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Mostly Cloudy Thomas Ricupero, principal of Wilson Elementary School, to retire after 39 years in district
Jim Duffy to step in as interim principal
“Oh my gosh, my stomach dropped,” laughed Kara Spinelli, a fourth-grade teacher and academic facilitator at Francis F. Wilson Elementary School, recalling the moment she found out that Principal Thomas Ricupero was retiring. “It’s definitely going to be a big adjustment.”
Ricupero, 64, who has worked in the district for 39 years, has been Wilson’s principal for 15 years. At a meeting on Aug. 14, the Board of Education accepted his resignation, effective at the end of October.
The Board of Education officially named Jim Duffy, a teacher and academic facilitator at Jennie E. Hewitt Elementary School, as the school's interim principal on Aug. 22. District officials said that Ricupero would help with the transition through October. A formal search for a permanent principal for the following year, with input from parents, teachers and staff, is set to take place after that, according to Robert Bartels, the Rockville Centre School District’s assistant superintendent for business and personnel.
“It’s just time,” Ricupero, a father of three and grandfather of two, said of retiring, noting that he plans to play golf and go fishing more often.
When he was growing up in Connecticut, Ricupero recalled, his mother’s uncle drove a Mercedes convertible. “What does he do for a living?” Ricupero asked. “He’s an accountant? OK, that’s what I’m going to do.”
But he eventually realized he didn’t want to be tied to a desk, and instead decided to pursue a career working with kids. He graduated from Keene State College in New Hampshire in 1976 with a degree in special education and elementary education. “I always liked the kids who were on the outside circles, so to speak — the kids that weren’t so included,” Ricupero said, adding that he had family members who were intellectually challenged. “I’d go out of my way and partner up with them as a young adult.”
In 1979 he became a special-education teacher at South Side High School, where he worked for 15 years. He became the district’s chairman of special education, and developed an interest in administration. He received a Professional Diploma in Administration in the early 1990s from Queens College, and moved on to South Side Middle School. He spent nine years there, including time as an assistant principal and nearly three years as principal before taking over for Wilson Principal Ann Peluso.
“And that’s how I ended up here,” Ricupero said with a smile as he sat at his desk in Wilson’s main office. “It’s quite unique in a person’s career in education to spend so much time on each level. At every level, I couldn’t tell you how much I enjoyed all the different ages of the kids and the challenges.”
A priority throughout his career, he said, was ensuring that his students and staff members were comfortable and confident. To this day, he said, former students around the village and nearby communities come up to him “and they go, ‘Mr. Ricupero!’” he said. “It’s such a joy to see them at the level that they’re at.”
Spinelli, who was a student at South Side High School while Ricupero worked there, has for the past 15 years served as Ricupero’s “right-hand man, even though I’m a woman,” she said, laughing. She noted his wealth of experience, his emphasis on the importance of family and his even-tempered nature in the face of everyday obstacles.
“I’d come into the office and be like, ‘We have a big problem,’” Spinelli recalled. “And he’d be like, ‘No problem, just concerns, just questions, and it’s all going to work out.’”
Spinelli recalled writing a grant with Ricupero to get a greenhouse for Wilson students. The school has had a garden club for more than 10 years, she added.
“It’s bittersweet,” she said of his retirement. “We’re going to be sad at Wilson, but we’re happy that he’s ready to move on to the next chapter in his life.”
Superintendent Dr. William Johnson, who came to the district the same year as Ricupero, noted the variety of roles he has filled during his four decades in the district. “Every single one of his positions, he has shown a commitment, not just to Rockville Centre and its children, but to the profession itself, and has built a career around that commitment,” Johnson said.
He added that Ricupero was “one of the early movers and shakers” on the district’s inclusion program, which was developed in the mid-1990s. Ricupero, recalling the days when special-education students were taught only in self-contained classrooms, said he was proud that children with special needs are now included with their general-education peers.
He said he would miss the staff members he has built relationships with, but perhaps mostly, he will miss the children. “The kids make it all,” he said. “Sometimes it may be tough getting out of bed in the morning. … Once you get to school and you see the kids, they just brighten your day.”
Ricupero scanned the bulletin board behind his desk for one of his favorite quotes. Realizing he had misplaced it, he did his best to recite it from memory. “The impact of an educator,” he said. “You never know when it ends as people take what they learn. It just spreads exponentially.”
