School district superintendent gets contract extension through 2021-22
School district Superintendent Paul Padalino has been given a contract extension that will increase his annual salary incrementally from the current $199,000 to $230,000 in the 2021-22 school year.
The Board of Education approved the extension during its meeting Wednesday night.
Board members said Padalino has helped the district navigate some difficult times, including the closing of four out of 11 elementary schools to deal with declining enrollment.
“I was [on] the interviewing committee six years ago, and I said ... we needed a new superintendent because the district was in such big trouble,” Trustee James Michael said. “Since [Padalino] has decided to come on, he has shown a lot of leadership and guidance in our district.”
Padalino became superintendent in November 2011 at a salary of $179,500. That was markedly less than the $203,000 being paid to the man he succeeded, Gerard Gretzinger.
The extension granted to Padalino on Wednesday calls for him to be paid $206,000 for the 201819 school year, $213,000 for 2019-20, $221,500 for 2020-21 and $230,000 for 2021-22. Padalino said during Wednesday’s meeting that he appreciated the board’s vote of confidence.
“I want to thank you for the support,” he said. “It’s been pretty much the same people sitting around this table for the last fiveand-a-half years moving us forward, and I think that says a lot about what the community thinks about what you do and what we’re accomplishing.”
The superintendent said he’s been particularly pleased with the district’s improved graduation during his time at the helm.
“It’s about kids, the students, and sending them out into the world ready to do what they’ve got to do,” he said.
Padalino also spearheaded the $137.5 million Kingston High School expansion and renovation project approved by voters in late 2013 and currently in progress.
“Building the high school [expansion] is obviously a big accomplishment because it’s going to support this community for hopefully another 100 years,” he said. “We’ll have a facility where we can deliver a 21st century education.”
Before coming to Kingston, Padalino was superintendent of the Watervliet school district, near Albany; principal and associate principal at Hudson High School; and summer school principal and a social studies teacher in the Troy school district.