East Hampton's New School Superintendent Sees District 'In A Good Place'

Richard Burns, who has been the interim superintendent since last summer, will be the new East Hampton School superintendent, the East Hampton School Board announced at a meeting on April 17.

Audience members in the high school auditorium—many of them fellow teachers and administrators—stood and applauded, some whooping, after Dr. Laura Anker, the School Board president, read a statement announcing the selection of Mr. Burns.

“We are gratified that Superintendent Burns will continue his long-term relationship with the district as its chief executive officer and educational leader,” the statement said. “We believe that Rich Burns will serve most capably the interests of all those who rely upon the district to provide accountable and responsible educations to our students.”

When he was asked a week later what his goals would be, Mr. Burns kidded, “Good hurricane waves” and “for taxes to keep decreasing so no one has to pay anything.”

But, seriously, he said, one of the main challenges will be to raise the bar for academics, and at the same time do it with less money, given the constraints of the state’s new tax levy cap.

“What I’m going to do is, I’m going to sit down with the board” in June, he said, to name specific goals all agree should be reached, or at least reached for. “Improving the academic achievement of all students will be one,” he said, adding that the “mantra” needs to be “It’s about the kids, it’s about the kids ...”

On the other hand, Mr. Burns said, the tax levy cap is “a huge mandate that has implications.”

“The fact that we had retirements this year helped us meet that goal,” he said. “I’m sure it’s going to be harder and harder. ... In one way, it’s going to be unsustainable; there’s going to be a point where we’re going to have to affect programs.” The tax cap, which is attached to legislation affecting rent control in New York City, will be in place at least five years.

However, Mr. Burns said that East Hampton is in “a very good place of collaboration, within the district and without.”

“We seem to be on a good footing now,” he said. “It’s hard for me to put my finger on it. I just know that there’s a lot of excitement in the school right now. I’m really feeling such a good vibe.”

Mr. Burns, who lives in Springs and has five grown children who attended the public schools there and in East Hampton, was appointed the interim superintendent last summer after Dr. Raymond Gualtieri left the district for a job in Pennsylvania. Mr. Burns was the director of pupil personnel services when he took the interim superintendent post, having started out in the East Hampton School District in 1990 as a special education teacher.

“I think people are really pleased with the choice of the superintendent,” he said, adding that they might “really feel connected with someone who’s been in the system so long.”

Mr. Burns said he has been striving to build trust with the district’s “various stakeholders.” It’s important, he said, that the school’s leaders, like the superintendent and the School Board, “speak with a single voice so that everybody understands.” Previous controversies about such issues as who in the community can use school property, for example, might be avoided by making the district’s policy perfectly clear.

“It always seems that these moments erupt in the district that are swirling with controversy,” Mr. Burns said. “If we’re just really clear about things, and deal with the issues that are real issues ...”

Among the real issues he cited will be a state-mandated teacher evaluation system, for which a plan needs to be submitted to the State Education Department by July 1, Mr. Burns said. Another is a balanced literacy curriculum that is going into place at the John Marshall Elementary School.

The district is also negotiating teacher contracts, the last-minute details of which are being ironed out now, Mr. Burns said. Non-teaching staff contracts are up for renewal this year as well.

The candidates for superintendent had been winnowed down to three finalists, the other two being Dr. Sue Naeve, who co-chairs a citizens advisory committee to the board and was a teacher and administrator in Southern California, and Robert Tymann, an administrator in the Lindenhurst School District. The three were invited to meet with selected members of the community.

Dr. Anker said last week that she thought the board had done the right thing in conducting an open search, which was facilitated by the Eastern Suffolk Board of Cooperative Educational Services over a period of months.

The terms of Mr. Burns’s contract were still being negotiated, the School Board’s statement said, adding that a three-year contract was anticipated. Dr. Anker had said previously that the district was hoping to settle on a salary somewhere between $175,000 and $190,000, significantly less than that of Dr. Gualtieri, whose base salary in his final year was $241,227, the district’s business office said this week.