Riverhead school business official leaving after just months on the job

A recently hired Riverhead school official is leaving after only a few months on the job for a role with another East End school district.

Colleen Card, Riverhead’s assistant superintendent for business, will leave at the end of October to become Sag Harbor Union Free School District’s school business administrator, Superintendent Bob Hagan said.

Ms. Card was hired by the Riverhead school board in May and officially took over in July, succeeding interim assistant superintendent for business Marianne Cartisano. Her three-year probationary appointment had been scheduled to run through June 2029.

“She told me before she was appointed she had some unexpected things happen personally, and this is just going to wind up being better for her overall,” Mr. Hagan told Riverhead News-Review on Monday.

Sag Harbor’s school board approved Ms. Card’s appointment Sept. 8. She will earn $265,000 annually, the same salary she received in Riverhead.

Riverhead has already posted the opening on OLAS, an online hiring platform for K-12 school districts. Mr. Hagan said there have been a couple of “good candidates coming in so far” and that the business office remains strong despite Ms. Card’s pending departure.

“We have great people in there and we’re in very good shape that way,” said Mr. Hagan, who is beginning his second year as full-time superintendent for Riverhead schools. 

Mr. Hagan said he is confident the position will be filled by Nov. 1 and does not anticipate a gap. If one does occur, he said the district will make temporary arrangements.

Ms. Cartisano is available if the position needs to be temporarily filled, he added.

The turnover comes as Riverhead’s business office continues operating under reforms prompted by a state comptroller’s audit of the district’s financial practices.

Following the departure of former assistant superintendent of business Rodney Asse, Ms. Cartisano took over to improve the district’s financial practices.

The New York State Comptroller conducted an audit from July 1, 2022 to April 30, 2024, that found the district’s financial reports were inaccurate, incomplete and not always timely. 

Auditors reviewed 141 bank transfers totaling $127 million and found none had been reviewed or approved by someone other than the treasurer. They also found that none of 47 budget transfers totaling $12.3 million had been approved by the Board of Education.

Ms. Cartisano spearheaded the district’s corrective action plan and said in January that all of the problems cited in the audit had been addressed.

Ms. Card’s departure is the latest in a string of changes among Riverhead’s top administrators in recent years.

In 2021, Sam Schneider, former deputy superintendent and assistant superintendent of finance and operations, was placed on administrative reassignment after an unspecified allegation was raised to then-superintendent Augustine Tornatore. 

An audit of the previous five years found no evidence of “fraud, embezzlement or malfeasance,” but determined that Mr. Schneider carried “too many responsibilities.” The district entered into a settlement agreement with him and agreed to pay his full compensation through the end of his contract on June 30, 2022, and he agreed to resign. Mr. Schneider was hired by East Hampton Union Free School District in March 2022.

Mr. Tornatore stepped down from his position following a leave of absence after allegedly “verbally berating” a Riverhead Central Faculty Association official on Oct. 5, 2023, according to previous reporting.

Cheryl Pedisich took the top spot in the district’s administration after Mr. Tornatore’s resignation. She was initially meant to serve in the role through June 30, 2024, while the district searched for a new full-time superintendent, but her contract was extended for another year. She left the school district in April 2025. 

Mr. Hagan said the district’s staff continues to do “a fantastic job” despite the latest change.

“Everything we do here continues to support the educational programs that we have in place,” Mr. Hagan said. “It was a great beginning of the school year.”