Former Interim Assistant Supe Named Interim Assitant Supe - Again

After Tuesday's board of education meeting started 20 minutes late - a rare occurrence - Board President Ann Cotten DeGrasse promptly apologized for before the meeting began. Prior to the public portions of school board meetings, the board meets in executive session, though the board is routinely punctual.

Not long into the meeting, it was clear why the meeting began late.

In a motion which was not on Tuesday's posted agenda, and taken off the floor to be added to the agenda, the board voted to hire former Interim School Superintendent and former Interim Assistant Superintendent of Business, Joseph Singleton. He had previously signed a contract with the district on Nov. 8 as a part-time financial analyst.

Singleton's new role will be as interim superintendent of business and finance, a position which has been held by Michael Ivanoff. However, Ivanoff was not at Tuesday's board meeting, and the only information gathered after several calls to his office over the past week is that he is "on leave." Administrators have remained silent on the issue, citing a personnel matter restricted to executive session.

DeGrasse took the microphone before the vote from the floor and addressed the public.

"I'm sure this is going to come up as a question," she said. "So I will say right now: after a lot of deliberation in executive session, you are going to have to trust us that we are doing in what is in the best interest of the school district and the students that go here."

Board members Angela DeVito and Kathy Berezny both voted against Singleton's appointment, with Berezny leaving her arm in the air well after the vote. The two also , the terms of which expired at the end of June, 2011 and called for a per diem at a rate of $800. Superintendent Nancy Carney said after the board meeting he will receive the same daily rate.

According to www.seethroughny.net, Singleton, who has been retired from Western Suffolk BOCES since 1995, was listed in the top 100 highest teacher's pension plans in the state in 2009. Records show his annual maximum benefits totaled $143,771.

As the school district plans to offer a bond referendum for school repairs in the spring, Carney has touted the tools Singleton will be able to provide the district. Last spring, voters turned down a $123 million bond referendum, and the superintendent has said Singleton's experience should come in very valuable to the school district this time around. Last month, she referred to him as a "very well-known financial consultant."

Skills Academy May Start Career Paths Early On

DeVito presented with guidance counselor Christine Morris (who recently received a 'Rising Star' award from the East End Counselors Association) a plan to integrate Riverhead High School students into the work force more seamlessly in an economy with a 9.8 unemployment rate.

The two recognized employees' needs for 'hard' and 'soft' skills in the work place, differentiating between skill sets such as handling a wrench or a scalpel, and more subtle skills such as interpersonal communication habits. Learning and shaping both, they said, will be integral to finding a job or being able to know where to go for further education beyond Riverhead High School.

Enter: the Essential Skills Academy.

DeVito said the idea came from a conversation she had with two high school students who told her they wanted to be pediatricians. She recalled asking, "What kind of pediatrician?" Neither knew the answer.

The voluntary program - which DeVito would like to implement next fall - would work along the lines of a club, she said, meeting twice per month after school, for an hour or two. It would begin integrating students in the 9th grade to start working on self-assessment and career planning. Sophomore year would include more career development facets such as writing cover letters and filling out resumes for part-time jobs. Junior year would focus on career retention, while senior year would focus on passing an exam to earn a National Work Readiness Credential. DeVito, who works in workforce development with the AFL-CIO, said she helped develop the program.

In addition, the two proposed an Essential Skills Day, which would couple local businesses with students who have a particular career path in mind for a half day of school.

DeVito, the board's liaison to the business advisory committee, cited, as one example, a "dearth" of a skill set students could get a head start on through the program: fixing and fine tuning farm equipment. She said there are plenty of auto mechanics out there, but the local market for a farm equipment mechanic is in much need.

"Ideally, I would like to provide high-paying skill jobs for other people here - because you have to have a skill set to stay here," DeVito said. "And we have to match that with what the employment sectors need. This could be a way of providing that sort of information for the students to develop and really get a sense of what they want to be when they gro up. Some of us are still trying to answer that question."