Outgoing Region One super reflects on teaching tenure

Superintendent Lisa Carter is retiring at the end of this month after 21 years as an educator and administrator with the Region One school district.
Debra A. Aleksinas
Superintendent Lisa Carter is retiring at the end of this month after 21 years as an educator and administrator with the Region One school district.
NORFOLK — When Lisa Carter joined the Region One school district in 2002 as a social studies teacher at Housatonic Valley Regional High School (HVRHS,) following her work with the U.S. State Department where she helped write the curriculum for teaching Foreign Service Officers how to speak Mandarin Chinese, she envisioned retiring in that role.
She never imagined her teaching position would serve as a steppingstone toward a 21-year career in education, capped by her appointment as superintendent, with responsibility for leading and managing seven schools and seven boards of education, as well as one regional school board, during one of the most tumultuous times in the history of American education.
In an interview in late May at The Hub in Norfolk, her hometown, Carter reflected on her tenure with the Region One school district, from which she is stepping down at the end of June.
“I’ve done a lot of things, but this has been the most rewarding career that I’ve had in my life. I never thought I’d have the opportunity to learn from so many people, and for me to have impact on the lives of so many people, and to send our students out into the world with big dreams and aspirations, along with the confidence to achieve those dreams,” said Carter.
Prior to becoming superintendent of the Region One school district — which includes, in addition to the regional high school, six elementary schools: Lee H. Kellogg, Cornwall Consolidated, Kent Center, North Canaan Elementary, Salisbury Central and Sharon Center— she held the position of assistant superintendent from 2017 to 2020.
Carter, who earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mandarin Chinese and a minor in Business from Georgetown University, a master’s in business administration from the University of Southern California and a second Master’s in Educational Leadership from Central Connecticut State University, served as Salisbury Central School Principal from 2011 to 2017, after teaching social studies at HVRHS for nine years, from 2002 to 2011.
The China Connection
Carter, who has two sons, was born in Georgia in 1956. “I lived there for 10 days. My father was in the service and was sent to France for 18 months. Today, at age 91, he still feels bad for missing the first 18 months of my life,” she explained.
She and two younger brothers grew up Pittsburgh, and she eventually went off to college at Georgetown University, where she majored in Chinese and minored in business. Carter spent her junior year in Taiwan. “This was before you could go to Mainland China. It helped me with the fluency of the language,” she recalled.
After graduation, she landed a job with the U.S. State Department. By that time, she noted, Mainland China opened up and people were being assigned there. Carter worked with a team that created curriculum used to train diplomats looking to relocate to Bejing.
“I had always thought I wanted to be in the diplomatic corps,” she explained. So she attended a diplomatic language learning center in Arlington, Va., in preparation for her service exam. “I really wanted to go to Mainland China, which had been closed off to the rest of the world, and wanted to be one of the first people to see what it was like.”
Carter recalled the disappointment of finding out that it was “highly unlikely” that she would be posted in China as a junior member of the Corps, as it was a “plum assignment” reserved for longer tenured staff.
The then 23-year-old received another disappointment upon learning that a job as an office assistant with Dravo Corporation, where she was to assist with opening their office in Beijing, fell through when they did not get the contract.
For the next five years, Carter worked closely with the engineering teams on Union Oil Company in California. “The development was so rapid,” she recalled. “The Chinese people are so friendly and so loving and it was really great to get to know them and see them come alive and open themselves up to industrialization. And I got one of my dreams.”
After meeting her future husband, she moved to New York City, got married and had two sons, now ages 27 and 30. She was hired by real estate maven Barbara Corcoran, selling co-ops and condos. Referring to her new boss, “she was a pistol,” noted Carter. “I liked the people in the business, but I did not like the business.”
The family relocated from the Big Apple to Norfolk, where they had a “big circle of friends.”
“I always wanted to be a teacher, but I didn’t think the kids would like me. I was pretty serious as a young woman and didn’t have a lot of confidence and belief in myself.”
Prompted by teachers at the high school, she applied to Salisbury Central and HVRHS as a substitute teacher, hoping to get hired as a history teacher. She obtained her teacher certification and a year later was hired full time when a position opened up at the high school.
‘The ideal leader’ during a volatile period
While at the high school, Carter opened the relationship with the Shandong Experimental School in Jinan, China, and introduced the Civic Life Project, a program that teaches civics through the production of short documentary films.
