jersey for a total of 24 years.  He has established processes for long-range planning in each of the districts he has served.  Each of the districts continues to use the tools and systems for planning that were established during his tenure.

During his 42 year career in public education, Tom presented at the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) National Convention, the New York State School Boards Association annual convention, the annual New York State Technology convention and the Vermont School Boards Annual Convention.  He has written weekly columns for three newspapers and was featured in The School Administrator, a national publication of AASA.

Before retiring in July, 2007, Tom served as an elementary teacher, reading specialist, school principal and superintendent.  He received his BA degree in elementary education and MA in reading from New Jersey City College.  He has earned graduate credit from Rutgers University, Monmouth University, Montclair University and Kean College of New Jersey.  Tom completed all of his necessary coursework for his EdD in educational administration from Southeastern University.

During the 2009-10 school year, Tom will be administering the federal grants including the Title and the 21st Century programs.  The position is part time and the vast majority of his salary will be paid through the various grants.   

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Bonnie J. Lenihan

Bonnie received a BS at Trinity College of Burlington, Vermont with a major in Special Education and a minor in Psychology.  She completed a Masters of Education Program at Castleton State College, graduating Cum Laude, obtaining a Masters of Art Degree in Special Education with a concentration in Administration.  Bonnie’s endorsements include Director of Special Education, ages 3-21, Special Educator, grades K-12 and Elementary Education Teacher, grades K-6.  Bonnie is a recipient of the National Association of Special Education Teachers Outstanding Graduate Student Performance Award for academic excellence and contributions to the field of Special Education.  To view a list of Bonnie’s diverse responsibilities as Director of Student Support Services, please click here.  back to top

Darren McIntyre

Darren McIntyre graduated with an Associate’s degree in Liberal Arts from Adirondack Community College, his Bachelor of Art’s degree in Psychology with a concentration in development from Castleton State College, a Master of Art’s degree in Educational Leadership from the Woodruff Institute as Castleton State College, and is currently working on his Doctoral degree in Educational Administration and Teacher Leadership from Walden University in conjunction with the University of Minnesota for residencies.

Darren is a member of Psi Chi, the national honor society in Psychology, and a member of Kappa Delta Pi, the national honor society in Education.

Darren’s course work and experience have allowed him to earn endorsements as Principal, Special Education Coordinator PreK-12, Special Education Teacher K-12, and Elementary Teacher K-6.

Currently, Darren works as Assistant Coordinator for Special Education at Rutland Southwest Supervisory Union. Through this position Darren has also participated in Curriculum Audit Training through Phi Delta Kappa. Prior to his current position Darren worked eight years as a Special Education teacher for grades 9-12. While in this capacity, Darren co-taught Science, math, Civics, World Geography, and provided direct instruction in areas of Written Language and Math. He also had two years experience working as Elementary teacher and Elementary Special Educator. Based on Darren’s college credits, professional development, and Praxis II scores he meets Highly Qualified Teacher (HQT) requirements in the areas of English, Math, Science and Social Studies.

In addition to teaching, Darren also worked four years as Peer Mediation Director at Fair Haven Union High School; this allowed training with certified mediators and programming for staff and students to develop strategies in conflict reducing disciplinary infractions.

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Louis Milazzo

Louis Milazzo resides in the town of Poultney with his wife Jaime and 3 children Isabella (6), Lucas (4) and Nicolas (2).  He graduated from Fordham University with a Bachelors Degree in Accounting and Finance.  He has 10 years of accounting and finance experience with the private sector.  His last role was Business Manager for RetailVision, an international magazine distributor located in Middlebury, Vermont.  In that role Louis managed all aspects of the business office.  He is looking forward to his new opportunity which will allow him to become more active in his community and be closer to home. back to top

Aaron Boynton

Aaron Boynton received a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Elmira College in Elmira, NY, with a concentration in Science in 2000. Later, he received his Masters in Administration from the Woodruff Institute for School Leaders at Castleton State College, Castleton, VT in 2004. He has been an educator since 2000. During his time, he has taught in the classroom at the first and sixth grade level in Rutland City Public Schools. He has served and led curriculum committees that focused on math instruction and assessment and has assisted at the college level, guest speaking on inquiry based learning. He received the Phi Delta Kappa level one curriculum audit training in Texas in January of 2009 and level two at Green Mountain College in April of 2009. Currently, as principal of Middletown Springs Elementary School since 2007, he is acting chair of the supervisory union technology committee oversees all aspects of a small Pre-K through sixth grade community school. back to top

Jean Marie Oakman

Jean was born and raised in Vermont.  She is a 1977 graduate of Castleton State College, with a BS in Elementary Education and a double minor in American Studies and Social Science.  In 1983, Jean graduated from CSC with a Masters in Education Administration and completed her Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study degree in May of 1997.

