Elmont superintendent Kenneth Rosner announces he is leaving at the end of the school year

At an East Meadow school board meeting on April 19, Elmont Union Free School District superintendent Kenneth Rosner said he is leaving his position at the end of the academic year and plans to take over as superintendent of the East Meadow School District.

This means the Sewanhaka and Elmont school districts are losing three administrators, including Sewanhaka Central High School District Superintendent James Grossane and Elmont Memorial High School principal Kevin Dougherty, who also plan to leave their respective posts this summer. 

Rosner entered the Elmont elementary school district in 2006 and served as principal of Clara H. Carlson School for 11 years. In 2017, he was appointed as the district’s director of curriculum and instruction and became district superintendent in March 2020.

At the East Meadow school board meeting, Rosner said the work he has done as Elmont's elementary school district superintendent "may not perfectly translate" what needs to be done in East Meadow, but he hopes to build relationships with community members in the next few months as this transition takes place.

"There's a philosophy that I really follow — if you don't have a seat at the table, you become an item on the menu," Rosner said to the audience at the East Meadow board meeting. "My job is to get everyone to that table."

Many parents in the Elmont community were shocked and disappointed to hear this news.

Elmont school board trustee Tiffany Capers said she was not made aware of Rosner's departure plans before his announcement. She said she wishes Rosner well and will strongly support parental involvement in the search process for the next Elmont superintendent.

"It is truly regrettable that at a time like this where we are in the middle of a $52 million bond, nearing our budget vote and with the instability of losing our Elmont high school principal, that this happened," Capers said in a statement. "I will make it my business to make sure our scholars and our community are well taken care of. Far too long our parents haven't had that seat at the table, the time is now."

This is a developing story. 

Additional reporting by Mallory Wilson.