Superintendent Carmine Peluso calls leaving RCSD 'my next, best move'

Justin Murphy, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Updated ·2 min read

Hours after the news broke that he'll be leaving the Rochester City School District to lead Churchville-Chili, Superintendent Carmine Peluso said in an exclusive interview that the change was "my next, best move" and said he hopes people agree he had a positive impact on the district.

Peluso, who also worked in Pittsford and East Rochester before advancing as an administrator in RCSD, called Churchville-Chili "a place that melds a lot of my experiences together very nicely."

Beyond generalities, Peluso declined to explain why he's leaving Rochester.

"For this time in my career, it was a personal, professional and family conversation and decision, and nothing else beyond that," he said. "Personally, professionally, my family, where my skill sets lie, I think this is my next, best move."

As a longtime RCSD administrator, Peluso has seen many other superintendents depart, including his immediate predecessor Lesli Myers-Small. Part of the board's reason for hiring him as the permanent leader was the hope that he would stay longer than they did.

"I hope, no matter what people feel, that they'll (agree) that as long as I've been here — from principal to chief to deputy superintendent to superintendent — that I’ve provided to this district everything I can, and that it’s in a better place than when I arrived," he said.

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He pledged to continue working until June 30, helping get the budget passed and making a smooth transition to his interim or permanent successor.

In an interview in September 2022, Peluso was asked how success could be defined for him.

Rochester City School District Superintendent Carmine Peluso pets a therapy dog named Lily while listening to students Xavier Piner and Mari Curry at the Restorative HUB, the district's new restorative practices center at the Frederick Douglass campus.
Rochester City School District Superintendent Carmine Peluso pets a therapy dog named Lily while listening to students Xavier Piner and Mari Curry at the Restorative HUB, the district's new restorative practices center at the Frederick Douglass campus.

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He said, in part: "I come back to really connecting us as one unit, one RCSD. ... I feel like we’re fractured on so many levels and I really want to be collaborative and collective and bring everyone back together for the constructive good of the district."

When asked this week whether he believed he had achieved that goal, he answered: "I think I've been able to do that, to a degree. With the city, the unions, across the board, I've brought more of a collective focus."

Obvious candidates for the interim superintendency are the two deputy superintendents, Ruth Turner and Demario Strickland. A former interim superintendent, Linda Cimusz, remains at central office as a part-time consultant.

Peluso took over for Lesli Myers-Small, who also lasted about two years in the job. Before her was Dade, who remained for less than one year.

— Justin Murphy is a veteran reporter at the Democrat and Chronicle and author of "Your Children Are Very Greatly in Danger: School Segregation in Rochester, New York." Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/CitizenMurphy or contact him at jmurphy7@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Exclusive: Carmine Peluso calls leaving RCSD 'my next, best move'