Kathleen Sottile, the Floral Park Memorial High School principal, will take over as the Sewanhaka Central High School District’s head of curriculum on Oct. 1, the district said.
The Sewanhaka school board appointed Sottile, a West Hempstead resident, to the post of assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction at a special meeting on Tuesday.
She will replace Cheryl Champ, who left the district and started Tuesday as the superintendent of Westchester County’s Pelham school district.
Sottile has served as principal of Floral Park’s high school for 12 years. She previously worked as an assistant principal at two high schools in northeast Pennsylvania.
In a news release Thursdsay, district Superintendent Ralph Ferrie called Sottile “a proven leader and a welcomed addition to the central administration.”
Sottile has a doctorate of education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
She will enter her new position as the district starts the second year of an effort to give every student in its five high schools an iPad tablet computer. The initial rollout of the devices started last year and is expected to take three years.
The district sought candidates with a “collaborative leadership style” and at least five years of experience as a high school administrator or central administrator, according to a job posting. A doctorate was preferred.
Sottile could not be reached for comment Friday. But the district’s news release says she “views the assistant superintendent’s position as a new beginning in her career and looks forward to the challenges that await her.”
Sottile has won several awards in her tenure as principal, including LIU Post’s 2016 Secondary School Educator of the Year award. She led Floral Park Memorial to national recognition on rankings such as the U.S. News & World Report Best High Schools list and the Newsweek/Washington Post America’s Best High Schools list.
Sottile was paid $181,374 in her principal job last year, according to See Through NY, a database of public payrolls. Champ’s salary as assistant superintendent last year was $187,603.
