Wantagh Superintendent Leaving for Job at Nassau BOCES

Wantagh Superintendent Dr. Lydia Begley will be leaving the district she has called home for the last 12 years on Oct. 3 to take a newly created position with Nassau BOCES.

Begley, who has been Wantagh superintendent since 2009, will become Nassau BOCES’s new associate superintendent for educational services, a position crafted earlier this year as part of a restructuring of the regional educational agency's 10 departments into three divisions.

"We are delighted to have such a strong and experienced educational administrator join our leadership team," said Nassau BOCES Board president Stephen B. Witt in a press release issued by the Garden City-based educational agency.

Wantagh district officials did not immediately respond for comment on Begley's departure and the timetable for finding a replacement superintendent.

Prior top becoming Wantagh’s superintendent in July 2009, Begley served as the district’s assistant superintendent for instruction from 1999 to 2009. Under Begley’s tenure Wantagh boasted the second-highest graduation and college-going rates in Nassau County. Wantagh has also placed in the top 10 for percentage of students achieving advanced Regents' diplomas.

"Dr. Begley's accomplishments are all the more remarkable given Wantagh's fiscal constraints," said Dr. Thomas Rogers, district superintendent for Nassau BOCES. "She's the ideal leader for this era of world-class educational expectations despite dwindling state and local resources. The best answer for Long Island's sustainability is a robust economy, and maximizing our children's potential is key to unlocking that future."

In her new role, Dr. Begley will oversee the newly created Division of Educational Services, which consists of the departments of Curriculum, Instruction and Technology, Regional Schools and Instructional Programs, and Special Education.

Dr. Begley's previous administrative experience prior to arriving at Wantagh included roles as elementary school principal in the New Hyde Park-Garden City Park School District and assistant middle school principal in Harborfields Central School District.

Begley, a Massapequa Park resident, serves as an adjunct faculty member in Adelphi University's Department of Leadership and Technology, where she earned the 2010 Excellence in Educational Leadership Award from the University Council for Education Administration.