After announcing his resignation from the Levittown School District last January, Superintendent Dr. James Grossane has accepted a new job as Superintendent of the Smithtown Central School District.
“I look forward to the new challenges awaiting me in the Smithtown Central School District,” Grossane said. “I wish the Levittown Public Schools and its students, parents and staff all the best as they continue to move forward to meet the challenges of the 21st century.”
Beginning July 1, Grossane will fill the shoes of interim Superintendent Judith Elias, who was appointed to the position last September, after former Smithtown Superintendent Anthony Annunziato resigned after only one year into his three-year contract.
Prior to his tenure as the superintendent of the Levittown Public Schools, Grossane served as assistant superintendent for support services in the Massapequa School District. Before that he served as the principal of Massapequa High School.
In his three years in Levittown, Grossane helped pass two budgets under the state mandated 2 percent tax levy cap, while maintaining student programs; implemented standards-based instruction for students in grades K-12; successfully negotiated the terms of the district’s Annual Professional Performance Review; renovated some of the district’s facilities; and improved relations between the administration, community, parents and employees of the Levittown Public School District.
Much like his current contract, Grossane was hired to a three-year term, ending June 30, 2017. According to draft minutes from the Smithtown Board of Education meeting on March 25, Grossane was hired at a starting salary of $230,000 a year—$5,000 more than he was earning in Levittown.
Meanwhile, in the Levittown School District, members of the Board of Education say they are working with consultants from School Leadership LLC—the same agency that helped find Dr. Grossane—to identify the best candidate to lead the district to the next level of success, before the start of the 2014-2015 school year.
“We are currently interviewing several candidates,” said Levittown Board of Education President Kevin Regan. “Once this process is completed, there will be additional rounds of interviews until the search is successfully completed.”
