When I reached New London Mayor Michael Passero by cellphone last week, he was on vacation, sailing across Cape Cod Bay, to be exact.

“We’re sailing downwind from Provincetown to the Cape Cod Canal,” he said, setting the scene. “A gorgeous sail, downwind, and going about 8 knots.”

The winds were not so friendly back home. The man he had counted on to be a steady hand at the helm in leading the transformation of the city’s school district has decided the seas are too rough. He’s abandoning ship.

“I could understand why someone would get tired and frustrated. He’s had a tough go of it, but I was surprised he would throw in the towel so quickly,” Passero said about the pending retirement of Superintendent Manuel J. Rivera. “And I’m disappointed, because I think he is the right person in the right place to keep this moving forward … to pull together a lot of competing interests.”

Let’s not sugarcoat things. “Manny” is quitting. When hired in 2015, Rivera, a native of the city, made it clear in discussions with our editorial board and with organizations throughout New London that he was committed to seeing the job through.

Leading the planned conversion to New London becoming the state’s first all-magnet-schools district, and overseeing an ambitious plan to modernize all its schools as part of the process, was to be the capstone of what has been an illustrious career. Rivera had the strong support of the Board of Education, which extended his contract through 2021, assuring he had a stable foundation for going about the task.

Then, a little more than two weeks ago, came Rivera's surprise announcement that he was retiring at the end of August. He is 65.

In a recent interview with Day Staff Writer Greg Smith, Rivera pointed to the strain of the work, its potential adverse effect on his health, but largely to a lack of commitment from the state and city leaders when it comes to funding.

That latter contention appeared to particularly sting the mayor, who sold the council on boosting the city’s contribution to the school budget by $1 million this year, an effort to offset cuts in state aid tied to the state’s budget crisis. That spending contributed to a 9.4 percent tax increase, for which Passero has faced considerable criticism, including on our editorial page.

“In personal discussions with me he never mentioned that he felt like he didn’t have any support. I don’t know how he could think that after I worked so hard to preserve that $1 million increase,” Passero said. “I know he had a very difficult job, but so do I.”

The mayor expressed optimism the school board will find, “The right person with the energy and expertise to carry on.”

In the same, breath, however, the mayor said making the wrong choice would mean a setback New London cannot afford. Managing the building projects, including construction of a new high school, will be particularly challenging, he said.

That challenge is made more difficult because a $31 million grant, obtained by the work of former state Sen. Andrea Stillman to develop an Arts Magnet High School in conjunction with the Garde Arts Center in downtown New London, was squandered when the sides could not agree on how to proceed.

While the parties share blame for the failure, it added to the importance of Rivera seeing things through and figuring out how the reinvigoration of city schools could continue without that component and that funding. Instead, the next superintendent will have to make it work.

Passero said he misjudged the man he has been working with since he arrived to help save the city’s schools.

“I really thought he had more of the mettle to stick it out,” Passero said.

Editor's note: Column was updated to correct Mayor Passero's location while sailing.

Paul Choiniere is the editorial page editor.