Andover puts superintendent on paid leave; appoints acting school chief
The Andover Central School District appears to be parting ways with its superintendent about 15 months after he was hired.
In a Sept. 9 statement, the Andover Board of Education said it had placed Dr. Derek Schuelein on paid administrative leave, effective immediately.
The board also announced the appointment of the district's curriculum coordinator, Kathryn Slavinski, as acting superintendent of schools.
The school board did not address why Schuelein was placed on leave.
"The board will not comment further out of respect to the confidentially for employees and ongoing personal matters," the board added in the statement.
Schuelein could not be reached for comment.
The Andover School Board appointed Schuelein superintendent in July 2021 and he began his tenure the following month following the retirement of Lawrence E. Spangenburg, who had been superintendent of the Allegany County school district since 2014.
Schuelein agreed to a three-year contract that paid him a $135,000 salary the first year, ending Aug. 13, 2022.
Brian Perkins, the Andover School Board president, said the district cannot name an interim superintendent while Schuelein remains under contract. And Perkins said there is no "hard timeline" in resolving the district's relationship with its top administrator.
“Negotiations or discussions (are going on) between the attorneys for the district and for Dr. Schuelein. It could be a couple of weeks; it could be a couple of months,” Perkins said.
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Prior to joining Andover, Schuelein served as principal of Rye High School in the Rye City School District. In March 2021, he resigned from that position and took a leave of absence until the end of the academic year.
Schuelein was also previously the principal of Blind Brook High School in Rye Brook and the assistant principal and CTE Department chair at Lindenhurst High School. Schuelein began his career as a high school social studies teacher at a school in New York City. He went on to serve as the assistant principal for Pupil Personnel Services in the same school.
While the Andover School Board did not comment on the superintendent situation at a regularly-scheduled meeting Wednesday night, some members of the public did.
Devin Davis encouraged the board to look closer to home for its next superintendent.
“I think that the last two choices (for superintendent) have been evidence to the fact that sometimes people from outside the area don’t always understand our particular situation,” Davis told the board. “We need somebody who is going to appreciate and understand the people who live, work, and go to school here.
“I think that there are good leaders right in front of us that we are looking over and not considering because our search is focused elsewhere on someone with a title or a credential.”
Mary Ann Weber suggested that "any time in the future that the board of education needs to conduct a search for any high-level position. that it be done directly by the board without BOCES reviewing the applications and sending that to the board."
Weber added, "This board knows the community. They know the school. They know the students. Somebody who sits in Buffalo or even over in Cattaraugus County doesn’t understand this area and this community.”
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This article originally appeared on The Evening Tribune: Andover superintendent placed on paid leave by school board
