Holland principal to run Rutland Northeast
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By Cristina Kumka Staff Writer - Published: April 1, 2009
He's traveled the length of the state educating Vermont's children, but for at least the next two years John Castle will have a new destination — the Rutland Northeast Supervisory Union in Brandon.
The Union School Board offered Castle a two-year, minimum $100,000 contract March 25 to become the next superintendent of the district's seven public schools in Brandon, Leicester, Sudbury, Whiting, Pittsford and Chittenden.
Castle, 44, the principal of Holland Elementary School in Holland and former athletic director at Middlebury Union High School, accepted and will replace veteran district leader William Mathis in July.
Mathis, the longest serving school superintendent in the state who served the majority of his career at the Brandon district, announced his retirement last December.
Castle was chosen by a search committee out of 26 applicants from Vermont and beyond, Mathis said Tuesday.
Teacher representatives, school officials and administrators reviewed applications, checked references and did on-site visits, according to Mathis.
Castle was chosen for his "broad experience," according to Board Chairwoman Maria Ammatuna.
A graduate of Middlebury College and former history teacher at Lake Region Union High School, Castle received his master's degree in history from Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. and is scheduled to complete his doctorate at the University of Vermont this year.
In an interview from the Holland school Tuesday, Castle began with a personal story.
"I moved here in the 1970s when I started the second grade, in the very building I am now teaching in," he said.
Although fond of his hometown, Castle said he looked forward to moving back to the Middlebury area, where his career began as a junior varsity football and lacrosse coach at Middlebury Union High School in 1987.
From the field at Middlebury, Castle worked as history teacher in a classroom in Orleans and in 1994, became the dean of students at South Burlington High School.
Castle became principal at Lake Region Union High School in 1997 and a teaching principal in Holland 7 years later.
He's a former student of Mathis at UVM and agrees with at least one of his theories — that standardized testing shouldn't be the sole monitor of student progress.
"They have their place, but are quite limited as far as what they can tell us about the needs of students," Castle said.
"We have to start to pull apart the data to find where students are struggling and where we need to help them improve, not just the test scores."
cristina.kumka@rutlandherald.com
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