LYNN — As she prepares to take the helm as interim superintendent of schools on Aug. 12, Deputy Superintendent of Schools Debra Ruggiero, in a wide ranging interview with the Item Thursday, discussed her background in the Lynn Public School District, the mark that she wants to make on the district, and one of her guiding principles — that there’s no such thing as “not my job.”
The School Committee voted unanimously last week to appoint Ruggiero interim superintendent of schools for the 2022-2023 school year, filling the vacancy left by the impending resignation of current Superintendent Dr. Patrick Tutwiler, who recommended her for the interim post.
Ruggiero said that she is not interested in applying for the permanent position because she does not meet the diversity requirements or time commitments that she thinks the role requires.
“When I was asked why I didn’t want to apply to be permanent, it really comes down to seeing the impact of having a diverse superintendent — how students reacted to him, how families reacted to him, how our staff of color interacted with him, and I feel very strongly that this district needs a diverse person,” she said. “The other piece is we need someone who’s gonna be here for the long haul. I have no intention of leaving at least within the next three years, maybe four, I don’t know, so I feel we need someone for four or more years. We need someone who’s gonna be here for a while.”
Growing up in Lynn with a darker-skinned mother and two sisters makes it easy for Ruggiero to relate and connect with those facing racial inequity, and she thinks that the superintendent should be someone in which students of color can see themselves.
“I can connect to the staff and students of Lynn because of the number of years that I’ve been here, but also because I grew up in poverty. I grew up with trauma in my life,” she said. “My mother, being Portuguese, was darker skinned, and I had two other sisters who were darker skinned and watched them being treated differently, so I can connect to the inequities in the world, but they can’t see themselves in me.”
Becoming interim superintendent is the culmination of decades of experience as an educator in Lynn for Ruggiero, who has worked as a special education teacher, a principal, and a curriculum instruction teacher. She said that it was her fifth grade teacher at Brickett Elementary School who inspired her to dedicate her life to education when she was a child.
“I was that quiet, withdrawn student in the back of the room that you really didn’t pay attention to because you weren’t disruptive, but at the same time you weren’t progressing in your learning. I had a fifth grade teacher at Brickett School who noticed me being that quiet, withdrawn child, and saw the struggles I was having,” Ruggiero said. “That particular fifth grade teacher really spent a lot of time with me after school, her own time, before school to help me gain the confidence that I am smart. She made me want to be a teacher.”
At the heart of Ruggiero’s love for education is her students’ curiosity. She said that she always loved the questions children ask in school, and that she thinks teaching should be centered around meeting the needs of individual students.
“I love education because I’ve always loved watching kids learn and hearing their voices in that learning, really sharing with you their questions, their ‘whys.’ Why do we do this? What does it mean in the real world? Why am I learning this math? What’s it going to do for me later? That connection to the relevance of what we learn and why we learn it and how you use it in the real world is so important and I love watching kids go through that process,” she said. “I always carry that little girl in me, and as a teacher myself, my philosophy is that we are each individuals.”
In her time as superintendent, Ruggiero said that she wants to create a culture in which teachers will not be judged for minor mistakes, but instead, encouraged to rectify them and move forward.
One of Ruggiero’s guiding philosophies is a phrase she learned from her mother.
“There’s no such thing as ‘not my job.’”
She said that even though she’s excited to serve the district next school year, her new title is not as important as the work that has to be done.
“I’ve never been the kind of person who likes the title. I grew up with a mother who always said ‘there’s no such thing as not my job,’ if a job has to get done, you do it,” Ruggiero said. “When I was at Harrington, you would see me in the bathroom with a plunger fixing toilets, or with a mop cleaning the floor, or when it was winter, on the patio of Harrington shoveling to help the custodian … you do what needs to be done when it needs to get done. The title doesn’t matter.”
Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at [email protected].
