Dr. Joseph Capezzuto
Dr. Joseph Capezzuto is a lifelong educator, starting his career as a Special Education certified teacher and later becoming an administrator. He has worked extensively with students who don’t “fit” into a general education class, as the first teacher in a city-wide class for teenagers with mental health diagnoses, for example, and teaching in self-contained classes for students who had been suspended for weapons possession or violence in their home schools.
Joe has a gift for remaining calm in a crisis, defusing emotional situations, and working collaboratively towards real solutions. This has served him well as a School Administrator, as he established connections with parents and provided disciplinary support for children and supervisory support for teachers. As a District Administrator, his first assignment was to place children with special needs according to their IEP’s in a wide variety of private and public settings. This led him to a twenty-year mission to create a workable School of Choice practice based on a Board policy designed as a “rising tide that would float all boats:” i.e. allow individual schools to improve and specialize in order to improve the system’s options overall. In his longest-term role as the Director of Student Equity and Placement, he annually managed the placements of over 20,000 general education students and over 2000 students with special needs. As an administrator, he relied on understandable data, as some information is always better than none. He frequently presented his findings to the Superintendent’s Cabinet and the Board of Education, in addition to numerous parent, civic and advocacy groups.
In addition to his Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral degrees, Dr. Capezzuto has served as an Educational Consultant for the Rochester NAACP. He has a Certificate of Advanced Study, and holds permanent New York State Certifications in Elementary Education (N-6), Special Education (N-21), School Administrator/ Supervisor, and School District Administrator. His research interest is in the connection between School Choice and Student Achievement. Joe is the proud parent of one college graduate and one college student.