Board taps McLaren as new superintendent

The current assistant superintendent for business will succeed Bruce Watson, who's stepping down.

BOICEVILLE, N.Y. >> The Onteora Board of Education has promoted an assistant superintendent to the district’s top job.

The board on Tuesday approved a three-year contact with Victoria McLaren, who currently is Onteora’s assistant superintendent for business. She’ll become superintendent in July and be paid $170,000 per year.

McLaren will succeed Bruce Watson, who is resigning in June due to family issues after less than a year on the job. Watson came on board in August 2016 at an annual salary of $180,000.

McLaren spent about year as Onteora’s interim superintendent after Phyllis McGill left the job in June 2015. That period concluded with Watson being hired.

Board of Education President Kevin Salem said late Tuesday that there were no other candidates in the most recent search whose dedication to the district matched McLaren’s.

“When we hired Bruce Watson, a hire we are very proud of, we all felt privately we knew who his successor was going to be. And after her interview last year, we made some suggestions for how she might pursue the superintendency,” Salem said.

“She went right to work,” he said. “She did the things we suggested and more, and she did them right away. More than that, when I asked her after the interviews last year, ‘Do you want to be a superintendent?’ her answer to me was, ‘Where would I go? This is my home.’ That was not lost on us at all.”

Salem said McLaren’s work under Watson’s “mentorship” was among the reasons there was not an extensive search for a new superintendent.

“There was nobody that interested us of the people that were available,” he said.

“Between her [12 years] here, her education that she’s pursued in the last several years, and Bruce’s mentorship, we feel like we have a great superintendent,” Salem said. “What could have been a problem for us ended up being a great opportunity.”