By Jeff Lipton
Ciulla, who has served as administrator of the 2,000-student high school for about six years, will take over the full-time reins at the 65-student Castleton Academy, the district's alternative high school for at-risk students. Superintendent Dr. Herb Brown called it a "lateral move" for her.
Under the administrative shuffling, Mark Secaur, who served as associate principal for about three years at the high school, will take over as its principal and Fred Koller, who served as director of Castleton for about 16 years and ran the school's day-to-day operations, will become associate principal of Oceanside High School. The moves by Secaur and Koller are being considered promotions.
The changes will take effect July 1.
Brown said the moves are being made to officially separate Oceanside High School from the alternative school, which will then become known as Castleton Academy High School. Since its inception almost 20 years ago, the alternative high school was part of Oceanside High School, and Ciulla was technically in charge of both over the last few years. The official separation of the two schools should give Ciulla more hands-on control of Castleton and give the alternative school's students their own identity, which they have been asking for, said Brown.
"We felt [Castleton] kids deserve their own identity, and it would be best to have a separate school," Brown said. "And we need to have a principal with Dorie's experience to lead it."
Brown refused to say if Ciulla was okay with moving from the main high school to the alternative, stating that "I can't speak for her."
Ciulla did not return several calls for comment.
"We feel that as an alternative high school, Castleton can move forward with someone like Dorie Ciulla leading it," said Brown.
He said her previous experience working with students in the alternative school in Oceanside and before that, in Westbury should provide her with a huge advantage as principal of Castleton.
Students who are in danger of dropping out or at risk of not earning a high school diploma are enrolled in Castleton, which provides them with a smaller learning environment and more individualized instruction, said Brown. Under the direction of Koller, Castleton has developed into one of the best alternative high school programs on Long Island, the superintendent said. The Castleton Academy is on Castleton Court in a building it shares with the kindergarten program.
"We are not increasing the number of administrators, but what we are doing is rearranging responsibilities of three people," said Brown.
Oceanside school board President Al Lyson said, "I think they are the right moves. The whole issue is to strengthen the two schools. We need a strong leader over there [at Castleton] and Dorie is a great administrator.
"Castleton requires someone special," added Lyson. "It may be harder than managing a 2,000-student high school. It needs special care."
The school board president said he talked to Ciulla, who did not express any disappointment to him about the move. "People who want to say something to me usually do, and she didn't," he said. "I think she's looking forward to it. It's just a feeling I have.
"Everyone is happy with it, so I think it works well," Lyson said. "Don't try to read anything into this. It's in no way saying that there's dissatisfaction with anyone's job [performance]."
Debbie Cohen, Oceanside PTA Council president, said the moves make sense. "The entire administrative staff is great and this could only be good for the district. Dorie has been great at the high school and we're sorry to see her leave, but one school's loss is another's gain."
She said one question that will have to be resolved is whether Castleton will now have its own PTA.
The superintendent said Secaur has been "a very capable" associate principal at the high school, and "we think he will do well as Oceanside High School principal.
"We think this creates a good fit all the way around," said Brown of the shuffling of the three administrators.
Secaur called his new position "a very exciting opportunity" for him. "The school has a great staff and administrators and a great group of kids," Secaur said. "In my eyes it has the whole package.
"We can make great things happen, and it's exciting watching these kids becoming full-fledged adults," added Secaur, who worked in Nassau BOCES before arriving in Oceanside, and previous to that in New York City public schools as a teacher and dean for six years.
Secaur said that although the high school "is very strong," he would like to see more students become a part of the high school environment.
"The students are not as engaged in school as I would like them to be," said Secaur. "I would like to see more students join clubs and teams and have more social interaction outside of the classroom."
He added that he would also like to see more mentoring of students by teachers and by students.
Secaur said he expects the transition to be smooth, since "I have a strong working relationship with my colleagues throughout the school and have had a good rapport with them."
Comments about this story? Jlipton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 210.
