Tony+Baldasaro+-+SAU+16

Hello, my name is Tony Baldasaro. As you might guess from the image to the left, I am married (Kelli) and have three kids (Ben 9, Beth 8, & Emma 5). In this particular picture, we are at the top of Mt. Major, a small mountain in New Hampshire with spectacular views of [|Lake Winnipesaukee] in the background.

In my professional life, I serve two rolls. My primary job is Assistant Superintendent of Schools for SAU 16 in Exeter, NH. Our SAU (School Administrative Unit) has six elementary schools, one middle school, one high school, a regional technical school and a charter school. In total, we educate about 6,000 students and we are one of the largest SAU's in the state of New Hampshire.

I am also an administrator at New Hampshire's only public virtual high school, The Virtual Learning Academy Charter School. In addition to developing a supervision and evaluation program for the school's rapidly growing faculty (The school opened with 40 teachers in January 2008. We now have more than 150), I serve as the school's Personalized Pathways (P2) Coordinator. VLACS has very quickly become a disrupting force in New Hampshire public education as our enrollment has exploded from 700 in January of '08 to an estimated 9,000 in October of '09. This has not only triggered many debates at the state level relative to funding, but also pushed conversations in the education community toward a more flexible approach to educating New Hampshire students. It is an incredible feeling knowing that you are part of a team of educators changing the way students are educated. Intoxicating really.

In addition, I have worked hard to expand my professional learning network, especially since attending Will and Sheryl's Web2.0 Bootcamp for Administrators in Philly this past summer. I tweet regularly, bookmark on delicious and diigo (prefer diigo), write in [|my blog] at least weekly, and have begun to develop a presence on Linked In. And, like many other people, I have developed a particular addiction to Facebook- although I don't understand why people who would give me the time of day twenty years ago in high school suddenly think we are friends!

In my personal life, I obviously spend a lot of time with my family. We live in Stratham, NH which is ten minutes from the New Hampshire seacoast, and an hour from the lake and mountains to the north or Boston to to the south. If I am not at work, I am usually at a hockey rink, a soccer field, a football field, a basketball court, a baseball/softball diamond, or cross country meet cheering on my kids in some sort of sporting event. Like many kids, my kids like to be active and be with friends and Kelli and I feel really lucky to have three healthy children who enjoy doing the things that kids enjoy doing. When we have time, we enjoy going to Lake Winnipesaukee and the beach (I much prefer the lake over the beach), going geocaching, cheering on the Red Sox and Patriots both on TV and in person, and taking short, family-friendly hikes. We also really like going to Boston for an afternoon or weekend to try to absorb some of the energy that at big city exudes.

Finally, we typically take 2 or 3 trips to Tampa, Florida each year. Kelli's aunt and uncle live there and they welcome us with open arms. Having done this now for nearly a decade, we sometimes consider Tampa our second home, although we are very happy to live - and raise our kids - where we do!

So, let me leave you with my contact information: Cell phone: 603.793.1836 Twitter: baldy7 skype: tbaldasaro email: tbaldasaro@gmail.com

I really look forward to working with... and learning from... you.

Tony