BOE Meet-and-Greet Tonight for new B-BP School Chief

Bayport-Blue Point community residents have an opportunity tonight to meet and talk with the newly hired school district superintendent at a special board of education meeting at 8 p.m. at the high school cafeteria.

The special meeting was called to officially approve the hiring of Dr. Vincent Butera, a Long Beach assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, who has been chosen to take on the Bayport-Blue Point school chief role as of December.

Butera’s hiring was initially mentioned by B-BP Board President James March at the conclusion of last week’s board workshop meeting. At that time March told the audience the district would formally announce the name of the new hire on Monday. Yesterday at noon the district released a press statement and a head shot of Butera.

According to the release issued Tuesday by the B-BP district Butera was hired from a large number of impressive applicants. Nine finalists were interviewed by the BOE and the finalist list was then culled to four candidates. According to the district press statement Butera was chosen by a unanimous BOE vote.

A call to Butera at his Long Beach district office has not been returned, and the B-BP district’s public relations firm stated no interviews or further information than what was provided in yesterday’s release would be forthcoming until the BOE approval process was concluded at tonight’s meeting.

According to information site ZoomInfo, Butera began his teaching career at I.S. 171 in Brooklyn, working as a middle school social studies teacher and then teaching for four years at the Finley Middle School in Huntington.

In 2000 he took a job as an assistant principal in the Franklin Square School District, running the Washington Street School. He was named principal the following year and served in that role for eight years. He left in 2009 to take his current administration job at Long Beach.

According to the ZoomInfo bio, as principal of Washington Street School, Butera implemented the use of SMART Boards into classroom instruction portable classroom laboratories. He also implemented a collaborative teaching model to benefit both regular education and special education students.

The data also states he chaired a Character Education Committee that focused on promoting respect and kindness at Washington Street School and that the work of the committee was recognized by the Commissioner of the New York State Office of Human Rights.

Butera received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees, as well as his Certificate of Advanced Study in Educational Administration, from Queens College and earned his Doctorate in Educational Administration, Leadership, and Technology from Dowling College in May, 2006.

In 2007, according to ZoomInfo, he was invited to present his Doctoral Study on School Superintendents at the New York State Council of School Superintendents' Annual Conference in Saratoga, N.Y.

According to B-BP, Butera has also served as an assistant professor in Dowling College’s department of educational administration, leadership and technology for the past two years and his work has been published in two professional publications.