Riverhead school board elects new president and vice president: July 2 meeting wrap-up

Trustee James Scudder was elected president of the Riverhead Board of Education and Trustee Virginia Healy was elected vice president for the 2024-25 school year during the board’s reorganizational meeting Tuesday night.

Scudder, of Aquebogue, is a music teacher in the Bayport-Blue Point School District and joined the school board last year. Healy, of Wading River, has been a member of the board since 2020. Their appointments were approved unanimously by the board without public discussion.

Trustees Kelly Freeborn and Brian Connelly were sworn in at the start of the meeting. Freeborn, a school administrator in the East Quogue Union Free School District, replaces Colin Palmer, who decided not to seek reelection after one term. Connelly, a past president and vice president of the school board, began his third term on the board.

At the annual organizational meeting, the board takes care of a variety of housekeeping tasks, including approving appointments to board committees, approving annual contracts for certain employees, appointing staff and faculty for the summer session, and appointing club advisors and coaches. 

The district also reinstated one elementary teacher and three teaching assistants that were laid off and put on the preferred eligibility list as a part of the district’s adopted budget. Interim Superintendent Cheryl Pedisich told the board that those positions are funded by grants, including the $1 million expanded universal pre-kindergarten grant the district was awarded by the state in May.

An assistant principal position that was eliminated as a part of the budget was also reinstated. Pedisich said that the high school assistant principal, Doreen Mongiello, will assume the responsibilities of operating the district’s credit recovery and night school programs on top of being an assistant principal. The district is eliminating the facilitator position that ran the credit recovery program, known as the North Star Academy, Pedisich confirmed.

The school board approved the hiring of an assistant director of ENL Services, Community Outreach and DEI. This new position will be assumed by Ivette Cortes, who was previously a teacher on special assignment in the pupil personnel services department, at an annual salary of $146,399. Pedisich said the position is funded by a grant and will assist the district’s current administrator in charge of ENL services, Emily Sanz. 

“When we consider that 37% of our student population receive ENL services, it makes sense to be able to do that,” Pedisich said.

A director of registration and student services was also hired by the board. Tinamarie Rickmers will be paid an annual salary of $172,845 for the job, which was created as a part of the district’s administrative restructuring. Rickmers replaces an employee who was working as the district’s special education facilitator. 

“That position has been restructured to allow greater focus on McKinney-Vento residency,” Pedisich said, referring to the federal law that provides education for homeless children. The director will also work closely with the district’s special education aids, she said.

The oversight responsibilities of that position were held by one of the district’s assistant superintendents, Lori Koerner, who, along with Assistant Superintendent William Galati, retired at the end of the last school year. Koerner and Galati’s responsibilities are being split between three roles, Pedisich has said: the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, the director of registration and student services and a director of elementary education. The  director of elementary education position has not been filled and the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction is currently filled by an interim employee.