Valley Stream schools chief says he won’t seek new contract
Ed Fale, superintendant of Valley Stream District 24, said in a statement on Monday, Dec. 11, 2017, that he won't seek a contract extension after the current school year ends. Credit: Jeff Bachner
Ed Fale, the longtime schools chief of Valley Stream District 24, said Monday he will not seek a contract extension after the end of the school year following “discussions with the school board about its vision for the future.”
“I have loved being your superintendent and still do,” Fale, 69, said in a statement provided to Newsday. Fale said he made the announcement at the Nov. 29 school board meeting.
“I am so proud of what we have accomplished in this district together,” said Fale, who began as superintendent in 1998.
He declined an interview request.
School board president John Maier said the district will select a firm to conduct the search for Fale’s successor.
“His contract is set to expire June 30, 2018, and he never asked for an extension,” Maier said on Monday. “Usually, he would ask around September or October, and he hasn’t asked.”
Anthony Iadevaio, the vice president of District 24’s school board, said in an interview that he favored keeping Fale and called him “an effective superintendent.”
Iadevaio said his colleagues on the board “felt they wanted to look in another direction.”
Fale’s salary is $135,000 for the 2017-18 school year, plus $8,500 in benefits, according to the State Education Department.
In the past year, Fale was among community activists and politicians who called on the Hempstead Town Industrial Development Agency to overturn tax breaks granted in 2014 and 2015 for renovation of the Green Acres Mall and construction of an adjacent shopping center, the Green Acres Commons, both in Valley Stream.
Fale and the activists believed the tax breaks led to increased taxes for homeowners. The IDA, while maintaining the hikes were due to budgeting errors by Valley Stream School District 30, voted to revoke the tax breaks because the properties’ owner, California-based Macerich, allegedly “grossly misstated” employment figures for the completed projects. The IDA and Macerich are currently involved in a lawsuit over the revocation.
The Valley Stream Central High School District in June sued Fale’s district, which is one of three elementary school districts that feed into the high school system, seeking more than $2 million in taxes that the District 24 withheld over concerns about how tax breaks are factored into the schools’ budgeting practices. In November, Nassau Supreme Court Justice Jack Libert ordered District 24 to pay the high school district $2 million plus interest.
Maier said there was “no division over that,” referring to the advocacy and lawsuit with the high school district and noting that Fale “did an excellent job with the Green Acres pilot program.”
With Stefanie Dazio
Scott Eidler covers Nassau County government and politics for Newsday. Scott has worked at Newsday since 2012 and previously covered municipal government and education.
