By Samuel Glasser
The Mineola Board of Education appointed a new high school principal and conferred tenure on three administrators and 15 teachers at its last regular meeting of the school year Thursday.
Rory Parnell will succeed Edward Escobar as high school principal on July 1. Parnell is currently assistant principal of William A. Shine-Great Neck South High School.
Superintendent Michael Nagler said the candidate search cast a wide net and was a “rigorous process” over the past five months. He said Parnell is “a “seasoned professional” who, before going to Great Neck, “had the distinction of turning the worst high school in New York City into one of the best.”
Those receiving tenure served a four-year probationary period and underwent numerous reviews, Nagler said. Granting tenure, he noted, “is not something that we give lightly. Not every person who started four years ago is here. It’s not a rubber stamp. It is a credit for the work and rigor you put in.”
He also said, “We want to acknowledge that you started teaching [in Mineola] during the pandemic and never had had to teach under those circumstances.”
Nagler has been with the school district for 25 years serving as assistant principal in the middle school and later as high school principal.
“Many of these people receiving tenure I have known since they were 11 or 12 years old either as students or children of teachers,” he said. “It is such a joy for me to see you grow and become professionals.”
The faculty members receiving tenure are: Jenn Maichin, high school assistant principal; Steve Benner, middle school dean of students; and Leigh Shaw, Hampton Street School principal.
Also receiving tenure are Ann Aguila, Jimmy Bulva, Julia Dawber, Stefanie Eden, Jack Fenty, Maggie Lucito, Kayla McKeveny, Sarah Miller, Anna Paulik, Erin Regan, Gabriel Rivera, Brenda Silverman, Corinne Stannard, Nicole Vella and Tim Weinclaw.
In other business, the board approved the award of bids for the installation of an irrigation system to Byrne & Son Irrigation, Inc.; suspended ceiling work to Hi-Lume Corp.; and heating-ventilation-air conditioning work to PGA Mechanical Contractors, Inc.
The next board meeting will be held on July 2.
