Superintendent
Peter Dillon
Prior to joining the Shaker Mountain School Union, Peter has been the Superintendent of Schools for the Berkshire Hills Regional School District.
Peter served as Executive Director of Policy in the Office of Portfolio Planning at The New York City Department of Education helping to create and sustain more than 150 new schools. He was the Principal of The Heritage School in East Harlem, a collaboration between Teachers College, Columbia University and the New York City Schools. He taught in New York and in the Republic of the Marshall Islands as a Peace Corps Volunteer.
Peter has a Doctorate in Curriculum and Teaching from Teachers College, Columbia University where he also received an M.A. in Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages. He holds an Ed.M. in International Education from Harvard University and an A.B. in History and Religion from Bowdoin College.
Peter lives with his wife Diane and their three children in Stockbridge.
Principal
Beth Choquette
Beth Choquette, a 22 year veteran in education with 16 years as a building leader, comes to
Richmond from the Northampton Public Schools where she was principal for 10 years. Prior to
that she was a PreK-8 principal in Vermont as well as an elementary music teacher in Adams,
Massachusetts.
Beth is currently one of 20 fellows in the Commonwealth selected for DESE’s Influence 100
program. She was a member of DESE’s Culturally Responsive Principals Leadership Academy,
and led the task force for Northampton Public Schools in creating a unified PreK-12 Code of
Conduct, Character, and Support. Beth’s commitment to educational equity and excellence,
where all children are successful regardless of their personal, social, or cultural contexts, is at
the core of her practice.
Beth received her doctorate from Boston College in Educational Leadership. Her dissertation
Leadership for Inclusive Practices, focused on students who have experienced trauma, refugee
students, special education students, and opportunities to learn through the lens of a
multi-tiered system of support and social justice. She received her M.M. in music performance at
Michigan State University and her B.A. in music education and music performance from the
Crane School of Music at the State University of New York-Potsdam.
Beth currently lives in North Adams, Massachusetts with her husband Jamie and has two sons,
Jacob and Jackson. In her free time, Beth enjoys teaching at MCLA and at Boston College.
When not spending time being a principal or teaching, she spends time researching, gardening,
going to museums and historical homes, playing with her dogs, visiting Italy and traveling with
her husband, and spending time with her family.
After working for over 15 years in the private sector as the office administrator for a real estate developer she found her true passion was to be around children. She has been with Richmond School since 2010.
Mrs. Gingras grew up in Pittsfield, graduated from Berkhsire Community College with a degree in Business Adminstration and resides there with her husband and two children. She enjoys warm weather and the outdoors. Her goal is to retire on the beach in St. Thomas, U.S, Virgin Islands.
Administrative Assistant
Natalie Gingras
