The Wantagh Board of Education unanimously approved Philip D. D’Angelo Jr. as the district's new Superintendent of Schools Wednesday night.
D’Angelo will begin his appointment as Wantagh superintendent July 1 at a salary of $227,000. He is currently in his sixth year as superintendent for the Skaneateles Central School District in upstate New York.
D'Angelo attended Wednesday night's school board meeting and moments after being approved as superintendent spoke to the crowd in the Auditorium about how excited he is for the opportunity. He also held a meet and greet following the meeting.
"From what I have seen so far in the time I have spent in Wantagh, it's a very warm community, very family-oriented with a high emphasis on children and that is what schools are all about," said D’Angelo, who prior to his current stint in Skaneateles was superintendent in the Warsaw Central School District.
D'Angelo said he wants to focus hard on the three a's of academics, athletics and the arts. The last two years Skaneateles has been recognized as having one of the top music programs in the country and D'Angelo said he would like to bring that same recognition to Wantagh.
D'Angelo will replace Dr. Carl Bonuso, who has served as interim superintendent since Feb. 29 two and a half years after his retirement as the district's longtime superintendent. Bonuso for Dr. Richard Marsh, who in his role of interim superintendent five months into the job. Marsh had been as Wantagh’s interim superintendent last September following the resignation of superintend Dr. Lydia Begley, who to took a at Nassau BOCES.
The school board's hire of D'Angelo comes after working with the executive search firm School Leadership, LLC, which held a with Wantagh residents and met with various stakeholders in the district on Jan. 18.
“After a long and thorough search, we are confident Mr. D’Angelo possesses the professional qualifications, leadership skills and vision to lead our students and school district to even greater levels of achievement," said William Russack, president of the Wantagh Board of Education.
D’Angelo holds a Certificate of Advanced Study in Education Administration from the State University of New York at Brockport, a master of science in education in biology from the State University of New York at Geneseo and a bachelor of arts in biology from the University of Rochester.
