Canton’s new super is excited to lead, ready to put down roots

He’s been pegged as a “shooting star,” an energetic, results-driven leader who went from being a student teacher to being the head of a school district in a little less than two decades’ time. But after years of riding the fast track, Jeff Granatino, Canton’s new superintendent of schools, is now ready to settle into a role for the long haul, and so far, Canton feels to him like the perfect fit.

Jeff Granatino

“I’m really thrilled that it worked out the way that it did,” said Granatino, who had considered staying in Norwood, where he had served as interim superintendent for the bulk of the 2009-2010 school year. “Things happen for a reason — I really believe that — and hopefully the decision to go to Canton will work out for me in the long run and hopefully for the district as well.”

Although he is a relative newcomer to central administration, Granatino comes to the Canton Public Schools with a wealth of leadership experience, including stints as an athletic director in Hull and Scituate, vice principal in Scituate and Milton, and principal at Bridgewater-Raynham High School. He has also taught both social studies and English, and in between the two teaching jobs he briefly stepped away from public education to serve as chief of staff for Senator Robert Hedlund of Weymouth.

A political science major at Middlebury College, Granatino said his time at the State House was both interesting and informative, although it was not something he had intended to pursue for a living. He learned a similar lesson coming out of college, when he took a sales job in New York for a couple of years and realized that while he had a task to complete, he was not exactly making a positive difference in people’s lives.

Inspired by a friend and former teacher, Granatino eventually decided to return to Massachusetts where he took up coaching and also began to pursue a teaching career.

“Each step along the way, the more I got immersed in it, the more I enjoyed it,” he said. “And once I got into the classroom and started teaching, it just seemed natural. It was such a familiar setting and I really enjoyed it.”

He soon gravitated toward leadership positions, and after obtaining his master’s degree in educational administration from UMass Boston, he became a full-time administrator — a role he has embraced ever since.

The way Granatino sees it, while a teacher can directly impact his or students, a principal has the opportunity to impact an entire school and a superintendent can do the same for an entire school district. He acknowledged that his latest jump into central administration was intimidating at first, but also well worth the risks.

“Now I have the chance to shape the direction that the entire community is heading in,” he said. “That is one very enticing and really exciting challenge, and one that I’m looking forward to taking on.”

At the same time, Granatino said he will miss the constant interaction with students and staff that he experienced as a building administrator. He also said the superintendent’s job requires a different skill set because the decisions one makes, although larger in scale, are slower to develop.

Granatino described his leadership style as collaborative and collegial and said he is growing as a leader every day.

“I’m not a top-down, my way or the highway type of person,” he said, adding that he fully intends to lean on the knowledge and talents of others within the district.

He also wants the staff to see itself as a true “professional learning community,” and he plans to place a heavy emphasis on experimentation and “out-of-the-box thinking.”

“There’s so much talent in the district,” he said. “I want us to be able to maximize it and to share it with one other.”

As for his educational philosophy, Granatino said it can be summed up in four words: “All students can learn.” He calls it his mantra, and while he admits it sounds trite and perhaps a little simplistic, he believes passionately in the underlying message. He said he will work to ensure that every action taken on the part of administrators, teachers, and staff reflects a commitment to that philosophy — even if it means making changes to long-held practices and instructional strategies.

Outside of education, Granatino’s greatest passion is his family, which includes his wife of 17 years, Karen, and his three children: Will, 11, Katie, 8, and Kelly, 5. They reside in Scituate, where they make frequent use of the beach and all of its associated activities.

Granatino is also an avid Boston sports fan and was a defensive lineman on his college football team. He has extensive coaching experience at various levels and has found that he really enjoys coaching baseball, calling it “exciting and relaxing at the same time.” He recently coached his son’s travel team, and it was a memorable experience as the team made its first-ever trip to the finals.

Now it is time to turn his attention to the opening of school in September, and Granatino, who has spent most of the summer getting acclimated to his new surroundings, cannot wait to get started.

Canton Superintendent Jeff Granatino can be reached at granatinoj@cantonma.org.

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Posted by Jay Turner on Aug 26 2010. Filed under News, Schools. Both comments and pings are currently closed.