Questions
& Answers:
Dr. Darren
Schwartz
A lifelong learner with a knack for bringing levity to complex situations, DARREN SCHWARTZ was once told by his professional peers to stay away from Waterbury. He didn't take the advice – and now, he's leading the Waterbury Public Schools into its most ambitious era with a clear vision, a bold proclamation, and actionable plans to benefit every student.
Education at its most effective is about the dance that occurs between asking questions and seeking answers. For Darren Schwartz, he has always been inquisitive, but there was never a question about what he wanted to be – a teacher. “Knew it in fourth grade,” he declares through a slightly cracked smile. Even back then, Darren also knew what made life so exciting. “Learning in itself is a joy. I absolutely love it.”
Dr. Darren Schwartz is the Superintendent of Waterbury Public Schools – a position that puts him at the helm of the educational experience for nearly 20,000 students. And their families. And a system of educators. And a wealth of community partners. It’s a huge responsibility that Schwartz is acutely aware of and welcomes in full.
“You take the job because you want that obligation, you want that accountability,” Darren says. “I believe in not just myself, but in the team that we have here to accomplish great things for kids.”
On the day we meet, he’s wearing a snappy gray suit – the kind that fits in just about any meeting situation – and a pair of black loafers. His tie is neatly affixed, bisecting the front of a sharply pressed white shirt, adjacent to the Waterbury Public Schools pin on the lapel.
One might think Darren is trying to make a serious statement, until you peer at his socks. Zig-zagging across his shins are repeated isometric shapes – bright red, turquoise, and royal blue, recalling the pyramid from the popular 1980s video game, Q*bert.
Like his outfit, the co-mingling of professionalism and accessibility is one of Darren’s defining personality traits – and part of why Schwartz was selected to be the Superintendent in May 2025.
“I try to mix a few things, like work ethic and the ability to connect with people. I try to be as real as possible. I'm not trying to be something I'm not. And I think that a lot of people have connected with this idea that I'm here for the right reasons.”
WORX Darren started his professional career as a teacher in the east Granby Public Schools at the ripe old age of 22.
“I remember that first day very vividly, out on the hard top, lining my students up, saying, ‘I can't believe that I'm going to take them into the classroom and no one else is going to be there.’”
While he loved the class, Darren “did something that’s fairly unique in education” – taking a year off from his career to pursue a master’s degree in educational leadership at the Teacher’s College of Columbia University. As he studied, Darren also interned at PS 126 – a Pre-K to 8th Grade school on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
The experience was life-altering.
“I saw educators basically performing miracles on a daily basis,” Schwartz says. “I knew right then and there that I wanted to work in an environment similar to PS 126.”
That led him to the Hartford Public Schools system, where he served as a Teacher, Mathematics Coach, Intervention Resource Specialist, and Principal over a seven-year period.
WORX Schwartz was making a name for himself as a dynamic and influential mind. Then came a series of conversations that would bring him to waterbury, almost as an act of defiance.
Darren was in the Principal role at the time, and his Vice Principal had applied for a job – in Waterbury. As a reference, Schwartz sat with several Waterbury educators when they visited the Hartford school. “I was just trying to do my best to get the Vice Principal the job,” Darren recalls, but over the course of the wide-ranging conversation, he also became intrigued about the innovative educational approaches being discussed in the Brass City.
Three weeks later, Darren got a call: There was a possible opportunity for him in Waterbury, too.
“I talked to a few mentors and every single one of them said, ‘you don't want to go to Waterbury Public Schools.’” Darren continues. “They didn't talk too kindly about Waterbury, which intrigued me. I said, ‘Isn't that why I should go then? If you feel like it's that bad there, why wouldn't a good educator go and help the system?’”
Darren went, and it turns out, found the negative perception of Waterbury to be just that – a perception. “I met a ton of people who were great educators and really cared about the system.”
Schwartz Family / WORX
Upon his arrival in Waterbury, Schwartz was a long way from that moment in fourth grade, when the nine-year-old Darren was sure he would become a teacher. But what shaped him, and what was he like?
“ I had a lot of energy,” he says, emphasizing a lot. "I would run myself into exhaustion and quite frequently have heat spells because I wouldn’t stop. I knew about myself early on that I liked to make people laugh, to engage with people.”
By the time he attended Enrico Fermi High School in Enfield, many considered Schwartz the class clown. Darren confirms this moniker but clarifies a few details. “I just really enjoyed bringing out the humor in things, especially in tense situations. At the same time, I really cared about education and my studies.”
He remembers quite vividly a conversation on his last day as a high schooler. It was with a teacher who asked Darren what he was going to pursue in college. When Schwartz said teaching, the man gave him a dour look. “Get used to the three D’s – disappointment, disappointment, and disappointment,” the teacher scoffed.
It was shocking to hear, sad, but the comment emboldened Darren even more. “That’s why I should go into education,” he remembers thinking, “because I don’t want another student to hear something like that.”
WORX Schwartz is indebted to his mother for providing the opportunity to attend college. Mom grew up in a tough area of Hartford – with very little money but a love of learning – and then spent her adulthood tending to three rambunctious boys until she smartly took a job as secretary for a dean at the University of Hartford. The role had an amazing benefit: Her kids could attend the school tuition-free. Darren went to UHart, got his degree, and has since earned several more – including a Doctorate from Northeastern University.