“I loved teaching there, and I had great colleagues,” she noted. “We were always keeping track of current events and helping kids see the connections between what came before and what’s happening now.”
In many ways, Carter’s background shaped her success as a teacher and administrator.
HVRHS Principal Ian Strever put it this way: “Lisa’s experience prior to becoming a teacher brought a worldly and innovative thinker to Region One. Her creative and flexible problem solving made her the ideal leader during what has been one of the most volatile periods in American education shepherding us through a pandemic, massive societal change, and a wave of legislation that has redefined the purpose of school.”
In 2020, Carter had settled into her role as assistant superintendent, when the superintendent’s job opened up.
“They chose me and believed in me in a very difficult time, supported by every single board member and a 50-person transition team,” Carter recalled. The group met weekly and was tasked with “making decisions on how to open up the schools when very few schools were doing that. As stressful as that was, it was so much better for the students than to be at home and on the computer.”
From nurses to bus drivers, paralegals and teachers, town and state health and education officials, as well as the Litchfield County superintendents’ group, “everyone leaned in and every person touched my life and I touched theirs in a really meaningful collaboration.”
Patricia Mechare, chair of the Region One Board and the Lee H. Kellogg Board of Education, praised Carter’s leadership and flexibility during that tumultuous time. She described Carter as a “wonderful partner to all our schools and a very effective superintendent.”
As for what comes next for Carter, she is looking forward to the next chapter in her career as Assistant Executive Director with EdAdvance in Litchfield, which is a full-time position, “but will not demand as much of my time.”
NORTH CANAAN —Searchers were out on Lower Road in North Canaan Monday morning, Aug. 4, looking for an elderly man last seen Saturday morning, Aug. 2.
Two of the men looking for Rafael Perez, age 71, were his son, also named Rafael Perez, and grandson, Sebastian Arango.
The missing man is described as a Hispanic male, white hair, brown eyes, 5’8” inches tall, 150 pounds. He was wearing a black shirt, blue shorts and black shoes. He has scars on his forehead and both knees.
Arango said his grandfather was last seen around 11:30 a.m. Saturday heading east on Route 44 and then south on Deely Road toward a cornfield and the north bank of the Blackberry River.
Arango said that area was searched yesterday and they were expanding the search along Lower Road.
Perez Jr. said his father has Parkinson’s disease and dementia.
State police and a search team of about 40 people were out looking down near Deely Road on Monday, Aug. 4.
The search party Monday, Aug. 4, focused its efforts in the area around Deely Road and the Blackberry River in North Canaan.Patrick L. Sullivan
SALISBURY — The tragedy on New York’s Park Avenue Tuesday, July 29, has been felt deeply in the Northwest Corner.
One of the victims, Wesley Mittman LePatner, was shot and killed along with three others by a gunman who then took his own life. At 43, she was a senior executive at Blackstone, which is housed in the same building at the National Football League. Early reports surmise the shooter, who traveled from Las Vegas, was aiming at those connected to the NFL because of injuries he sustained playing the game in high school. Sources said LePatner, an innocent bystander, was struck down in the building’s lobby.
LePatner had strong ties to the area from an early age and she and her family had a weekend home on Spruce Lane. Accolades have poured in over social media about the woman who was extremely bright, passionate about many causes and active in a variety of organizations.
Those who worked at The Lakeville Journal remember the spirited teenager who served as the paper’s first summer intern in 1997. A self-motivator, she would enthusiastically seek out stories, ready to take on any challenge. Janet Manko, who was then the publisher, said, “Her work spoke for her talent and motivation. I did see her representing the enthusiasm of a young person, as only high school students can bring to the table. That was my first year at the Journal, so I did think, ‘Wow! This is great! The Journal has such talented and connected interns!’”
Le Patner set the standard and the program has gone on to host numerous interns, including the eight in this summer’s program.
She went to Yale University after studying at the Horace Mann School in New York City. On her first day at college, she met Evan LePatner, who later became her husband. Majoring in history, she graduated summa cum laude and was very active in many aspects of campus life. Her first position after college was in the real estate division of Goldman Sachs. Currently, she was a senior executive at Blackstone.
