The Verona Board of Education has named Nicole Stuto as the new principal of Brookdale Avenue School, succeeding Richard Rampolla, who is retiring.
Stuto is a 2008 graduate of Villanova University with a degree in psychology and elementary education and she received a masters in educational leadership and administration from Montclair State University in 2013. But the transition at Brookdale will much more than generational: Stuto has been tasked with combining the principal’s job at Brookdale, Verona’s smallest elementary school, with district-wide responsibility for the reading and writing workshop curriculum that Verona has been building across its lower grades for the past five years.
Superintendent Rui Dionisio explained the job change at a special BOE meeting last week. Verona has been using consultants for the professional development associated with the reading and writing workshop. “We felt that it was a very good time to bring more of that instructional coaching in house and having that as part of our instructional team at the elementary level.” Dionisio said that there were 124 applications for the Brookdale position, and that five candidates were brought in for extensive interviews.
Stuto is also a Google Certified Educator, which should bolster the district’s plan to expand the use of Chromebooks in the elementary schools. Dionisio noted at the April 26 BOE meeting that Verona will be adding 95 Chromebooks to its elementary schools by this fall, bringing the total laptop base to now almost 1,000 district-wide. Stuto has been an instructional coach in Wyckoff’s Calvin Coolidge Elementary School since July 2014. She has also taught both fourth and fifth grades in that district.
“As a lifelong learner, Mrs. Stuto constantly seeks new information and outlets to keep abreast of the constant changes in the field of education,” Dionisio said in an email to public school parents today. “She is currently researching and planning for Makerspaces in Wyckoff, while exploring best practices in STEAM education inclusive of the Next Generation Science Standards.” Verona ran a pilot program of that science curriculum this year and will be funding an expansion with the 2016-2017 budget, which was approved last night. A Makerspace is a place for designing and building, both on and off a computer; Verona created a Makerspace at Verona High School this year.
Stuto spoke briefly at Tuesday’s BOE meeting. You can watch her remarks here.
