Longtime area superintendent ready to enjoy next chapter after more than 50 years in area schools

Joseph Dimperio is a name synonymous with Western Pennsylvania public education.

For more than 50 years, Dimperio has either taught, mentored, helped or led area school districts, seemingly making an impact everywhere he’s been.

In total, he has worked with more than 10 area school districts, taught adjunct educational leadership classes at local universities and served as a hearing officer or arbitrator for legal issues involving education.

Although it’s likely that his most recent assignment, temporarily leading the Chartiers Valley School District, will be his last time serving in an interim role, he says he’s always available to assist and provide advice when needed.

“He’s got a really strong desire to be of service and make a difference,” said Joe Appel, a school director in the Carlynton School District. “He might not have been a Carlynton guy for his career, but we consider him part of the district.”

Love of teaching

Dimperio grew up in Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood neighborhood, where his father was a local grocer. He graduated from South High School and knew he wanted to pursue a career in education, particularly as a history teacher.

“I loved history and couldn’t get enough of it,” said Dimperio, 82, of Mt. Lebanon.

In the mid-1970s, he became a high school history teacher in the Western Beaver School District.

“I enjoyed the students that thought they weren’t interested in history,” he said. “I tried to excite them about the many opportunities they could have from studying history.”

Dimperio spent three years at Western Beaver before returning to the city, where he taught at Schenley High School for about 10 years. Then the opportunity came for Dimperio to lead Sterrett Classical Academy, a magnet school for middle school children in Point Breeze. Its curriculum was focused on historical timelines.

“It was right up my alley,” Dimperio said. “It became a successful school. People stood in line for a day or two to try to get their children in it. … Students from all over the city wanted to come to it. They heard about the academic success we were achieving there.”

Dick Wallace, then-superintendent for Pittsburgh Public Schools, then promoted him to Central Office for a “really interesting and brand new job,” where he, along with a cadre of others, were tasked with reimagining teaching in the classroom, Dimperio said.

They established teacher centers where the district would train teachers — not because they were doing anything wrong, but simply encouraging them to rethink what they were doing. It promoted lesson designs over lesson plans.

“It turned the teachers around,” Dimperio said. “We said, ‘Let’s look at teaching in a different, more organized way.’”

Many of the things taught still are applicable today, Dimperio said. The program directed teachers to let students know what the learning objectives were for the day’s lesson, so that when they’d leave class for the day, they knew what they should have learned.

It also, wanted teachers to make an effort to begin the next day’s lesson with key concepts students learned the day before.

“The motto I’ve lived by as superintendent — even in temporary roles — I always say I started life in this business as a teacher and I try to never forget that, and all the challenges teachers have and how much respect I have for them.”

He also emphasizes to teachers the importance of their role.

“Teachers are a major influence on kids,” he said. “They take you home with them. I told the teachers (at Chartiers Valley) when I started: Don’t let a kid who is misbehaving cause you to give up … some kids defy you to like them. And if you can get past that, they can move you along.”

Superintendent career

In 1987, Dimperio took a leap and became superintendent of the Ambridge Area School District.

He said he got the position for two reasons: he was also a lawyer, and one of the board members said hiring Dimperio would be “two for the price of one.”

While working in education, Dimperio earned his law degree from Duquesne University because “it was one of those things that always interested me, and quite frankly, I wanted to see if I could do it.”

He’s been tapped as an arbitrator and hearing officer for legal matters regarding education.

“My wife had to keep the ship afloat at home,” Dimperio said. “My daughters have always done well. My wife did it all and never complained.”

The second reason, he said, was knowing that Ambridge won the state championship for basketball 20 years prior. Being from the city, Dimperio wasn’t too familiar with Ambridge but recalled on the drive to the town there was a large sign celebrating the team’s championship.

When the board asked him what he knew about Ambridge, Dimperio said the school won the championship in 1967, which lit up board members faces, he said.

At Ambridge, Dimperio prided himself on the relationship between administrators and teachers. He spent five years in the Beaver County district and, when he left, the teachers’ union gave him a brass, four-leaf clover with the union officers’ names attached. He still has it.

“I was able to build a very positive relationship with the teachers,” he said. “If something was reasonable, we got it done.”

While he loved his time at Ambridge, he noted a long commute to the job. The superintendent position at West Mifflin Area School District opened up and, Dimperio said, “in those days, superintendencies were not revolving doors.”

Knowing West Mifflin had a good reputation, and the odds of another superintendent position opening up were slim, Dimperio applied for the job. He was West Mifflin’s superintendent from 1991 to 2001.

