Christopher Peak Photo
Soon-to-be city employee Michael Pinto.
New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) Chief Operating Officer Michael Pinto, who led the effort to distribute hundreds of thousands of meals to school families after Covid-19 shuttered the local school system this spring, plans to leave his job on Nov. 25.
His next role will be back at City Hall, where he plans to work as an attorney on the city’s legal team.
As a lawyer working under the city Corporation Counsel Patricia King, Pinto intends to return to the law-focused side of his career.
“I’m a trained attorney. It’s a better fit for me,” Pinto told the Independent in a Tuesday evening interview about his resignation from NHPS.
With a lawlerly attention to detail, he then revised his statement, and moved away from the implication that perhaps the COO position was not a good fit.
“I can more fully apply my legal training and legal background” while working as an attorney for City Hall, he said.
Pinto took over as the public school district’s COO in February 2019 from Will Clark, who had held the position for 11 years.
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Pinto led the effort to distribute 832,705 meals to school families. He has also led efforts to prepare school buildings for students to return to in-person classes on Nov. 9.
“It’s been a challenging time. There was a lot of turmoil when I joined and then obviously we were hit with Covid-19,” he said. “We’ve done a terrific job of getting meals out to kids and families. Now, I’m very proud of what we’ve done to get buildings ready.”
Pinto will transition out of his role a few weeks after the planned transition to hybrid classes in early November. He said the district will be ready to reopen and the extra weeks give him time to fix any problems that spring up along the way.
Board of Education member Darnell Goldson told the Independent that he only learned about the resignation Tuesday, and was still thinking through the ramifications of Pinto’s departure.
He said that it is the responsibility of Superintendent Iline Tracey and Mayor Justin Elicker to make sure that the transition to the hybrid mode is smooth.
“I expect them to work together to cover that. If [the mayor] is so committed to the school system and then to poach away an employee, he has to have something in place to replace him,” Goldson said.
Goldson said that the COO position can be stressful and difficult.
“[Pinto] never seemed to be smiling. I don’t know if he was happy in the first place. I think he did what’s best for him and his mental health,” Goldson said.
“Over the past 13 years, Mr. Pinto has shown that he is an asset to the city wherever he is,” Mayor Elicker in an email press release about Pinto’s change of work. “I know he will be an asset to the Corporation Counsel’s office, and I look forward to working with him at City Hall.”
Elicker also said that he is working closely with Superintendent Tracey regarding Pinto’s transition away from NHPS. “We are all on the same team and working towards the same goal to improve our schools and city,” he said.
Last year, Pinto filed a complaint against the previous superintendent, Carol Birks, saying that she created a “hostile work environment” and that he had “never been treated so poorly in my entire professional career.”
However, he said he had a good working relationship with Tracey. In the city press release, Tracey agreed.
“Attorney Pinto has served New Haven Public Schools in many capacities — including contract negotiations and overseeing facilities and the many challenges during this time of COVID-19 pandemic. We have shared a very respectful relationship during his tenure,” Tracey said. “I wish him success in this new endeavor.”
Pinto has a law degree from Quinnipiac University and a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from Southern Connecticut State University. He has worked for the city twice since 2007, in City Hall’s economic development and transportation departments. In between, he worked as an attorney at two different private law firms, Mulvey, Oliver, Gould & Crotta and Susman, Duffy & Segaloff.