Kevin Case of Barkhamsted will take over the superintendent’s office at Botelle School on July 1, where he replaces retiring Superintendent Mary Beth Iacobelli.
It is the fulfillment of a long-time goal for Case, who said he “always had my eye” on the superintendent position at Botelle.
“I like small schools. I feel that you can really get to know the students, their families and the faculty—and I love the multi-age class groupings in Norfolk,” he said. “I feel like I am coming full circle.”
An education veteran of nearly 40 years, he has always worked in small school districts, starting his career at age 29 in Warren and retiring as superintendent of the Canton School District 37 years later. In his hometown, he was on the Region #7 Board of Education, was a member of the Shared Services Committee and was chairman of the Barkhamsted school board.
He was superintendent in Canton for 17 years before retiring. “I was fortunate to be able to stay in one community for so long, but my heart was telling to step aside for a new leader with different ideas,” he said. “I felt I had taken it to a level of excellence and needed to find a new challenge.”
He sat “at home for three months doing nothing and couldn’t stand it” before becoming interim superintendent in Plainville when Steven LePage left to become superintendent at Region #7. “I am thrilled to have Steve so close by again,” he said.
Since 2023, Case has also served as the executive coach for the Association of School Superintendents’ Science of Reading curriculum and as interim head at the Masters School in Simsbury.
While in Canton, he opposed regionalization of that school district, but says each situation is unique. “In Canton, we had close to 1,700 students,” he related, “and I didn’t want to regionalize with other school districts. But we did have two examples of sharing services. We had one food service director for three towns, and we combined the finance offices for the town and the Board of Education, which was very efficient and required fewer employees.”
Case does not want to be perceived as anti-regionalization, however. “This year we have close to 60 students at Botelle,” he said. “If that declines, we will have to do something about that. I am open to hearing what everyone has to say.”