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Creller set to leave NPS, become Ridgefield super

August 16, 2018
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Nancy Guenther Chapman
Norwalk Public Schools Interim Chief Academic Officer Craig Creller explains an initiative to the Norwalk Board of Education at a December meeting at Brookside Elementary School.

Updated, 5:54 a.m.: Copy edits

NORWALK, Conn. — Norwalk Public Schools has lost another top-level administrator.

Math instructional specialist Craig Creller, who recently served as interim Chief Academic Officer, has been hired as assistant superintendent of Ridgefield Public Schools, according to the Ridgefield Press.

The Ridgefield Board of Education hired Creller at its Tuesday meeting, the paper reports.

Creller will begin in Ridgefield in November.

“Obviously, NPS is sorry to see Craig Creller leave.  He was here for close to a decade and had a huge impact on our schools … he will be missed,” Board of Education Chairman Mike Barbis said in an email.

Creller took over as Norwalk interim Chief Academic Officer in November, replacing Chief Academic Officer Michael Conner, who left after two years on the job to become superintendent for Middletown Public Schools. The Board hired Brenda Myers as its new Chief Academic Officer last month.

The Ridgefield Press reported in June 2017 that two Ridgefield Assistant Superintendents earned $190,000 and $195,842 in 2017.  Creller was paid $162,977 in 2017 as Norwalk interim CAO, according to the Comptroller’s Office.

The Ridgefield Press story about Creller’s hire quotes interim Ridgefield Superintendent of Schools JeanAnn Paddyforte as saying Creller was responsible for closing Norwalk’s achievement gap.  It also quotes NPS Superintendent Steven Adamowski as saying Creller is an expert in the design of effective middle schools.

Creller has been shopping his resume around; he also applied this year to be superintendent of Regional School District #14 in Woodbury.

The November BoE packet lists Creller’s qualifications:

“As NPS K-12 Mathematics Instructional Specialist for seven years, Creller worked closely with the superintendent and educators in the Curriculum Department to support academic initiatives including Middle School Redesign, implementation of rigorous new reading and math curriculums, and the expansion of summer learning. He also served as Interim Principal at Jefferson Science Magnet School.

“Creller’s career in education has spanned 27 years. He was named ‘Teacher of the Year’ at North Branford High School, and taught middle school and high school math at a variety of public and private institutions. Prior to arriving in Norwalk, Creller consulted for a State Regional Educational Service Center, where he specialized in interventions, scheduling and differentiated instruction.”

Other top NPS administrators to fly the coop in recent years include Chief Talent Officer Cherese Chery (May 2016 to January 2018) and Chief of Specialized Learning and Student Services Lynn Toper (May 2016 to December 2016).

“This is a great move for Craig and a position he is eminently qualified for,” Barbis wrote. “While it is a loss for Norwalk, we wish him the best in his next chapter.”

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Comments

12 responses to “Creller set to leave NPS, become Ridgefield super”

  1. Piberman

    Further good news our BOE oversees our public schools to a high standard. Good employees recruited away to serve illustrates high standards. Unlike Mayhor Rilling, our former Police Chief, our City Hall with its stubborn refusal to use Prof. Search to secure Top Talent using instead embarrassing “soft hires”. When is the last time a Senior City Hall Administrator was recruited away to serve another City ?

  2. Educator

    Piberman, you are naive when it comes to NPS. The reason why Creller and others have left is because Lyons and Barbis are not promoting from within. Creller was the acting Chief, and yet he was not qualified for the position? Does that make sense to you? Dr. Conner left because Lyons and Barbis have hand picked Costanzo to be the next Superintendent. And let us not forget their email about hiring an african-american Superintendent!

  3. Sherelle Harris

    I enjoyed working and collaborating with Craig. He was a class act. He stayed above the fray. Craig uncovered many issues and stayed behind-the-scenes promoting many initiatives. He was not the photo-op politico type of educator. He quietly demonstrated no “I” in team. I wish him the best in any true educator’s ultimate goal: educating children and putting their education first.

  4. Lisa Brinton Thomson

    Craig, You did an excellent job! Norwalk’s loss is Ridgefield’s gain. Best of luck in your future endeavors! Sorry to see you go.

  5. Susan Wallerstein

    Congratulations Craig Creller – great talent pool in Fairfield County! @PiBerman Recently Norwalk’s Director of Budget & Systems left for New Canaan

  6. NPS Teacher

    Congrats to Craig. What a loss for Norwalk. He is a hardworking, dedicated man. Good luck! Ridgefield is lucky!

  7. Mitch Adis

    Piberman has such great insight and ideas. Why not run for Mayor?

  8. Anne Sullivan

    Congratulations! This is truly Norwalk’s loss, but as long as Craig stays in education children will gain. Best of luck.

  9. Mike Lyons

    Sorry to see Craig leave, but this is a great opportunity for him. I worked very closely with Craig and we had a good relationship; he made solid contributions here and will be a real plus for Ridgefield.

  10. Concerned NPS Citizen

    @Nancy – let’s also not forget other highly qualified administrators who have left administrative positions in Norwalk in the past year. Among them – Tisha McCoy, Kristi Bellara, Kristi Carriero, Danielle Williams who I know for certain and many others who I also know for certain are applying and interviewing elsewhere. This is a major concern for our city! I wish Craig the best of luck. I also wish there was a way to retain high level professionals in our district!!

  11. Mike Lyons

    We have over 1,300 employees in NPS (the largest employer in Norwalk). There is a natural turnover of employees in any large organization, and talented people are in demand in Connecticut. Dr. Conner left to become a superintendent of schools, Craig to become a deputy. We have tried to provide competitive compensation packages to help retain top talent; when we do, we’re attacked for paying too much. When talented people leave for other positions we don’t have available (e.g., Dr. Connor, who had the opportunity to become a superintendent in 2017, would have have had to wait at least three years for Dr. Adamowski’s contract to expire in 2020 to become superintendent in Norwalk), we’re attacked for not doing enough to retain people. Some departures like this are inevitable in any organization; sometimes you just have to acknowledge that good people will leave.

  12. Concerned NPS Citizen

    @Mike Lyons – very true…but it’s also true that sometimes people leave because they are unhappy with what is happening in their work environment or what’s going on “at the top” because we all know there are trickle down effects. Seems to me there was room for Craig to be promoted to an available position…gosh he was good enough to be interim when the district was in need, but not good enough to be hired? Seems strange. For at least one of those administrators to take a demotion and a few to take paycuts also speaks volumes to me. As someone who works in the field of talent, recruitment, and retention, I question if the district follows-up with staff to conduct formal interviews upon resignations? That is one way to identify areas of growth for the district that wouldn’t cost thousands of dollars to us tax payers like these talent searches do or those CREC reviews have in years past.

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