Interim superintendent appointed in Newfane school district
May 21—NEWFANE — An interim superintendent of Newfane Central School District has been appointed while the search for a new, permanent superintendent gets underway.
The board of education unanimously approved the appointment of Michelle Spasiano during their Tuesday meeting. Spasiano will step in for Lisa Krueger, who's vacating the superintendent's post on July 1.
Spasiano has an extensive background in education and administration, most recently serving as the superintendent of Franklinville Central School District for nine years before her retirement. She also has been a teacher or principal at Orleans-Niagara BOCES, Clarence and Niagara-Wheatfield schools.
"The opportunity to work with kids and to work with outstanding districts just keeps calling me back," Spasiano told the Union-Sun & Journal. "I'm looking forward to working with Newfane. It's just a short stint to help shepherd them through their transition."
Spasiano was one of two candidates interviewed for the interim role, according to school board president Santo Tomasine.
"She has rural district experience, interim experience, and those were some of the big things we're looking for to help us with that," Tomasine said.
The board anticipates that Spasiano will serve in the role until approximately August 31, as the hope is to have a permanent superintendent in place ahead of the 2024-2025 school year.
"It's my hope to be able to give the board that time so they don't have to worry and they can put all their efforts into finding a new permanent superintendent," Spasiano said.
In the search for both an interim and permanent superintendent, the board again enlisted the services of Anthony Day and the Western New York Educational Service Council, the same organization that assisted in the 2023 search that turned up Krueger.
Krueger is leaving Newfane at the end of the school year and her appointment as superintendent of West Seneca schools takes effect July 1, less than a year after she took the superintendent's post in Newfane. Because of that brief time, WNYESC will provide its services for this search at no cost, per a clause in the contract from the previous search process.
As part of the search process, the board plans to convene a focus group composed of individuals representing district administrators, teachers, support staff and community members.
Preliminary interviews with the board and the group are planned to commence June 10. Finalist interviews are slated to start June 24.
Formal appointment of the new superintendent is anticipated in July.
