Smithtown officials appoint new school superintendent

Bayport-Blue Point schools chief Anthony Annunziato will be the next superintendent of the Smithtown school district.

Annunziato, former president of the Suffolk County School Superintendents Association, was appointed Tuesday in a unanimous vote of the Smithtown school board. He takes over on July 1, replacing the retiring Edward Ehmann.

"He's a very good fit for Smithtown," school board president Gladys Waldron said of Annunziato. "He's a complete package."

Annunziato will lead a school system with a budget more than double his current district's and with five times as many students. Bayport-Blue Point, with a 2011-12 budget of $63,663,681, has five schools and an enrollment of about 2,500. Smithtown, which has a budget of $212 million, has 14 schools and about 14,000 students.

Annunziato's salary is to be determined. He and Smithtown officials are negotiating terms of a three-year contract, Waldron said.

School board vice president Theresa Knox said a deal should be completed in a matter of days.

She acknowledged Annunziato's salary likely will be higher than the $219,555 drawn annually by Ehmann, but added that Annunziato has more experience than Ehmann had when he was hired in 2007. Ehmann, a 37-year Smithtown employee, had never been a superintendent before taking the job.

"I think we're also paying for five or six years of superintendent experience," Knox said, referring to Annunziato's term in Bayport-Blue Point. "We need that . . . He knows budgets inside and out."

Annunziato was not immediately available for comment Wednesday. He earns $242,500 annually in Bayport-Blue Point.

Smithtown will close its Nesconset Elementary School in June due to budget cuts and enrollment declines. Smithtown teachers have been working without a contract for nearly two years; negotiations are ongoing.

Knox said Annunziato "wanted the challenge of the larger district."