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Kids & Family

Shepard History Shows Community Values

Three of the schools four principals in its 50-year history return for celebratory open house.

As more than 250 people wove through an open house Sunday culminating a year-long celebration of 50 years, the history embodied by presence of three of the institution’s four principals demonstrated community commitment to education.

When retired principals Jay Monier and Dante Divirglio joined to dedicate a special brick to be laid in the front of the school, they represented 38 years of Shepard leadership.

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“It’s a terrific community,” retired Shepard Assistant Principal John Mirretti said explaining the longevity of people like Monier and Divirglio. “There is a strong sense of community here. Everyone is involved.”

Current Superintendent Renee Goier put more of a career meaning to Miretti’s statement. “Deerfield is a job people aspire to,” Goier said. “They retire from here.”

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Monier and Divirglio may have retired from the Deerfield school system, but unlike many today, they started here. They were more than principals. They spent their entire educational careers in Deerfield both starting as teachers. Monier spent 34 years here and Divirglio 27.

During their time here, the Deerfield elementary and middle schools became a family venture for the Divirglio family. Divirglio’s son, Robert Divirglio, was an assistant principal at Shepard before becoming a superintendent in Beach Park. His granddaughter, Carey D’Amore, teaches at Kipling Elementary School.

When Robert Divirglio was an assistant at Shepard, Monier was the principal. “He didn’t work for me, we exchanged ideas,” Monier said about his predecessor’s son being one of his assistants.

“That’s what we did,” Dante Divirglio said of his successor, Monier. “When I decided to retire, I sent a letter to the superintendent and the board recommending him (Monier) as my successor.”

Divirglio’s road to Deerfield was an unusual one from his hometown of Perryololis, PA, 32 miles south of Pittsburgh. The son of a coal miner, he was the first of his seven siblings to attend college.

When Divirglio graduated high school he worked in the steel mills, spent a year in the Navy and went back to the steel mills. He talked of working by an open hearth where steel was poured at 3,200 degrees.

“There was talk of closing the mills,” Divirglio said. “I went to night school, my wife worked, I worked and I graduated in 4 and ½ years from Waynesburg College.” He had family in Waukegan with a connection to the Deerfield schools.

Dante Divirglio submitted an application and was hired as a teacher. Things were never the same for him, his family or Deerfield.

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