Gloversville’s new school superintendent took a pay cut and asked that his salary be frozen for three years as part of his four-year contract with the district.
Michael Vanyo will start his new job Sept. 1, following his formal appointment Tuesday night by the Gloversville Enlarged School District’s Board of Education. He also has given notice to his former employer, the Liberty Central School District, where he served as superintendent the last five years.
Interim Gloversville Superintendent Clifford Moses said Vanyo earned $178,000 in Liberty. Gloversville will pay him $159,000 for each of the first three years of his contract. For the fourth year, he will negotiate his salary with the board.
Gloversville’s previous full-time superintendent, Robert DeLilli, would have earned $128,457 in the 2011-12 school year. DeLilli left a year ago to become superintendent of the neighboring Greater Johnstown School District, where he earned $125,000 in the first year of his contract.
The rest of Vanyo’s contract is “boiler plate language most superintendents have,” Moses said.
“He is locked in for three years. That was his request. He understands he is getting a salary higher than most superintendents in this area, and he wants to move back to this area and be next to his son,” Moses said. Vanyo’s son lives in Saratoga Springs, and Vanyo maintained a residence in Saratoga Springs and an apartment in Sullivan County while he was superintendent in Liberty.
The Gloversville board selected Vanyo, in part, because of his track record in Liberty, where he improved the graduation rate, student behavior and attendance, Moses said.
“He has the experience that this district needs,” he said.
During a two-year period, Liberty’s graduation rate rose from 55 percent to 70 percent and the district rose from a “School in Need of Improvement” to a “School in Good Standing.” The federal government maintains the list and penalizes schools that do not show improvement.
Moses said Gloversville is larger than Liberty but demographically similar. Gloversville has a 56 percent graduation rate, the lowest in Fulton County, and has three schools on the federal list of poor-performing schools.
“He has done it down there and has involvement in some of the programs we will need,” Moses said. “I could not be more pleased for Gloversville with Mike coming in.”
Moses’ last day with Gloversville is Sept. 1. The date will mark his one-year anniversary as interim superintendent. His first priority when he leaves Gloversville is “to play a lot of golf,” he said with a laugh.
In addition to superintendent, Vanyo also served as Liberty’s chief school financial officer from 2006 to 2007. He also was a business administrator for the Lake George and Hoosic Valley central school districts. Prior to that, he served as a state aid specialist for Questar III BOCES and as a business teacher in the Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake Central School District.
Vanyo holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from St. John Fisher College, a master’s degree in teaching from Pace University and a master’s degree in educational administration and policy studies from the University at Albany.
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