District 13 chooses next superintendent

The District 13 Board of Education voted on Tuesday to hire a replacement for Superintendent Adrienne Robb-Fund, who will retire at the close of the school year, selecting a superintendent currently serving in a school district in upstate Cayuga County.

The board voted unanimously to approve the appointment of Constance Evelyn, who currently works in the Auburn School District. She will take over as District 13's superintendent on July 1.

Robb-Fund, who began her tenure in the position in 2010, said she was confident Evelyn was a good choice for the district.

“I really do think she is going to do an excellent job,” she said. “She is incredibly knowledgable about technology and what's coming next. Between that and her previous experience as a superintendent, I think she will be able to lead the district to a promising future. I look forward to working closely with her during the transition process.”

Evelyn was hired under a three-year contract and will be paid $225,000 per year. Before beginning her term as Auburn's superintendent in 2012, she worked as a preschool teacher, assistant principal, principal and assistant superintendent in several upstate school districts.

She was chosen from a pool of roughly 50 candidates who were interviewed, which was narrowed down to four finalists. The hiring process was a long and thoughtful one, according to Trustee Frank Chiachiere.

“This was no easy task,” he said. “We started our search as soon as we received Dr. Robb-Fund's resignation for the purpose of retirement. We were fortunate to find a very strong pool of candidates, and from that we took four finalists to look at closely. Ms. Evelyn showed herself to be the best of those candidates.”

Joseph DiSibio, board president, was not in attendance at the meeting, but said in a statement that he made the search for a new superintendent his top priority, and that he was “thrilled” with the result it yielded.

Board Vice President Toni Pomerantz said Evelyn's experience as a superintendent set her apart from the others considered for the job.