28-year trek to top of Tech

LYNN – When Robert Buontempo Jr.?s wife, Dotty, asked him if he wanted her to throw a party to celebrate his hiring as Lynn Vocational Technical Institute?s new director, Buontempo replied, “I?d rather just celebrate with you.”Buontempo has been married 29 years and he has worked at Tech for 28, beginning as a teacher in the automobile-collision-repair program. School Committee member Rick Starbard, who worked for years with Buontempo in the Tech auto shop, said he is the “perfect choice” to be the school?s new leader.School Superintendent Dr. Catherine C. Latham called Buontempo Wednesday morning to tell him he would succeed retiring Tech Director Diane Paradis. Starbard called the other finalist for the Tech job, English High School Vice Principal John Pavia, also “a great choice” for the directorship.Buontempo?s goals for the 787-student school include improving instruction and raising state comprehensive assessment scores. Boosting Tech from Level 3 performance status in the state?s eyes is a challenge Starbard is confident his friend of 30 years can meet.?I have no doubt he will accomplish that. He is a great organizer and a great listener,” Starbard said.Buontempo, 54, has been assistant principal at Tech since 2009. His Tech career includes serving as vocational cluster department head, class advisor, review committee co-chairman, and as the school?s bullying and harassment-prevention coordinator.He said his promotion sparked an outpouring of support from his 125 Tech colleagues. Buontempo said serving as director gives him a chance to build on “the academic rigor” Paradis instilled in Tech following her 2010 hiring.?I like the chance of giving kids an opportunity to become successful,” he said.A Saugus native, Buontempo grew up loving cars, including a memorable Chevrolet Super Sport. He passed the admissions test for Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational School and went to work for Sea Crest Cadillac after graduation. When he was asked to help hire new, young workers, Buontempo sought out vocational teachers for recommendations and one of them told him, “Why don?t you teach?”He thought about the question for a few years before finding the answer on the day former Tech Director Albert Malagrifa convinced him to quit his Bennett Street body shop job and start teaching on Neptune Boulevard.Buontempo wants to build on the reemergence of Tech?s machine shop as a training ground for good-paying jobs. He wants to research expanding shop offerings to flourishing fields such as heating and ventilation, plant management and medical technologies.?It?s a field that has so many jobs,” he said.Even as director, he still intends to be one of the first employees to arrive at Tech on school mornings and one of the last to leave at the end of the day – even with a three-hour round-trip commute to his Gilmanton, N.H. home.Buontempo and his wife have two children, Brandi, 25, and Robert III, 23.