CHATHAM — Chatham Central School District Superintendent of Schools Salvatore DeAngelo will be retiring this year.
His retirement was announced at the Jan. 30 Board of Education meeting, according to the meeting’s minutes.
DeAngelo has been superintendent of the district since 2017, and has had a career in education for more than 40 years.
At the board’s Feb. 13 meeting, it voted unanimously to accept DeAngelo’s resignation for the purpose of his retirement July 1.
Hutchinson informed the public at the meeting that the board contacted firms to establish a process for finding and hiring the next superintendent.
“We will be giving more information to the public as we receive it,” he said. “I think it’s safe to say that we do want committees and inclusive partners from the community and the schools to help us in the selection of the future leadership of the district.”
Board of Education President Fred Hutchinson announced DeAngelo’s retirement at the board’s Jan. 30 meeting.
“I do not envy any members of this Board of Education at this time,” Hutchinson said at the Jan. 30 meeting. “The challenge of hiring a high school principal is great, the challenge of hiring both the high school principal and the superintendent of schools is nearly unprecedented.
“Both of these positions currently have terrific people in them, they’ve been with us a while, a long time, long enough for sure to have done this district a great service,” he added.
Board member Muriel Faxon said at the meeting it was her third time going through the process of hiring a new superintendent.
“I can’t tell you the enormous amount of time and commitment this process takes,” she said. “I’m not sure five months is enough time.”
Mark Connolly, a social studies teacher at Chatham Middle School, encouraged the board to do its due diligence in the search for a new superintendent during the public comment portion of the Jan. 30 meeting.
“We have really good teachers fleeing, dozens in the last three years, for other districts,” he said. “We have retirements coming up, we need leadership, we are looking for leadership, and we need an educational leader that will take us where Chatham used to be and where we need to get again.”