Smithtown superintendent stepping down

After 37 years working for the school district that hired him as a teenage custodian, Smithtown Superintendent Edward Ehmann has announced plans to retire at the end of the school year.

His long tenure makes him a relative rarity among school officials, who often switch districts during their careers.

Ehmann, 62, who earns $219,555 in his fifth year leading Smithtown, said he is announcing his retirement now because his contract requires nine months' notice to the school board. He said he plans to work with children after he leaves the district on June 30.

"There's a point in your life when you realize it's time to move on to new challenges," Ehmann told reporters following his announcement at a school board meeting Tuesday night. "There are other things I'd like to do. I consider myself a teacher first and foremost."

The school board will hire a consultant to recruit and recommend candidates to replace him, Ehmann said.

Past and present district officials credited Ehmann with repairing relations that had been strained between teachers and previous administrators.

"He worked tirelessly to see that whatever was done was done in the best interests of the district and the community," said former school board president Robert Rossi. "Ed, being that he was there and knew a lot of people, was able to bring the morale of the district back to where it should be."

Smithtown Teachers Association president Rich Forzano said the union has a good relationship with Ehmann and assistant superintendents Mary Cahill and Karen Ricigliano.

"It's very different," Forzano said. "The morale is a lot higher now than it was before Ed and Mary and Karen got to the head of the school district."

Except for the Army, Smithtown schools have been Ehmann's only employer. He started as a part-time janitor at 16 before going into the service.

He taught English and later was an assistant principal, principal of the district's two high schools and assistant superintendent for personnel. He became superintendent in 2007.

"Every year has its challenges," Ehmann said. "The last couple of years, the challenges have been daunting."

A referendum in May that reduced busing for students was reversed in a second vote this month. Last week, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo vetoed a bill to restore $3.1 million lost when the district missed deadlines six years ago seeking state school construction aid.

With Michael Ebert