His wisdom will be missed in Hillsborough.
Some people can be found to be in the right place at the right time but most often only in hindsight.
We think Hillsborough residents will come to view Tom Venanzi, the school district’s assistant superintendent for business, in this light after Mr. Venanzi moves to his new post with the Montgomery School District in October after 20 years in Hillsborough.
Sitting in his chair at the school administration, he’s had his fingers on the pulse of the schools through a period of phenomenal growth in students, classrooms and the size of the school budget.
Managing the finances of a $100 million enterprise is not a simple task, but Mr. Venanzi remains as thoroughly knowledgeable about the line items as he ever was.
Or, we believe, anyone will ever be.
In the coming months, the Board of Education has the unenviable task of replacing two of three key administrators. While it appears a decision may be made soon on the district’s new superintendent, the more challenging search for Mr. Venanzi won’t begin until after his resignation is officially accepted by the board later this month.
A new superintendent would surely have been comforted by the knowledge that someone of Mr. Venanzi’s encyclopedic knowledge would be at their elbow whenever needed now, however, our new school chief will be working with someone also new to the district.
We once chided Mr. Venanzi in this space over his methodology in projecting the impact of new developments on the school’s revenues. To his credit, he tried to explain his position in a courteous and professional manner to a thick-headed editor with only limited success.
But the years have proven his wisdom, and we have been impressed with his forthrightness and foresight in planning for the district’s growth, even as state aid stagnated and budgets proved more difficult to get voters to approve.
For those years our schools were mushrooming with students, the years state officials "delayed" aid payments to balance their budgets, and the years contractors billed for incomplete or unsatisfactorily done work, he was the right person for the job.
We send Mr. Venanzi best wishes for his future in the neighboring district.
We also hope he leaves his contact information on the district Rolodex just in case.

