Valley Stream superintendent's last day is Dec. 16

Board of Education President Kenneth Cummings announced in their committee meeting on Dec. 7 that search firm School Leadership, LLC has been selected to find the district’s next leader to replace outgoing Superintendent Dr. Marc Bernstein, who will be leaving his post on Dec. 16

Cummings announced that Bernstein, whose official retirement date is Dec. 31, is leaving a little earlier to use remaining vacation days left in his contract. The board briefly discussed the possible appointment of an acting superintendent to take over for Bernstein for the remainder of December until an interim superintendent starts on Jan. 3, 2011, but no action has been decided yet and the matter has been put off for the moment.

According to Cummings, the appointment of an acting superintendent would be just for the timeframe that Bernstein is on vacation. “The 16th will be his last day,” Cummings said. “And the remaining time during the month of December will be vacation time and the suggestion is to appoint an acting superintendent to handle the business of the district until the interim superintendent starts in January.”

As of now, an interim superintendent has not yet been announced. The board plans to officially appoint School Leadership as their firm of choice next week at the Dec. 14 business meeting. “We have a proposal from School Leadership and the board has reviewed that and made a determination they would like to go with School Leadership,” Cummings said at the meeting. “We have hired School Leadership subject to appointing them officially at our next meeting.”

Bernstein added that the board members should tell the community about its role in the superintendent search, and about the search process upon approving the search firm contract.