TURNER — To Henry Aliberti, the job of leading schools in Turner, Leeds and Greene will mark a homecoming.

Though he has spent the past nine years as a school administrator in New Hampshire, the Lewiston native spent 23 years in the classrooms and offices of RSU 52.

“It’s time to come back,” Aliberti said. “When you work in a place that’s really nice to work in, you want to go back.”

The RSU 52 board voted last week to hire Aliberti as superintendent. On Tuesday, current Superintendent Darlene Burdin announced the board’s decision, naming her former colleague as her replacement. 

Aliberti was the principal of Turner Primary School for several of the years Burdin led Turner Elementary.

“I think the great leadership of the school district will continue with Dr. Aliberti,” Burdin said. She plans to retire this summer after 32 years in local schools. She spent the past four years as superintendent.

“We collaborated on many issues,” Burdin said. “I found him to be very student-centered.”

Aliberti served in three of the district’s schools, kicking off his career as an elementary school teacher at Greene Central School. Seven years later, he began a decade-long run as the principal of Leeds Central School. He spent his last five years with the district as the principal of Turner Primary.

When he left to accept an assistant superintendent’s job in Manchester, N.H., he chose to live part time in Auburn.

He rented an apartment close to his job and spent his weekends in Auburn. His wife, Sheila, continued to work as an administrative assistant at Auburn Middle School. She has worked there for about 17 years, he said.

The Turner job came up earlier this year.

“I heard that Darlene was retiring, and it was just a great opportunity to meet my family needs as well as my professional needs,” Aliberti said.

He met with a screening committee and interviewed with the RSU 52 board. He also answered written questions.

“He really stuck out,” school board Chairwoman Betsy Bullard said. His long history in the local schools and his work in a suburban school district gave him knowledge of the local area and the perspective of a larger school district.

During his time in New Hampshire, Aliberti spent a year as the interim superintendent in Manchester, overseeing the education of 15,000 students in 24 schools. He has spent the past three years as the superintendent in Barrington, a rural system with about 1,300 students and three schools.

RSU 52 has about 2,100 students in six schools.

“He really had that skill set we were looking for,” Bullard said.

The appointment was accompanied by a two-year contract and an annual salary of $106,000, Bullard said. Aliberti, 59, plans to move back to Auburn full time and start his new job on Aug. 15.

He wants to begin by getting to know as many parents and staff as possible, he said. He plans to visit every school and meet as many students as possible.

“It’s like keeping the educational pulse,” he said. “I have to do that.”

He has few specific goals for the schools. Rather, he wants to build on the work that’s already begun, he said.

“I think that Darlene has done a tremendous job of improving the offerings provided to the students in the district,” he said.

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