Longtime Vermont educator, Franklin West Supervisory Union superintendent and all-around nice guy Armando Vilaseca was tapped this week to be Vermont’s new education commissioner, according to this story in today’s Burlington Free Press.
Some readers may recall that Vilaseca isn’t just known for his education credentials. As Seven Days reported in March, Vilaseca, along with three other Vermonters with familial ties to Cuba, filed suit against the U.S. government for new rules that severely curtailed their ability to visit loved ones back in Cuba. Vilaseca, who came to the United States at age 8, was petitioning the government for the right to return to Cuba to visit his terminally ill aunt. (She has since died.) That lawsuit is pending.
This article appears in Nov 19-25, 2008.
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TO WHOM IT CONCERNS via SEVEN DAYS STAFF BLOG:I HAVE HAD OPPORTUNITIES TO OBSERVE VERMONT EDUCATION COMMISSIONER-ELECT Armando Vilaseca IN LEADERSHIP POSITIONS. I WAS IMPRESSED GREATLY BY HIS COMPETENCY, INTEREST IN YOUTH DEVELOPMENT, AND THE RESPECT HE RECEIVED FROM HIS COLLEAGUES. I BELIEVE HE BRINGS (TO THE VT COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION POSITION) THE COMMITMENT, EXPERIENCE, AND VISION NEEDED TO ENHANCE OUR VT EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM’S RESPONSIBLE PRODUCTIVITY IN OUR EMERGING … DIVERSE, GLOBAL COMMUNITIES.SINCERELY, ROY V. HILL II FRANKLYN COUNTY, VTNovember 24, 2008
Mr. Vileseca was principal at Essex HS when I was there, and he was by far the most fair and respectable person in that institution. I’m glad he’s in charge now!