Darren speaks with great reverence for his father as well – a Navy veteran who became an engineer at Hamilton Sundstrand, working with spacesuits and inspiring Schwartz’s curiosities about astronomy and aeronautics. “I had posters of space growing up,” Darren recalls, “and [that time] sparked something in me that still lives today.” (He thoroughly enjoys the occasions to discuss astronomical concepts with Chuck Pagano, a Waterburian and retired ESPN technology head credited with, in essence, bringing High Definition television to the world.)
Waterbury Public Schools / WORX Despite an office flanked by shelves of books ranging from The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers to Happy Kids Don’t Punch You in the Face (including two volumes sitting on his main desk, Stolen Focus and The Anxious Generation), Schwartz knows that he doesn’t have all the answers, and invites questions – from his staff, teachers, students, families, and the community.
My job is to make sure the day-to-day running of the school system is a safe and healthy environment for students so they can learn at their best possible maximum, and so we can bring out all the great things that are yet to be discovered in them.
One key piece of his plan is flipping the 70/30 model – a metric that describes educational readiness. If 70% of kids come in unprepared for kindergarten, the strain on the system can be severe, affecting the ability of educators to progress their classrooms and stunting the essential growth that youngsters must have in their early learning years.
“In speaking with entities around the city,” says Darren, “a lot of people are interested in how to better support students from prenatal to five years old, so we can start reducing that number down. It allows the system to breathe a bit and [helps educators] focus even more on those that need it.”
Schwartz notes that improved professional development for staff members, as well as a deep and aligned central office team, is in place to make students successful in their early schooling years – whether they arrive as part of the 70% or the 30%.
Another important aspect of Darren’s educational model is leveraging the unique partnerships that abound in Waterbury.
For example, students can enjoy after-school and summer programs with the YMCA or Boys and Girls Club, gain unique social and life experiences through programs with the Waterbury Police Activity League, explore local and world-class art at the Mattatuck Museum, and perform on the Palace Theater stage. High school learners can actively participate in an expanding robotics program with the University of Connecticut, and earn as associate degree before they graduate through the Early College High School program with Post University.
Waterbury Public Schools Schwartz with community leaders from the YMCA, Waterbury Hospital, Waterbury Youth Services, Post University, and the Mayor's Office.
The Plans, The partnerships, The Programs... They're working.
Graduates of Waterbury high schools are annually heading off to some of the most prestigious colleges in the country, entering the trades, contributing to highly-competitive industries, and leading on innovations set to affect future generations.
City of Waterbury Over the course of our hour-long conversation, Darren says the word “impact” 22 times. And for Schwartz, there is no greater moment of impact than the high school commencements.
Waterbury Public Schools
“I just absolutely love the graduations, the leading up to graduations, all the senior nights, all the senior awards. It's such a magical time. It just reminds you why we do what we do, and it's an energy that you cannot recreate anywhere else.”
When asked what makes Waterbury Public Schools distinct, Schwartz notes the special “mindset” that pervades the system, and beams with pride as he provides more detail.
“Anybody who comes with a different culture other than the ‘typical American culture’ is to be valued and appreciated because it adds to the classroom. We want to honor that.”
This celebration of diversity isn’t solely done throughout the schools; it’s also right inside Darren’s home.
His wife, Fatima, comes from a large Portuguese family and represents the type of Waterbury success story that Schwartz envisions for all students – a hardworking, caring, and fearless dynamo for whom English is a third language. Today, Fatima is using the things she learned herself in the Waterbury Public Schools as a successful social worker and mother slash role model for their family.
The youngest child is entering the Waterbury Public Schools next year as a preschooler, to which Darren notes: “I feel completely safe sending my child to our schools. I really do believe we have a high-quality education here.”
Schwartz Family 
Unfortunately, a lot of times it's the 1-5% of students that make the news about Waterbury Public Schools. But there’s the 95%, story after story, of kids becoming first-generation college students. I have no doubt many are not just going to make a name for themselves in the world, but give back to this community and make it stronger.
WORX Schwartz is no stranger to the tough questions, and happily volleys the one served to him about Summarizing the Waterbury Public School system. With neither a hint of irony, nor of bravado, he quickly answers.
“ I think we have the best system in Connecticut. I truly believe that, considering the vast array of students, what we're able to do, and the systems we're able to provide, our curriculum is one of the best, if not the best, in Connecticut. And, our educators really do want what's best for students. They work extremely hard on behalf of the families and students.”
The other day, someone stopped Schwartz and said, “You know why I really like you as a Superintendent? You've never forgotten what it's like to be a teacher.” It was a great reinforcement of Darren’s plight and underscored the positive trajectory of the entire school system.
Like the dance that occurs between asking questions and seeking answers in education, Schwartz suggests a balance of the same for people who are thinking about joining the Waterbury community.
“Some of the most important decisions any adult makes is ‘where am I going to live’ and ‘where do I want my child to go to school’?” Anyone I know has not regretted relocating to here. We have a vibrant city life. We have great restaurants. We have leaders throughout the community.”
Darren continues, bringing the comment back to education. “If I could just do A Day in the Life of the Superintendent, you would see the students with the promise they have, with the energy and enthusiasm and brilliance they bring to our schools every day.”
If this sounds like a strong answer about the assets in Waterbury, Schwartz balances it with a suggestion – and a question.
Take the time to come learn about the city and experience it. Then, instead of asking yourself, 'why waterbury,' I would ask you, 'why Not Waterbury?'
WORX