The district, during Dimperio’s tenure, accomplished a lot of construction and building projects, including renovations to elementary schools and the district’s high school; as well as an athletic stadium project that was state-of-the-art at the time. It also saw growth in student academic achievement, he said.

Pat Sable, former business manager for West Mifflin Area and a current South Park school board member, remembered Dimperio’s interview for West Mifflin superintendent. His credentials and experience “were second to none,” Sable said.

But Sable also was impressed with Dimperio’s ability to communicate and teach others.

“One of the best things he does is communicate well with the community,” Sable said. “He understands the relationship with the community is important.”

All that mixed together made for a strong superintendent, Sable said.

“In my opinion, he’s at the top of the list when it comes to superintendents, and he’s proven it time and time again,” Sable said.

Filling in

Although Dimperio formally retired in 2001, he still couldn’t stay away from public education.

In the meantime, he filled in as either acting or interim superintendent, or led the superintendent search, at an array of different districts, including Peters Township, Carlynton, South Side Beaver, Allegheny Valley, Sto-Rox, Bethel Park and Upper St. Clair.

“I think it’s how you start off,” Dimperio said of the temporary roles. “It’s asking them what the goals are and trying to fulfill them, and that you’re there to be of service to them and do a better job. That’s what my philosophy is.”

Dimperio said he tells each board that he will treat the position like a full-time job, and gives out his cellphone number to reach him with questions or comments.

Dimperio was filling in at Bethel Park when the covid-19 pandemic hit. While many in that situation might have stepped away because they were just filling in temporarily, Dimperio addressed things head-on, said Zeb Jansante, a former administrator at Bethel Park and current principal of North Catholic High School.

“He was the leader that carried us through it,” Jansante said. “When we needed him, he was there for us. Many would have quit, and he didn’t.”

Dimperio said he’s been fortunate enough to always have accommodating and conscientious school boards. He recalled his time at Sto-Rox and how he wasn’t sure what he would be getting into when he started there.

“One of the things impressive about Sto-Rox was their school board,” Dimperio said. “It’s a very challenging school district, but the school board and board president were doing everything they could to make the school a better place for kids to go to.”

Superintendent searches have become challenging in that the public’s opinion must be considered but, ultimately, the school directors select the next leader, Dimperio said. That’s based on what they see as the district’s needs.

Often, people want someone with a visible presence, commitment to the district and who works well with principals, Dimperio said.

Such was the case at Carlynton, where Dimperio is known as a “great friend” to the district, Appel said. He embodies ethical leadership and also knows how to understand different personalities.

“He’s so experienced. There’s nothing he hasn’t seen or done. It’s a steadying hand.”

Dimperio also had a strong relationship with the board, staff and community.

“He really earns your trust and he does that by being clear with what his objectives are, and coming out and accomplishing those objectives,” Appel said.

Job of superintendents has evolved

Superintendent searches are more common now than ever because, Dimperio thinks, administrators are more swayed to take opportunities when they have the chance. It’s also attractive for administrators to move from a smaller district to a larger one, and seize the challenge.

“When superintendents come in, it can be challenging,” Dimperio said. “You want to work with teachers and get them moving, and work with administrators and get them moving. But the biggest and most important thing is you have to work well with the board, and the board president.

“Successful superintendents make it work with their boards.”

It’s also important for superintendents to know that they won’t always get what they want — and that’s not the end of the world, he said. He’s taught business and leadership classes at Duquesne and Carnegie Mellon University, and said his own leadership style has become more tolerant.

Other keys to success for educational leaders, Dimperio said, include managing the district in a financially sound way, making strides with student achievement and having a commitment to the community — such as attending school and community events.

When dealing with people who are upset about a situation, leaders should address it the best they can, explain why the district made the decisions it did and what the next steps are. He said situations involving students can be tricky, because the district wants to put people’s minds at ease without crossing privacy laws.

That’s all part of how the education field has evolved over the years. He ranked the top three challenges districts face today as school safety, student achievement and district finances.

Dimperio said when he first started, school safety wouldn’t have even entered his mind, but massacres at Columbine and Sandy Hook have put that at the forefront of conversations surrounding education today.

Districts also have to look at how they deal with finances. Schools are receiving less state support, and federal funding in place due to the pandemic has since ended, he said.

“The cost of (operating) schools goes up each year, and you have to keep up with it,” he said.

There’s also been a strong focus on every child — of all abilities — succeeding. He thinks schools have become more academic, with the advent of electronics and an emphasis on vocational schools to get children ready for different careers.

He said he’s thankful to Chartiers Valley — and his other districts — for accepting him.

“When it comes down to it, it always comes down to the people,” he said.