The Syosset Central School District officially announced Friday that Dr. Thomas Rogers will be taking the role of superintendent of schools succeeding Interim Superintendent Dr. Ronald L. Friedman.
Rogers will be joining the district from Nassau BOCES, where he has served as district superintendent and chief executive officer since January 2010.
“I am very excited about the opportunity,” Rogers tells the Tribune. “Syosset has an amazing and dedicated board, so there’s a lot to look forward to.”
After 23 years in the position, former Superintendent of Syosset Schools Carole Hankin stepped down on Oct. 31, 2013. Hankin drew both positive and negative attention from the district’s community – most notably by way of NY State Governor Andrew Cuomo, who in 2011 cited her $506,322 in total compensation salary as ‘wasteful spending.’
In August, former Great Neck school Superintendent Ronald Friedman was named to the district’s interim post through June 30, 2014, while the school conducted interviews for a permanent replacement for Hankin. Rogers will assume his new post effective July 1, 2014.
The district says Dr. Rogers’ experience, knowledge and insight will provide the district with the expertise and leadership abilities necessary to continue its commitment to a high-quality education for all students.
“Though the candidate pool was extremely impressive, we believe that Dr. Rogers’ creativity, intelligence and wealth of experience will prove to be an incredible resource,” said Board of Education President Dr. Michael Cohen. “We are very excited to be beginning a new chapter in Syosset with Dr. Rogers joining our team. He brings a vast amount of diverse professional experience to Syosset, which we expect will greatly benefit our students and community moving forward. His insight and knowledge of the educational process will be an invaluable asset for everyone involved in our district.”
At Nassau BOCES, Rogers spearheaded a variety of groundbreaking new initiatives and developed key partnerships, including the Doshi STEM Program, Center for Online Learning and an advancement in security services in conjunction with the Nassau County Police Department. As the chair of the state District Superintendents’ policy and governance committee, he guided a two-year legislative effort that led to the adoption of two laws favorable to BOCES statewide, as well as two additional legislative items that passed in both houses.
Before joining BOCES, Rogers was the executive director of the New York State Council of School Superintendents, where he helped launch the “Education is a Civil Right” campaign to improve public education equity and created the Leadership for Educational Achievement Foundation professional development academy.
Rogers has a doctoral and master’s degrees from Columbia University Teachers College in educational leadership and a bachelor’s of science degree in biochemistry from the University at Buffalo. He acts as co-chair of the College Presidents’-Superintendents’ Partnership and serves on the executive committee of the Long Island Arts Alliance.
The Syosset Board of Education will officially appoint Rogers at its regularly scheduled meeting on Feb. 10 at South Woods Middle School.