Jean started her career teaching at Poultney Elementary and High Schools in 1976, while finishing up her undergraduate degree.  In 1977, she taught third grade at the Shaftsbury Elementary School.  From there, Jean worked at the Wells Village School for 17 years.  She was a multi-aged teacher, a teaching principal, a gifted and talented teacher and a full time principal during her tenure there.  In 1995, Jean became the principal of Castleton Elementary and Village Schools for eight years.  In 2003, Jean joined the Southwestern Vermont Supervisory Union as the Director of Compensatory Education.  After two years with the SVSU, Jean joined Poultney High School as the new principal.  Jean has been an adjunct teacher at Castleton State College, College of St Joseph’s and UVM.  Jean served on the Vt. State Capstone Leadership Team for many years and has served as a consultant in various Vermont supervisory unions.   back to top

Tracy Gallipo

Tracy grew up in Massachusetts and graduated from Flagler College in St. Augustine,Florida with a Bachelor’s degree in History. She completed her Master’s degree in Psychology at the College of St. Joseph. Tracy worked for a number of years in the field of college admissions counseling and has been a licensed guidance counselor since 2002.Tracy is a member of the Rutland Area Guidance Counselors college fair planning committee. She is also a member of the executive board for the Greater Rutland Asian Studies Project (GRASP) and traveled to China with the group in 2004. In her spare time she enjoys reading, gardening and going to the beach with her family. back to top

Joe DeBonis

Kristen Caliguiri

Kristen Caliguiri graduated from Castleton State College with a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education. She obtained a Master’s in Education when she graduated suma cum laude in 2005 from the College of Saint Joseph and subsequently received her Principal’s endorsement from the state of Vermont.

Kristen has been working in education for over sixteen years, with classroom teaching experience spanning from the kindergarten through grade six level. As a teacher she served on her school’s EST, Action Planning, Language Arts, Foundation for Excellent Schools, and Capstone committees. As her school’s Assessment Coordinator, Kristen was responsible for the organization, distribution and scheduling of all NECAP and related materials. In addition, she created an assessment brochure which outlined various school-wide programs and activities, as well as reported data trends for three years in regard to NECAP, DRA and SAT scores.

Kristen was an active member of her district’s mentoring program and training, in addition to serving on the district’s local comprehensive assessment team which was a responsible for gathering and organizing data, as well as planning Pre-K – 12 initiatives and in-service. She continues to be an advocate for community and college partnerships, and embedded professional development as a means to support student learning.

Kristen was trained as a Curriculum Audio in 2009.

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Susan McKelvie

Susan McKelvie has been the teaching principal at Tinmouth Elementary School since July 2007. Previously, Susan taught 7th and 8th grade English Language Arts at Rutland Middle School and Castleton Village School. She served as the Middle School representative on the K-12 Literacy Committee in Rutland City Public Schools where she developed a school-wide reading improvement plan for grades 7 and 8..She has worked as a K-12 writing consultant in the SVSU and RNWSU.

Susan completed her Masters in Education Administration in 2008 through the Woodruff Institute for School Leaders at Castleton State College where she also completed her undergrad degree in English Literature and certification in Secondary Education in 2001. Additionally, she has completed coursework in curriculum and assessment through UVM. Susan completed Level I Curriculum Audit Training through Phi Delta Kappa in San Antonio, Texas in January 2009 and Level II Systems Audit Training in Poultney, Vermont in April 2009. She has twice been recognized at the Vermont Academy of Arts and Sciences Annual Symposium for Excellence in Writing.

Linda O’Leary

Linda is certified in Elementary Education (K-6), Reading (K-12), Special Education (K-12), and Administration (K-12).  She received her Bachelor of Science degree in elementary Education with a concentration in Reading from Castleton State College.  The majority of her post graduate work has taken place at Castleton State College, the University of Vermont and the College of St. Joseph.  She returned to the Wells Village School as a full time administrator in 1999 after serving as the Teaching Principal in Middletown Springs for ten years.  Prior to that experience she taught grades 5 & 6 at WVS for ten years, also serving as the assistant principal.

Linda is a Co-Chair of the RSWSU Crisis Team and additionally represents the district at the Rutland County School Crisis Task Force Committee and the Southwest Regional Administrative Relicensing Board.

Linda is a 21 year veteran of the Manchester Rescue Squad and maintains her certification as an Emergency Medical Technician-Intermediate.  She is also a certified American Heart Association CPR Instructor.  She has held many leadership roles with the organization including first woman president.  As an active member of the United Church of Dorset & East Rupert she again has served in many roles including first woman Moderator, choir member and youth group leader.  During her spare time Linda enjoys traveling and spending time with her family & friends.   back to top

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