After Riverhead superintendent receives salary bump, how does contract compare to other similiar-sized districts?

Riverhead Central School District Superintendent Augustine Tornatore received a raise in salary and benefits under an employment contract amendment last month.

The Board of Education unanimously approved the contract amendment at its July 5 meeting.

His base pay will rise to $250,000 from $235,000, according to the contract amendment. It also shows he will be paid a $15,000 vehicle allowance, compensation for the costs of using a motor vehicle for work, which was not in his original contract.

Riverhead News-Review obtained a copy of the contract amendment through Freedom of Information Law request.

Mr. Tornatore’s compensation is within the normal range when compared to the compensation received by other superintendents of similarly sized school districts on the island, according to New York State’s administrative compensation data for the 2022-2023 school year.

The New York State Education Department is required to prepare a statewide compilation of the salaries and other personnel costs of certain school administrators and make it available to all interested parties.

According to data from NYSED, Riverhead had a total enrollment of 5,424 students in K-12 for the 2021-2022 school year. The data shows the total compensation for the superintendent of schools for the 2022-2023 school year to be $320,832.

Huntington Union Free School District had a total K-12 enrollment of 4,236 students for the 2020-2021 school year, according to NYSED data. James Polansky, the district’s superintendent, will receive total compensation of $309,052 for the 2022-2023 school year with $5,741 in benefits and $20,000 in other compensation, according to the education department’s administrative compensation data.

South Huntington Union Free School District had a K-12 enrollment of 5,676 students for the 2020-2021 school year. Its superintendent, Vito D’Elia, will receive a total compensation of $274,825 for 2022-2023 school year. The education departments data shows he will also be getting $49,825 in benefits.

Bay Shore Union Free School District had a K-12 enrollment of 5,715 students for the 2020-2021 school year. The district superintendent, Steven Maloney, will receive a total compensation of $337,941, with a $67,151 bonus and $4,800 in other compensation as reported by NYSED.

The contract amendment also showed an increase in the district’s contribution to Mr. Tornatore’s tax-sheltered annuity from $7,500 to $10,000 a year. It also increases the number of vacation days he can cash in each year from seven to 10. His contract provides a total of 24 paid vacation days annually.

The 2022-2023 school year will mark Mr. Tornatore’s second year as the district’s superintendent. His hiring filled a vacancy created in June 2020 after the resignation of the district’s previous superintendent, Aurelia Henriquez. 

The district’s previous assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, Christine Tona, served as interim superintendent from July 2020 through June 2021. Ms. Tona is now superintendent of schools in Mahopac Schools in Putnam County as of July 1.

Before coming to Riverhead, Mr. Tornatore was an assistant superintendent for less than a year at Liberty Central School District in upstate new york before becoming its superintendent and holding the position for three years.