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.”
LAKEVILLE — Barbara Meyers DelPrete, 84, passed away Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, at her home. She was the beloved wife of George R. DelPrete for 62 years.
Mrs. DelPrete was born in Burlington, Iowa, on May 31, 1941, daughter of the late George and Judy Meyers. She lived in California for a time and had been a Lakeville resident for the past 55 years.
Survivors, in addition to her husband, George, include son, George R. DelPrete II, daughter, Jena DelPrete Allee, and son Stephen P. DelPrete. Grandchildren; Trey, Cassidy, and Meredith DelPrete, Jack, Will and Finn Allee, and Ali and Nicholas DelPrete.
A Funeral Mass was held at St. Mary’s Church, Lakeville, on Saturday, Oct. 4. May she Rest in Peace.
Ryan Funeral Home, 255 Main St., Lakeville, is in care of arrangements.
To offer an online condolence, please visit ryanfhct.com
SHARON — Shirley Anne Wilbur Perotti, daughter of George and Mabel (Johnson) Wilbur, the first girl born into the Wilbur family in 65 years, passed away on Oct. 5, 2025, at Noble Horizons.
Shirley was born on Aug. 19, 1948 at Sharon Hospital.
She was raised on her parents’ poultry farm (Odge’s Eggs, Inc.).
After graduating from Housatonic Valley Regional High School, she worked at Litchfield County National Bank and Colonial Bank.
She married the love of her life, John, on Aug. 16, 1969, and they lived on Sharon Mountain for more than 50 years.
Shirley enjoyed creating the annual family Christmas card, which was a coveted keepsake.She also enjoyed having lunch once a month with her best friends, Betty Kowalski, Kathy Ducillo, and Paula Weir.
In addition to John, she is survived by her three children and their families; Sarah Medeiros, her husband, Geoff, and their sons, Nick and Andrew, of Longmeadow, Massachusetts, Shelby Diorio, her husband, Mike, and their daughters, Addie, Lainey and Lyla, of East Canaan, Connecticut,Jeffrey Perotti, his wife, Melissa, and their daughters, Annie, Lucy and Winnie, of East Canaan. Shirley also leaves her two brothers, Edward Wilbur and his wife Joan, and David Wilbur; two nieces, three nephews, and several cousins.
At Shirley’s request, services will be private.
Donations in her memory may be made to the Sharon Woman’s Club Scholarship Fund, PO Box 283, Sharon, CT 06069.
The Kenny Funeral Home has care of arrangements.
MILLERTON — Veronica Lee “Ronnie” Silvernale, 78, a lifelong area resident died Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, at Sharon Hospital in Sharon, Connecticut. Mrs. Silvernale had a long career at Noble Horizons in Salisbury, where she served as a respected team leader in housekeeping and laundry services for over eighteen years. She retired in 2012.
Born Oct. 19, 1946, at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, she was the daughter of the late Bradley C. and Sophie (Debrew) Hosier, Sr. Following her graduation from high school and attending college, she married Jack Gerard Silvernale on June 15, 1983 in Millerton, New York. Their marriage lasted thirty-five years until Jack’s passing on July 28, 2018.
Ronnie is survived by her daughter, Jaime Silvernale (Wm. MacDaniel, Sr.) of Millerton, her beloved grandson, Wm. MacDaniel, Jr.; two special nieces, Shannon and Rebecca and a special nephew Sean Hosier. In addition to her parents and husband, she was predeceased by her brother, Bradley C. Hosier, Jr. and her dear friend Ruth Fullerton of Millerton.
Visitation was private. A celebration of Ronnie’s life will be held in the future. Arrangements have been entrusted to the Scott D. Conklin Funeral Home, 37 Park Avenue, Millerton, NY 12546. To send an online condolence to the family or to plant a tree in Ronnie’s memory, please visit www.conklinfuneralhome.com
Christine Gevert, Crescendo’s artistic director, is delighted to announce the start of this musical organization’s 22nd year of operation. The group’s first concert of the season will feature Latin American early chamber music, performed Oct. 18 and 19, on indigenous Andean instruments as well as the virginal, flute, viola and percussion. Gevert will perform at the keyboard, joined by Chilean musicians Gonzalo Cortes and Carlos Boltes on wind and stringed instruments.
This concert, the first in a series of nine, will be held on Oct. 18 at Saint James Place in Great Barrington, and Oct. 19 at Trinity Church in Lakeville.
For those unfamiliar with Crescendo, the award-winning organization was founded in 2003 and brings lesser-known works from the Renaissance and Baroque periods — along with contemporary fusion pieces — to new life. Its performances often blend classical composition with nontraditional instrumentation for a refreshing new take on an established body of work.
Gevert, who is German, Chilean and American, is a conductor, keyboardist and musical scholar. As the multi-national, multi-lingual (German, Spanish and English) creative director, she is a veritable whirlwind of talent, professionalism and inspiration who conceives of new musical treats for her audiences. She also hires and nourishes local talent, sources internationally known vocal and instrumental professionals, and provides her audiences with well-researched program notes for each concert, packaged in lush, full-color programs that resemble illuminated manuscripts.
“It is the excitement about and dedication to the music, along with the prerequisite vocal and instrumental talent, that characterizes a Crescendo member,” said Gevert. “I don’t care about things like how old or young you are or where you’re from — it’s all about bringing these performers together to provide unforgettable musical experiences for its audiences.”
“Traditional audiences for classical music performances tend to skew older,” Gevert continued. “For that reason, I’ve embarked on an effort to reach younger listeners, and have done things like taken a Crescendo choral group to perform at Housatonic Regional High School. I’ve also launched an effort to recruit and train young singers in Baroque singing techniques so they can perform with our existing choral group.”
The upcoming 2025-26 season includes, among other performances, a solo recital and benefit concert on Nov. 22 by the international Baroque opera star and countertenor Nicholas Tamagna. The curated program will include works by Handel, Vivaldi, and Monteverdi.
Two dazzling Christmas concerts follow: on Dec. 6 and 7, Crescendo presents J.S. Bach’s “Sweet Comfort” cantata and Mass in G minor, featuring the full chorus and soloists with a period instrument orchestra. On Dec. 21, the annual Holiday Concert will be presented: “A Tapestry of Traditions: Unraveling the History of Christmas Carols,” with the entire Crescendo vocal ensemble and Gevert on organ.
For the full schedule, concerts details and ticket information, visit: www.crescendomusic.org