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Fog/Mist Merrick superintendent takes the reins
Dr. Dominick Palma begins his tenure as schools chief
The Merrick School District will welcome students back to classes on Sept. 4, and that will also be the first day of work for the district’s new superintendent, Dr. Dominick Palma.
The Board of Education hired Palma in April after a months-long search by School Leadership LLC, a private firm that conducts nationwide superintendent searches for school districts. He was formally installed as superintendent at the July 9 Board of Education meeting.
Palma, 51, has settled into his new office at the Katherine E. Reif Administration building, behind Levy-Lakeside Elementary School. “I’m thinking I’m going to have a hard time sleeping the night before Labor Day,” he said.
Palma makes his home in Sayville with his wife of 22 years, Eleanor, and three children, Katherine, 19, a sophomore at Marist College, and Elizabeth, 16, and Daniel, 13, who are students in the Sayville School District. Palma succeeds Dr. Ranier Melucci, who was the Merrick superintendent for nine years. “It’s big shoes to fill,” Palma said. “He left a great foundation to build upon.”
Palma previously served as the assistant superintendent for curriculum and student services in the West Babylon School District. Before that, he was director of student services in Valley Stream.
He got his start in public education as a school psychologist in South Huntington, the district in which he grew up. Having earned a degree in clinical psychology from the University of Rochester and a doctorate in school and clinical psychology from Hofstra University, Palma said that he always had an interest in working with children. “I just loved the work,” he said. “And gradually, over time, people kept telling me I would probably be a good administrator.”
He received his professional diploma in school administration from Dowling College, and began his administrative career as the special education preschool program coordinator in South Huntington. “The more I moved into administration,” he said, “the more I recognized how useful it would be to influence programming for more children than I would have been able to as a school psychologist.”
