The Bethlehem Central School District will soon have a new superintendent in Thomas Douglas, who this evening was unanimously appointed to the position by the school board, to start Jan. 1 of next year.
Douglas is the current superintendent of the Chenango Valley Central School District in the Binghamton area, a post he’s held for two-and-a-half years. Before that, he was principal of Paul V. Moore High School in the Central Square School District.
In a short meeting of the school board called for the purposes of the appointment, Douglas said he’s looking forward to working at BC because of the district’s commitment to education and the support he’s seen from the community for its schools.
“Being superintendent of a district like Bethlehem has always been a dream,” he said.
Douglas will replace Michael Tebbano, who announced he would be retiring earlier this year after three years at the helm. Tebbano said he’s happy to hand the reins over to a candidate he called “bright and talented.”
The district received over 40 applications in a search that was run through Capital Region BOCES. Of those applicants, the school board interviewed 11 and a panel of about 60 community stakeholders — teachers, parents and community leaders — interviewed three.
“It was definitely a long process, and it was a great process,” said Board of Education President Diane Giacone Stever.
Douglas confirmed that BC’s vetting was more in-depth than what he’s experienced in the past, but said he welcomed the opportunity to meet members of the community in the interviews and around town.
He added he’ll need to get right into the district’s budgeting process when he starts in January.
Douglas will be moving to the area along with his wife, Lorian, and their two-year-old son, Carter.
