New Principal Hired

    On Tuesday night, at a particularly lively and celebratory meeting of the East Hampton School Board, its seven members unanimously voted to appoint Elizabeth A. Doyle as the new principal of the John M. Marshall Elementary School and Elizabeth Reveiz-Magnowski as the new director of the district’s English as a second language program.

    The hiring of both women follows an extensive search process. It also follows the recent frustration after Gina Kraus, the current John Marshall principal, was denied tenure this spring. Come September, Ms. Kraus will return to the classroom.

    Earlier this year, following the denial of Ms. Kraus’ tenure, many urged the board to promote someone from within the district to principal, rather than selecting an outsider. But despite that, the district ultimately decided on two appointees from outside the district for the 2013-14 school year.

    Ms. Doyle will be paid an annual salary of $136,000, while Ms. Reveiz-Magnowski will make an annual salary of $130,000. Both will be appointed to three-year probationary terms that will begin on July 1 and are set to expire on June 30, 2016.

    Ms. Doyle is currently in her third year as principal of the Explore Empower Charter School in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, a kindergarten through fifth-grade school where 90 percent of students qualify for free and reduced-price lunches. Formerly, Ms. Doyle was the kindergarten through 12th-grade coordinator of English in the White Plains School District in Westchester. Dating back to 2003, she has also worked as an instructional supervisor, director of operations, and as a fourth-grade teacher.

    She graduated from Bethpage High School and received a bachelor’s degree from Hofstra University. After college, she worked for Citigroup, eventually becoming a vice president. She later left the corporate world and began a career in education after becoming a New York City Teaching Fellow, an alternative certification program that attracts mid-career professionals to teach in under-resourced city schools.

    “I know well the critical role that schools and communities play in young people’s lives,” Ms. Doyle said in a statement. “It is the duty of the school community to provide love and hope, coupled with dogged determination to empower children with strong character, knowledge, and skills.”

    During Tuesday night’s meeting, the board also approved the tenure of eight employees, while bidding farewell to four longtime staffers.

    After three years at East Hampton High School, both Adam Fine and Maria Mondini, the principal and assistant principal, received tenure.

    During public comments later in the evening, Claude Beudert, a teacher at East Hampton Middle School, was glowing in his assessment of their accomplishments.

     “They came here under such a spotlight,” said Mr. Beudert. “The atmosphere they’ve brought to this school is appreciated by me and the community.”

    Additionally, six educators also received tenure: David Cataletto, an elementary teacher, Andrea Hernandez, a Spanish teacher, Janine Lalia, a family and consumer science teacher, Lisa Lawler, a special education teacher, Christopher Reich, a technology teacher, and Michelle Kennedy, the high school librarian.

    Among those retiring are Eugene (Buddy) Kelley, the English as a second language director, who is leaving after 19 years, Carol Story, a teacher’s aide at John Marshall, who is leaving after 16 years, Dolores McGintee, a longtime middle school math teacher, and Diane Boos, who works in the high school’s foreign language department. 

    Ms. Reveiz-Magnowski was hired to replacing Mr. Kelley.

    A seasoned bilingual administrator and native Spanish speaker, Ms. Reveiz-Magnowski now works as the director of languages other than English, E.S.L., and bilingual services for the Amityville School District.

    While at Amityville, she implemented Common Core standards within each department, created thematic-based projects to highlight different cultures, instituted a Spanish spelling bee, and oversaw an iPad integration.

    With a résumé stretching back 15 years, all of it in the field of bilingual administration, Ms. Reveiz-Magnowski has also worked with the Eastern Suffolk Board of Cooperative Educational Services, the Central Islip Public Schools, and the Long Island Regional School Support Center. Besides Spanish, she also has a basic knowledge of Italian and Ukranian.

    More than 100 assembled for Tuesday night’s meeting, which took place in the high school’s auditorium. Midway through the meeting, the Bonnettes, the middle school girls choir, and high school students in the Vocal Camerata each performed two numbers. Afterward, audience members enjoyed cake and refreshments.

    In other business, board members voted to approve an upcoming trip to Senegal for 15 high school students that will help build a school in conjunction with buildOn, an international nonprofit. The board also voted to approve that obsolete technology equipment be donated to Computers for Kids, a Utah-based nonprofit. The board’s annual reorganizational meeting is scheduled for July 2 at 6 p.m.