SPRING VALLEY – The East Ramapo school board on Tuesday named Anthony DiCarlo, a former Mahopac schools superintendent, as its interim superintendent as a search continues to find a leader for the district.

DiCarlo starts July 1 and his appointment is through June 30, 2025, with a base salary of $285,000.

DiCarlo sat in the audience at Tuesday night’s meeting and was not invited to speak. Afterward, about 30 attendees approached him, including public-school activist and district parent Terry Rodriguez.

At one point, DiCarlo responded to a question saying, in Spanish, that he was there to serve the community. The audience members clapped.

Rodriguez told state-appointed education monitor Shelley Jallow afterward, “He’s nothing what we wanted but I spoke to him,” the Monsey resident said, “so let’s give him a shot.”

Carole Anderson, a former East Ramapo trustee, said she too was giving DiCarlo a chance. “But he has to understand, this is a very divided community,” the Wesley Hills resident said. “He’s going to have a big job.”

DiCarlo replaces Clarence Ellis, who has served as superintendent since July 2021. Ellis was not reappointed and leaves at the end of this month.

A superintendent search continues.

Meanwhile, Bruce Singer left as state-appointed fiscal monitor last week. Another fiscal monitor is expected to be appointed by state Education Commissioner Betty Rosa.

Challenges ahead

Ellis’ tenure included myriad challenges, including operating under a contingency budget when he first joined the district. Before joining the district, Ellis served as superintendent of a New York City district in Brooklyn.

Among DiCarlo’s immediate challenges: finishing up a significant building project, funded by some $90 million in federal COVID aid.

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He also faces a 2024-2025 school year with a shaky fiscal situation, despite district voters’ support this month of a budget with a 1% tax levy hike.

The district’s credit rating, just one step above junk, has led banks to refuse short-term borrowing, district officials have said. Contract negotiations for the teachers union and other collective bargaining units are ongoing.

The district serves more than 10,000 public-school kids, more than half of whom are English language learners, and more than 30,000 private-school children, most of whom attend yeshivas. With limited resources, a majority of school board members are often seen by the public school community as favoring the yeshiva community. The public schools have seen class sizes grow, academic and extracurricular offerings shrink and services like transportation suffer.

A couple bills this past session in Albany sought more oversight for the troubled district, including a possible fiscal control board that could impose a tax levy hike to ease the district’s fiscal crisis. Neither bill made it to a vote.

The DiCarlo file

DiCarlo led Mahopac schools from 2018 to 2022. Mahopac enrolls about 3,800 public-school students; 66% are white, 27% Latino or Hispanic and 3% Black. Mahopac’s four-year graduation rate is 95%. East Ramapo educates nearly 10,000 public-school students; 75% are Latino or Hispanic, 18% are Black and 4% are white. East Ramapo’s four-year graduation rate is 63%.

DiCarlo is a longtime Mahopac resident.

DiCarlo retired in 2022 from Mahopac with a year left on his contract. Since then he has worked in various districts as an interim administrator, most recently in Ardsley as interim principal for Concord Road Elementary.

Before Mahopac, DiCarlo served as a principal and in other administrative posts in various districts, including Lakeland, Harrison and Yonkers.

DiCarlo has taught social studies, global studies and Spanish.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: East Ramapo NY school district gets interim superintendent DiCarlo