RCSD budget puts three administrator jobs on the chopping block

Three administrative jobs are not included in Riverhead Central School District’s 2025-26 budget — the executive director of elementary education, director of STEM and director of humanities. 

District and school board officials discussed the decision to eliminate these positions at the May 6 budget hearing. Marianne Cartisano, interim assistant superintendent for business, said that in order to stay within the 2.16% state tax cap without making any cuts to teaching staff or programs, it was recommended the school board restructure the Supervision and Curriculum section of the proposed 2025-26 budget. 

“We knew that we needed to make some reductions, and we were protecting the classroom,” Ms. Cartisano said. “It’s a little bit of a different structure, but it allowed us to save enough money that we didn’t have to excess other positions.” 

The plan is to take these three positions and restructure them to have department chairs, Ms. Cartisano said, meaning teachers will both instruct and serve in an administrator role. She added that the proposed budget also includes a new elementary level literacy coach to help improve reading scores. 

“There’s not enough individual attention to specific areas, so now what we’re developing is a different plan at the elementary level, including the literacy coach and at the secondary, [grades] 7 through 12, it will be a teacher — instead of [teaching] like a nine-period day, they’ll teach three or two, and do administrative duties, working directly with their colleagues.”

Ms. Cartisano said the combined salaries of these three positions were over a half-million dollars and nearly $700,000 in benefits. Now, with the cuts, the cost of the new restructuring would be around $200,000 — saving the district $500,000. 

“Half a million [in] savings is five teaching positions. We didn’t want to raise elementary class size, we’re bringing back the dual language program, we are maintaining the nine-period day at the high school,” Ms. Cartisano said. “We’re maintaining all of our athletics, all of our clubs, all of our arts, so, these are some of the tough decisions we had to make.” 

Jeannine Campbell, director of STEM; Maria Casamassa, director of humanities; and Gretchen Cotton Rodney, executive director of elementary education currently hold these positions and were made aware of the plan to excess them, interim superintendent Cheryl Pedisich confirmed. 

Ms. Pedisich said abolishing these positions does not necessarily mean they can’t come back at some point — specifically the elementary executive director spot. She said Ms. Rodney would be entitled to the position if it were to be reinstated. As of now, the administration is working with the teachers’ union to identify individuals best suited for these chairperson positions. 

“With regard to Jeannine and Maria, they’re K-12, so it’s almost an untenable position to be in a district this size, whereas, if you’re a math professional, that’s your expertise, and you’re going to focus on that,” Ms. Pedisich said. “It allows more concentration on those particular subject areas at the secondary level.” 

Ms. Pedisich further stressed that one of the district’s main priorities is literacy and cultivating several literacy coaches who would work more hands-on with teachers.  

“I did not want to, neither did the cabinet, and I think the board agreed that we don’t want to be cutting teachers because they’re the direct individuals who work with our students,” Ms. Pedisich said. “If we had to look at other administrative staffing, then it would be looking at our assistant principals — assistant principals have direct contact with students and families, so it just was a difficult choice.” 

School president James Scudder said the board agreed that chairpersonships seemed like the best direction to go in, as those individuals have been in the classroom and can better direct their departments. 

Robert “Bubbie” Brown of Riverside spoke at the May 6 budget hearing on behalf of other community members who questioned the decision to cut the three administrative positions. He said preserving these roles is “critical” to student success and noted that the New York State Education Department has designated the RCSD as one in “need of improvement” due to low performance. 

“Given this reality, shouldn’t strengthen[ing] teaching and curriculum support be a top priority rather than eliminating it?” Mr. Brown asked. “I’ve seen this happen before, many different instances…[a] smokescreen, and I can see people eliminated from positions that do a job and do it well, but they’re excessed because of other reasons.

“Growing up in this community has given me a sense of inherent paranoia,” he continued, “and I’ve seen things, ugly things, happen to good people in this community and it irks me.”