Changes to school district administrator roles approved: Riverhead school board wrap-up

The Riverhead Board of Education last week reorganized part of the school district’s administration, creating a new assistant superintendent position for human resources and changing the titles of top administrators.

The move came during the same meeting the school board accepted the resignation of Arlene Durkalski, the district’s personnel director. Durkalski, who has worked for the district for 17 years, will be taking a human resources position at Eastern Suffolk BOCES. 

“She has made an often difficult position appear easy,” Interim Superintendent Cheryl Pedisich said. “Her ability to handle numerous issues with good judgment, balance and grace have distinguished her as an inimitable professional.”

Durkalski’s responsibilities will be undertaken not by a new personnel director, but by a newly created assistant superintendent for human resources. Vincent Mulieri, a retired human resources administrator from the Plainview-Old Bethpage School District, was hired as interim assistant superintendent for human resources until the end of the school year. Mulieri will be paid $1,200 per day in the position.

“When I came on board in October, one of my initial goals was to look at the central office administration structure of the district and to ascertain if we were operating in the most cost effective and efficient manner,” Pedisich said. “One area that was apparent was the bifurcation of the human resources function between instructional and non-instructional staff.”

Durkalski vacating her position presented the opportunity to create a “single human resources function in the district,” Pedisich said. The human resources aspect of instructional staff was the responsibility of Assistant Superintendent Lori Koerner, while non-instructional staff was the responsibility of Durkalski, Pedisich said.

“It is important to note that we will not be adding a new position, but simply consolidating the function of human resources into one office,” Pedisich said. 

The board amended Koerner’s title to reflect the change. Koerner will now be the assistant superintendent for elementary education and educational services, rather than the assistant superintendent for human resources and elementary education. Koerner’s salary was not changed and she will remain with tenure in her new position.

Pedisich said Koerner will now be “100% dedicated to elementary education and district-wide educational support services.” 

“This change recognizes Dr. Koerner’s extensive expertise and passion, especially in the area of elementary literacy,” Pedisich said. “And oversight will now be fully focused on elementary educational services K-6, kindergarten, [social and emotional learning], [english as a new language], community outreach and registration.”

The change in Koerner’s responsibilities comes several months after she was investigated for allegedly pushing the secretary of the superintendent during an altercation at the district’s central office. Koerner was let back onto school grounds before the investigation was completed, sparking protests by some district employees. 

School board president Colin Palmer said in an interview that the investigation into Koerner was not a factor in the school board’s decision to change Koerner’s title. The investigation into Koerner was completed and found no “provable wrongdoing,” Palmer said. Palmer said Koerner will have the same workload in her new position as she did her previous title.

Although Pedisich said Koerner and Durkalski had separate responsibilities when it came to personnel, the district’s organizational chart, which was created under former Superintendent Augustine Tornatore at the start of the school year, shows Durkalski reported directly to Koerner. Palmer said Koerner overseeing the human resources of the district was a problem for the district and led to certain responsibilities being borne by lower level administrators outside of their regular job functions.

Palmer said the board brought in Pedisich, who retired after a 10-year long tenure as superintendent of the Three Village School District, “specifically to restructure things,” not just to “hold down the fort.” Palmer said the school board plans to hire a new superintendent by the start of the next school year.

During his nearly two-and-a-half years as superintendent, Tornatore led a reorganization of the school district’s administration. The board replaced several administrator roles with new ones, and hired or promoted people to fill those positions. Koerner was promoted to assistant superintendent during this period. 

William Galati, the district’s executive director for secondary education, grants & student outcomes, was also promoted during last week’s meeting to the position of assistant superintendent. The new title comes with the same responsibilities and a salary increase of more than $22,000, making Galati’s total yearly salary $206,504. 

The board passed all the measures 6-0, with board vice president Brian Connelly absent. 

During its Jan. 10 meeting, the school board also:

• Honored high school student junior Emma Acritelli, whose film “Cons of Collecting Dust,” won three awards at the Long Island Film Festival. Acritelli’s film won in the Best Micro Short and Animation categories, and received the competition’s special award, The Spirit of NYLIFF Award. You can watch Acritelli’s film on YouTube here.
• Accepted the resignation of district clerk and secretary Lisa Rheaume, a 24-year employee of the district who took a job as the secretary to the superintendent at the Westhampton Beach School District. The board appointed Rodney Parrish, the secretary to the superintendent, as deputy district clerk. Parrish will be acting district clerk through the end of January. Rheaume will continue to be paid as a consultant to train Parrish and the next district clerk, when they are hired.
• Granted tenure to social studies teacher Michael Laffey and Pulaski Street School assistant principal Callan Lonergan. 
• Approved new proposed courses for Riverhead High School: AP Environmental Science; Historical Fiction; Poetry in Life; Introduction to Film: Supernatural and Science Fiction; ​​​​​​​Digital Film II/III; ​​​​​​​Advanced Creative Crafts: Open Studio; AP Research (Year-2 AP Capstone); and Adventure Ed.
• Approved the first reading of new and revised board policies. New policies include those for video conferencing of board meetings and artificial intelligence.
• Approved the third and final reading of new and revised board policies. New policies include those for online, distance and remote learning; school ceremonies; student religious expression; electronic signatures; pandemic planning; and employee religious expression.