Former interim schools superintendent Joseph Singleton was appointed by the Riverhead school board last night — also as an interim — to fill the position of assistant superintendent for finance and operations held by Michael Ivanoff.
The board has not yet taken any public action to change Ivanoff's employment status and would not disclose whether he is still employed by the school district.
Singleton, who also once held the post he was appointed to fill last night on an interim basis, was signed on as a "financial analyst" by the superintendent Nancy Carney last month at a contract rate of $800 per day. The school board approved that contract at its last meeting.
Officials said Singleton would be paid $800 per day in the interim superintendent post held by Ivanoff, whose salary is $175,000 per year, according to the state education department.
The board's action came without discussion — save board president Ann Cotten-DeGrasse's comment that the community would "have to trust us that we are doing what is in the best interests of the school district and the students."
But board members were not unanimous in their support of the move. Angela DeVito and Kathy Berezny both voted against Singleton's appointment. The two had also previously voted against approving Singleton's financial analyst contract with the district signed by Carney last month.
School officials say they cannot discuss Ivanoff's status because it is a "personnel issue" that can't be discussed outside of executive session.
Singleton's appointment as interim assistant superintendent runs through the end of the current school year, June 30, 2011. He is a retired Suffolk BOCES administrator currently collecting a pension more than $143,000 per year, according to state pension records made available to the public on the seethroughny.net website.