Susan Salvaggio to lead district following Baughman’s departure
More than 25 people applied for the superintendent opening at Niskayuna Central School District, but the district has selected Susan Salvaggio, currently superintendent of Sodus Central School District in Wayne County.
After narrowing down applicants to fill Superintendent Kevin Baughman’s position, three prospective candidates met with interview committees made up of faculty, staff and community members and toured the district’s schools. Salvaggio was selected by the Board of Education on Tuesday, May 3. The board’s formal appointment is scheduled for Thursday, May 12, after negotiating a contract with Salvaggio.
Mrs. Salvaggio’s experience as a superintendent, her understanding of instruction and her strong knowledge of financial issues facing school districts will be an asset in building upon Niskayuna’s tradition of excellence, said Jeanne Sosnow, president of the Board of Education. `We sincerely appreciate the time and effort of all committee members who provided input to the board prior to our final decision.`
Salvaggio has more than 30 years of experience in public education as a teacher, counselor and administrator. Since 2004, she has been the superintendent of Sodus and before that, she spent six years in the Churchville-Chili Central School District, serving as principal of Churchville-Chili Senior High School for the final three years. Her education background includes holding a bachelor’s degree in education from Cornell University, a master’s degree in counseling education from SUNY Brockport and certificates of advanced study in both counseling education and educational administration, also from SUNY Brockport.
`I think that I will be able to use all those skills I learned in my career at Niskayuna,` said Salvaggio. `If I had to pinpoint any single set of skills that have helped me the most as superintendent, certainly my counseling training has helped.`
Salvaggio said she has a daughter living in Schenectady so she is familiar with the area and is looking forward to the opportunity to spend the next 10 years in the district.
`Being a superintendent in any district is a challenging occupation, and I certainly have been successful at the seven years I have been at Sodus. I think the experiences I have had at Sodus will serve me well in any school district,` said Salvaggio. `I find that every one of the community groups and staff groups that interviewed me were extremely welcoming.`
One thing she liked particularly about the community was its desire to continue to find ways to improve how the district offers services to its students.
`They want those expanded 21st century opportunities for their children. I am really looking forward to that work everything in that area in that community is in a great location to really work on integrating the community fully into working with the school,` she said.
While there is no `magic bullet` to solve problems in any district, she said, continuing a dialogue between the community and the school is vital to addressing any problems. Also, creative solutions can help tackle problems in a different way.
`We have certainly gotten creative here at Sodus over the last several years,` she said. `We have created partnerships at Sodus that have brought people in the local community of our school and provided office space for them and work space for them.`
Dealing the resources that are and aren’t available to school has been a big problem, she said, with the resources that are available changing. She said the tone and attitude of the state is that schools are failing, but this isn’t always the case. Districts like Sodus and Niskayuna are getting portrayed `with a broad stroke of a brush` and are not accurately represented.
`We are all living in the same economy and people have less and they are finding things more challenging, and it is easy to have all that directed at schools,` she said.
Salvaggio is expected to begin her new position on or around July 1. Baughman has been working in the district for nine years.“
