School Board Hires Search Firm

The Plainview-Old Bethpage last night agreed to hire a search firm to seek candidates for a new superintendent.

Current Superintendent Jr., is retiring at the end of the school year.

The board has selected Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, a firm that specializes as consultants to school districts in need of new top executives. The voice vote was unanimous and came without discussion.

Founded in 1987, the search firm is the nation’s largest executive search firm serving public school districts and has completed over 800 searches for school administrative leaders in the U.S. and abroad, according to their website.

The cost of the service was not available last night.

Meanwhile, the district also addressed a new concern at where a portion of the school's program has been placed on the state's "in need of improvement" list.

Dempsey told the board the state's designation relates to the school's special needs program, which is housed at Stratford Road and involves about 30 students.

Dempsey said the district is adressing that specific issue and "is not satisfied" with the English Language Arts performance in general in the elementary schools. Dempsey said the administration is already implementing  improvements and will report back to the board.