By Jack Nicas

Tony Pierantozzi is wrapping up his third year as superintendent of the Somerville School District, a tenure marked by many highs and one fiery low — the devastating blaze that destroyed the East Somerville Community School last winter.

Pierantozzi was the guest at the May 16 Somerville News contributors meeting and said he wants to continue improving Somerville’s educational reputation.

He said Somerville public schools are much better than people believe: “Reality and perception have a five-year gap, and with education that may be even longer.”

Pierantozzi was born in Philadelphia and raised in New Jersey, attending Rutgers University as an undergraduate. Following his graduation, he served as the health and physical education director in Scarsdale, New York for 15 years.

He then shifted out of education and into the business world, owning a bakery and a wholesale clothing business for several years. He views this unusual experience as an advantage: “As opposed to those who have stayed in school from kindergarten on, I have a twelve month cycle in my head, a profitability cycle. I pay attention to economic details more than people in this position used to.”

After a few years as a businessman, he said his love for education drew him back to academia. He completed the Master’s program for Administration at Salem State.

In June of 2005, Pierantozzi found the opportunity he had been looking for; Al Argenziano retired as Somerville’s superintendent, leaving the position vacant. Pierantozzi said that upon applying for the position he promised his full dedication to the district, complete with a move into the city.

Two months later, the district had a new superintendent and Pierantozzi was moving to Ward Four. He said he was welcomed warmly upon his entrance into the community and that people seemed impressed that he kept his word to live within city limits. Nevertheless, he did admit that only three years in Somerville still leaves him as somewhat of an outsider; however, “a welcomed one” at that.

Now, three years later, Pierantozzi continues to work at problems that have been facing the district for years. The most recent MCAS results showed signs of improvement in math, yet English scores struggled to keep pace, he said.

Fourteen separate versions of the exam were given to elementary school students; five showed improvement, five showed no change, and four showed a decline. The English Language Arts portion was responsible for the decline in all four of those exams. Somerville High also struggled; after meeting the state’s adequate yearly progress standards the past three years, the school failed to meet the English benchmarks on the 2007 exam.

Pierantozzi said the district is continually looking to improve upon those numbers but believes that MCAS performance misrepresents the school’s actual success. ‚Äú[MCAS] doesn’t take mobility into account. Somerville has 15 to 35 percent of our students leaving or entering per year, as opposed to 2 to 3 percent for schools in the center of the state. It is obviously expected that urban schools with English-learning students will require more exposure to the test to pass it.‚Äù

Fifty-two percent of Somerville students come from homes where English is not the first language.

He said that Somerville matches up with schools in other areas regardless of the circumstances. ‚Äú[Suburban schools] graduate typically 100 percent of their students, whereas we graduate 99 percent; so relatively we’re doing very well.‚Äù

He said MCAS success is important for the school, but he refuses to spend six months on preparation. ‚ÄúWe’d rather grow our music and art programs; we think that’s a very important thing in an urban area.‚Äù

Pierantozzi said the biggest challenge of his tenure has been dealing with the aftermath of the fire at the East Somerville Community School last winter. It destroyed the majority of materials inside of the school and did significant damage to the building itself. Pierantozzi said the first step he took was to reestablish the educational process for the 585 displaced students and staff.

“Our kindergarten students were back to school in three days and the first to eighth grade students in five. We had to outfit two empty buildings with furniture, supplies and materials, but everyone in the community pulled together so it went remarkably well,” he said.

He said that rather than replacing lost materials, such as TVs and VCRs, the district is looking to upgrade. ‚ÄúWe now want net-based projectors and smart boards, so we’re negotiating for money to purchase more state-of-the-art technology,‚Äù he said.

Yet despite the school’s fire, Pierantozzi said often his hardest and most controversial decisions involve whether or not to call off school when snow falls. ‚ÄúI really try to talk to my colleagues, the last thing you want to be is the one school either open or closed for the day,‚Äù he said.

He did admit one bad call on a snow day which led to some students being stuck at school until 8 p.m.

Even so, Pierantozzi has received praise for putting the district on the track to success. The New England Association of Schools and Colleges called Somerville High “the best kept secret in New England” in their last report.

Still, he said, the district will not rest on its past successes.

‚ÄúWe’re proud of our accomplishments but we must keep pushing forward,‚Äù he said.