New principal for Lincoln Orens school

The Island Park Board of Education has appointed a former New York City principal as the new educational leader for the Lincoln Orens Middle School.

On Aug 29, the board appointed Vincent Randazzo to replace John Barnes, who left abruptly at the end of the last school year to take an administrator’s position in New Rochelle, New York, closer to his Bronx home.

Randazzo has a bachelors degree in history from St. John’s University in Queens and has extensive experience in the New York City public school system.

He began as a teacher of history and science in both the city’s public and parochial school systems. He taught in a middle school in Elmhurst, Queens before becoming first the school’s dean and then it’s assistant principal for five years.

In 2011, Randazzo became the principal of The Robert F. Kennedy Intermediate School 250 in Flushing, Queens.

Records show that he moved that school from a C grade in 2011, with only 20 percent of the students performing on grade level to an A grade with 83 percent of the students on grade level within a year.

Island Park School Superintendent Rosmarie Bovino is high on Randazzo and thinks he will be just what the school needs to replace the popular Barnes.

“He has a lot of the skills he will need to succeed in Island Park,” she told the Herald. “He is an expert on curriculum and particularly the Common Core, he is a state certified teacher evaluator under the new APPR evaluation system adopted by the state, he is a data specialist who is trained to interpret and spot educational trends and he has proved experience in community involvement.”

“Bovino said that Randazzo was chosen after “an extensive search” that brought several “wonderful candidates,” including some from inside the system.

The candidates met with a search committee, then a committee made up of teachers and parents and finally, the board itself.

“This was a long and difficult decision,” Bovino concluded. “I look forward to working with Mr. Randazzo.”

Randazzo is married and lives in Massapequa with his wife and two children.