The Plainedge School District is paying its former superintendent over $900,000 after he abruptly resigned from his position in September.
Edward Salina Jr. served as Plainedge’s superintendent for 14 years until he announced his resignation was accepted by the district’s board of education on Sept. 12. He was given a payout of $662,352.45 for 286.5 unused vacation days and 184 unused personal and sick days, according to Plainedge Board of Education President Joseph Beyrouty.
The district agreed to a settlement, under which it will pay Salina the balance of his 2025-26 school year salary: $245,185.39, Beyrouty said.
The remainder of Salina’s salary is paid in biweekly installments until the end of June 2026.
According to the state, Salina’s salary for the full school year totals $$309,708.
Beyrouty said Salina was going to receive whatever he was owed at the time of his departure from the district.
“Our goal as a board is to be as transparent as possible,” Beyrouty said.
Salina’s departure from Plainedge came just two weeks after students returned to the classroom from summer break. Salina had also hosted the media at the district’s high school to unveil its state-of-the-art security technology in late August.
He was given one of the highest honors for a superintendent in the state last year, earning the Superintendent of the Year 2024 award by the New York State Association for Computers and Technologies in Education.
Salina had been the superintendent in Plainedge since 2011. He began his career as a teacher in the New York City Public School system in 1992. He then became an assistant principal in the Shoreham School District in 1996 before moving to Lindenhurst, where he became the district coordinator of instructional technology.
He joined the Roslyn School District in 2001 and became the principal of East Hills Elementary School two years later. In 2007, Salina was promoted to assistant superintendent. He has also worked as an adjunct professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Touro College and LIU.
The board had appointed Carol Muscarella, a longtime principal in the district, to replace Salina as superintendent.
Beyrouty had said in September that the board would immediately begin its search for Salina’s replacement.
During a phone interview with Schneps Media LI on Tuesday, Dec. 9, he said the district has not made any selection for its superintendent, but that it’s working towards bringing somebody new on board.
