001on Monday, March 31st, 2025. Yes. Everybody, please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please be seated. All right. Good evening everybody. like to welcome everybody to this special session of the board of education meeting. Uh this meeting was was called to uh to adhere to a timeline with respect to uh discussion discussing the appointment of our superintendent candidate. It was done uh at the special meeting to adhere to a timeline with respect to allowing the superintendent candidate to provide proper notice to his current employer. Um, with that I would like to move to new business. Authorization for board president to execute employment agreement. Recommended
002motion be it resolved that the Jericho Union Free School District hereby authorizes and approves an employment contract with Dr. Robert L. Kravitz for the position of superintendent of schools effective July 1st, 2025 and hereby authorizes the board of education president to sign the agreement on the board of education's behalf. Do I have a motion? Motion, Jen second. Divia discussion. No, I think it's been a fabulous process. Well, I I mean, do we I guess I wanted to just say a couple of things, but I guess I know we have this long letter, but besides that, um to whoever's listening, I wanted to say thank you to Susan and Karen from HYA for their hard work, uh to my fellow board members for their dedication, patience, and commitment to getting through a very long and thor
003thorough search process and succeeded in finding Jericho's next superintendent, Dr. Robert Kravitz. I'm excited for what's to come and the next chapter for the entire Jericho community. I have great faith that we will see some exciting and innovating things with Dr. Kravitz's leadership. This board is committed in every way to help with a successful transition in a short amount of time. We have 92 days until July 1st. Lots of work to get done for this board and our central office until then. But um I just want to say let's all give Dr. to Robert Kravitz a warm welcome when we him when we see him in the hallway soon. Wonderful. Jen, I just want to, you know, echo your um your sentiments. This board has worked really hard. I'm really proud of the the hard
004work that's been done and really the the collaborative effort and and just uh just overall process. This has been a pleasure working with you all. So, thank you. All right, with that, anybody else have anything for discussion? No, just another thank you to our um our recruiting firm um Hazard Young Associates for their hard work and again to my fellow board members. As Jen said, it's been a really expansive and exhaustive process and um we've really had to collaborate each step of the way and um just really feeling full of hope and promise for this next step. Wonderful. Thank you, De. Yep. All right, let's move to a vote. All in favor? All right. Unanimously carried. Wonderful. Thank you everybody and a uh congratulations to to Dr. Bravitz and a congratulations to to Jericho on
005finding our next superintendent. With that, the board has prepared a statement. This will be available on our website uh as early as tomorrow as well as it will be going out by uh various communication forms, email, parent square. Um, the Jericho Board of Education is excited to announce the appointment of Dr. Robert L. Kravitz, a dynamic and accomplished educational leader as our next superintendent of schools. At a special meeting tonight, we unanimously approved Dr. Kravitz's contract. This hiring concludes an extensive and exhaustive six-month search process conducted by the board with the assistance from the national recruiting firm Hazard Young and Associates. We've gathered substantial community input through small group meetings, large forums and stakeholder surveys, evaluated numerous candidates, and completed a thorough interview and vetting process. The board strongly believes that Dr. Kravitz's successful track
006record demonstrates that we are hiring a leader who aligns with our district's vision, shares our commitment to academic excellence, and possesses the qualities most important to our Jericho community. Dr. Kravitz brings over 20 years of experience working in education to Jericho. He has served as the superintendent of schools for the Fort Le school district since 2021, overseeing the education of more than 4,000 students across six buildings in grades PK prek to 12. He is also an adjunct professor at both William Patterson University and St. Peters University. Previously, he served as superintendent for the Anglewood Public School District preK to 12 for six years and the Anglewood Cliff School District K through 8 for three years. Prior to those roles, he worked as an elementary principal where under his leadership, his school received the National Blue
007Ribbon Designation and achievement recounted in his book Blue Ribbon Story in Entrepreneurs Success in Education. Please God, Dr. Kravitz earned his doctorate in educational leadership from Satan Hall University. He received both a master of arts and educational leadership and a master of business administration from St. Peters University as well as a bachelor of science degree in management from Ruckers University. Dr. Kravitz will complete his tenure in Fort Lee before his official start date on July 1st, 2025. To facilitate a smooth transition over the next three months, the board will coordinate visits by Dr. Kravitz to meet members of our community. These conversations will involve our key stakeholder groups, students, parents, faculty, staff, and administration. He is eager to speak with all of you. When you see Dr. Kravitz in our buildings during these visits, feel
008free to say hello and introduce yourselves. We look forward to commen to commencing our district's next chapter together. Please join us in warmly welcoming Dr. Kravitz to Jericho. All right, congratulations Dr. Kravitz, congratulations Jericho and and board. Thank you again for just doing an incredible job. Susan and Karen HYA. Uh similarly, we couldn't have done this without you and we look forward to the the wonderful things in the future. With that, I'd like to make a motion to adjurnn. Motion. Second. All in favor. All right. Have a great night, everybody. Thank you. Here, I have a I have a clean copy for you.