A statement from Blackstone read, “Words cannot express the devastation we feel. Wesley was a beloved member of the Blackstone family and will be sorely missed. She was brilliant, passionate, warm, generous, and deeply respected within our firm and beyond. She embodied the best of Blackstone. Our prayers are with her husband, children and family. We are also saddened by the loss of the other innocent victims as well, including brave security personnel and NYPD.”
She served on the board of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University Library Council and Advisory Board of Governors of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts. She was actively involved in the Jewish community, serving on the board of the Abraham Joshua Heschel School, a pluralistic Jewish school, the UJA-Federation of New York, a Jewish organization, and was a member of Hevreh of Southern Berkshire in Great Barrington, Mass.
Rabbi Jodie Gordon of Hevreh posted, “Wesley and her family have been a beloved part of our religious school community since 2020. She was wise-hearted, generous, and deeply committed to the Jewish people. Whenever she was here with us at Hevreh, her warmth and love for her family shone through, especially last spring when we celebrated together with the LePatner family at the Bat Mitzvah of their daughter Emerson.
Perhaps her deep commitment to Judaism was fostered by her grandparents, the late Barbara and Frank Roth. Barbara Roth, who passed away in 2020 at the age of 90, was a well-known real estate agent. She and her husband were noted for founding the Connecticut Northwest Corner Jewish Community Group which helped develop a sense of Jewish pride and community among their neighbors. She very often represented the Jewish population in ecumenical events in town.
The LePatners have had a home on Spruce Lane for seven years and are part of the Burton Road Association. President James Sok sent out a notice to members relaying the devastating news in which he said, “They were truly wonderful neighbors and cherished friends. Our connection to Wesley runs deep, as Debbie and I were close with her grandparents, Barbara and Frank Roth. Through their stories, we followed Wesley’s journey from her childhood in Lakeville, through her college years, and into her early career. We were overjoyed when she and Evan became our neighbors, bringing their warmth and kindness to our community.”
He continued, “Wesley was an exceptional person whose presence touched so many lives. Her loss is profoundly felt, and it’s difficult to comprehend how such a tragedy could befall someone so full of light and goodness. Debbie and I, along with many of you who knew her, are grappling with the immense sadness of her absence...Wesley’s memory will live on in the countless ways she made our community and the world a better place. She will be deeply missed by all who had the privilege of knowing her.”
In addition to her husband and daughter, LePatner is survived by her son Jonathan and parents, Ellyn and Lawrence Mittman.
The July 31 referendum in Kent, Warren and Washington banned wakesurfing on Lake Waramaug.
The sport of wakesurfing is now banned on lake Waramaug as the result of a decisive tri-town vote held on Thursday, July 31.
Voters in Kent, Warren and Washington, the three towns that border Lake Waramaug, approved the ordinance with 1452 residents ultimately voting in favor of banning the sport against 421 opposed to it.
Kent had the steepest margin in favor of the ordinance, which had to be voted through by all three towns to take effect. About 83% of Kent residents voted for the ban, totaling 468 yeses. Only 96 voted no.
In Washington, 649 voted in favor and 186 voted in opposition. Warren, the closest vote, saw 335 yes votes and 139 no.
The ordinance, which was drafted over the course of several years by the Lake Waramaug Authority, holds that any boats which operate in “surf mode,” meaning they draw water into the ballasts to create larger wakes, will be fined $250 per infraction. Wakesurfing differs from wakeboarding in that the boats move slowly, with ballast weight, to create a larger wave for participants to surf on behind the boat.
Wakesurfing is the only activity regulated by the ban.
The ordinance has been the subject of contentious public discourse for months, with sparring road signs lining streets in the three towns. Proponents of the ban have cited potential ecological damage and public safety as reasons to end the sport on the lake, while opponents have decried the action as an unnecessary and drastic infringement on resident’s right to recreate.
On vote night in Washington, resident Craig Wilbur stated he was voting no on the ban, describing it as “an overreach.”
“The lake seems like it’s the healthiest it’s ever been,” he added. His young daughter chimed in: “All boats make waves.”
Another voting resident, Lila Nelson, went the other way, stating that she felt the lake was too small to accommodate the activity. “There are a lot of big lakes around here where you can go wakesurfing,” she said, listing Candlewood Lake and Bantam Lakes as two larger alternatives.