Somers HS library renamed for interim superintendent

Mar. 31—SOMERS — The Board of Education this week renamed the high school's media center after Interim Superintendent Paul C. Gagliarducci, using a plaque that has been waiting more than 20 years to be hung in his honor.

Gagliarducci, who left the district in 2001 to become superintendent of the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District in Massachusetts, returned to Somers to replace former Superintendent Brian Czapla, who retired last June.

Gagliarducci attended his last Board of Education meeting on Monday. Samuel Galloway, who was hired in December to become the new superintendent, will take over the post Monday.

Board of Education Chairwoman Anne Kirkpatrick said the plaque was ordered back in 2001, when an oak tree was planted on the far side of the Mabelle B. Avery Middle School in honor of Gagliarducci's service to the town. The plaque was supposed to be installed nearby.

But the plaque didn't arrive until after he left, Kirkpatrick said, and has since been sitting in a maintenance shed waiting for its forever home.

Kirkpatrick brought it to the meeting — still enclosed in the cardboard it was shipped to Somers in — to show Gagliarducci.

"We thought it's time to put it up," she said. "We know your heart is in Somers High School, which we decided was the better place to put it."

Kirkpatrick explained that it was Gagliarducci who decided to turn the high school building into an elementary school when he arrived as superintendent in 1987 and the town was running out of space for students.

Just two and a half years later, she said, the town voted to build a new high school.

Gagliarducci was filled with emotion Monday when he thanked board members for their kindness and said he was honored when asked to come back to Somers. He said he only wished his mother and father were around to see the plaque.

His family, however, was at the meeting, including his wife, Jeanne, three daughters, and four grandchildren.

They joined others in the audience, along with board members, who gave Gagliarducci a standing ovation.

He said his one regret was being so busy as interim superintendent that it was often difficult to get into the classrooms to see students and teachers as much as he would have liked.

"This board will do very well in the future," Gagliarducci said. "You have all that's needed to move the district forward."

A resident of East Longmeadow, he will continue to work with the Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools as a consultant and as a search consultant for Connecticut boards of education.

Gagliarducci will not be leaving Somers entirely for at least a month. He will be at the April 18 Board of Finance public hearing on the proposed budget and at the May 2 annual town meeting.

For more coverage of Somers and Enfield, follow Susan Danseyar on Twitter: @susandanseyar, Facebook: Susan Danseyar, reporter.