Webutuck welcomes new super

WEBUTUCK — James Gratto Jr. began his first day as the new superintendent of North East (Webutuck) Central School District on Thursday, Sept. 1.David Paciencia has been serving as the interim superintendent since Friday, July 1, when the previous superintendent, Steven Schoonmaker, left his position.Paciencia will stay on as a mentor to Gratto to ensure a smooth transition. Paciencia said that there is currently no set length for the mentorship and it will continue on a week-by-week basis.Prior to accepting his position as the Webutuck superintendent, Gratto worked for 24 years in the Saranac Central School District, which is near Plattsburgh, N.Y.Gratto served for eight years as the middle school/junior high school principal and for six years as the elementary school principal. His remaining time in the district was spent as an elementary school teacher for fourth, fifth and sixth grades.For the last six years, Gratto has worked as an adjunct lecturer at SUNY Plattsburgh in the communications and educational leadership departments.Gratto also spent one year as a teacher in Scotland through the Fulbright Classroom Teacher Exchange Program. That exchange program, along with a professional education seminar he attended in Brazil in 2007, has helped Gratto see things from a much broader view, he said.He said that working with students from so many diverse backgrounds has given him new reference points. “I understand kids much better than I did before I had those experiences,” he said.In the spring of 2010, the Webutuck Board of Education (BOE) created a new assistant superintendent position in the district and gave the position to Gratto, but the position and the appointment were quickly rescinded because the creation of the position was not recommended by the superintendent at the time, Lee Bordick, and was not supported by the school staff.BOE President Dale Culver said he believes that hiring Gratto as the assistant superintendent in 2010 could have improved the school’s academic performance.Culver said Gratto’s history of improving underperforming schools was one of the main factors in the board’s decision to select him as the new superintendent.“He had the things the school board was looking for in a future leader,” he said.Culver said he and the board thought it was very important to get the new superintendent into the school in time for the first day of school on Wednesday, Sept. 7.He said that with Gratto, the district’s administrators form “a solid team.”Besides praising Gratto’s professional attributes, Culver also spoke harshly about the rumors that have already started about the new superintendent regarding an incident that Gratto was involved with in 2008.Gratto was the victim of an Internet scam involving Walmart moneygrams.Gratto said that he received the moneygrams through the mail after first receiving an email about them. When he brought them to Walmart to ask about their validity, the store called the authorities.Since Gratto was in possession of the fake moneygrams, he was arrested for a misdemeanor of possession of forged documents.All charges were later dismissed when it was proven that he was the victim of an online scam.“We, in good conscious, would never hire someone who was convicted,” said Culver, emphasizing that Gratto kept his position as the school principal throughout the incident.“It seems at Webutuck there is always a firestorm of negativity at the onset,” said Culver of the rumors.He said that once the district sees things working out, the rumors and negativity will fade away.Gratto said that if anyone has any questions about the incident, he is willing to talk to anyone about it to clear the air and set the record straight.“[Gratto] is the kind of person who will grow on people,” said Culver, citing the new superintendent’s level-headedness. “He is someone whose ego didn’t seem to be the center of his day.”Culver noted that he was looking forward to the change from the district’s last superintendent, Steven Schoonmaker.To emphasize the difference between Gratto and the previous superintendent, Culver said, “[Gratto] will be working — working — not just occupying the chair.”

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