Mr. Pinizzotto’s Last CAPA Profile?

Juliet Staresinic, grade 9

It’s 7:30 in the morning, and you’ve barely made it to school without falling asleep on the bus. You unzip your bag, hopefully not forgetting anything metal in your pockets, and step through the metal detector while Mr. Pinizzotto checks your bag, wearing a long-sleeved plaid shirt and miraculously stringing words into sentences and sentences into one-sided conversation with students he knows walking through the door, responding with mumbles and single words.

Or maybe you’re at lunch, or doing math worksheets, or catching up on science homework. You can hear Mr. Pinizzotto’s keys jingle from almost anywhere in the building as he goes about his day, into meetings and helping any student or teacher who needs him—though you may have though you may have trouble getting in touch with him over email. Behind the scenes supporting CAPA, Mr. Pinizzotto has always been busy. This is no exception now, with Dr. Pearlman’s recent promotion to assistant superintendent, where Mr. Pinizzotto has been taking on extra responsibilities.

Though he helps CAPA every day, Mr. Pinizzotto never imagined being a teacher as a child—in fact, for years after college, he worked in sales. He graduated with a degree in marketing and business and worked as a salesman. “I didn’t like that, in order to get ahead, you had to lie to people to make the sale,” he said. So, while working as a substitute teacher in between jobs, he got his education degree in 1992, hoping educating and guiding students was a better fit for his morals.

After starting in student services, he came to CAPA as a teacher 32 years ago, then transitioned to activities director, teacher again, and now assistant principal. “It just snuck up on me. 32 years. It’s crazy,” he said. “And I know I don’t look that old.” Mr. Pinizzotto found that he loves teaching. He loves when students help him, he loves helping students, and he especially loves when graduated students come back to tell him.

Mr. Pinizzotto moves in and out of meetings and manages to help every student who comes his way. But he still makes time for family. Growing up with a teacher as a mother, he knows how difficult that can be. “I know when she came home, she wasn’t very patient with us, my brother and me,” he said. “I think that it can put stress on your own family, just like many jobs can, but the good side of it is I was always there to meet my daughters off the bus in elementary school.” His unending dedication and love for his family and hope to spend more time hiking with his dogs could be why these are his last few years as an educator. Or maybe he just wants more time to golf.

Though it has not been officially announced, in our interview Mr. Pinizzotto disclosed his desire to finally retire. “This is a hard job—teaching is a hard job, this is hard job, and I’m not getting any younger,” he said. CAPA has said goodbye to many teachers over the years, but Mr. Pinizzotto will be greatly missed for long after he’s gone—from the metal detectors at ungodly hours in the morning, to his eerily similar checkered shirts, to the sound of his keys jangling through the halls on every floor.