The Niagara Falls City School District Board of Education, after a roughly six-month process that included no input from parents or the public and no candidates outside of current district employees, has selected Stanley Wojton as its new superintendent.
Wojton, a 20-year employee of the Falls schools, was reportedly selected from a field of four applicants, all of them teachers or administrators in the local district. For the last 3 years, he has been designated as a Principal on Special Assignment, working closely with retiring Schools Superintendent Mark Laurrie.
Wojtan’s selection came despite a plea from a district parent, asking the school board to think about city families whose elementary school students routinely score in the bottom third of the state on English language arts proficiency exams/
“I’m speaking for families with ongoing academic struggles,” Tameka Huston said. “We have watched leadership come and go without addressing these conditions. We need a new superintendent with a proven record. We ask the board to conduct a transparent, community-inclusive search. We ask for competence.”
Moments later, the board, with member Nicholas Vilardo abstaining because a relative had been a candidate for the superintendent’s job, unanimously voted to hire Wojton. A large group of school district employees, present in the school board meeting room, erupted into applause.
The board members gushed in their praise for the new superintendent.
“We’re very, very excited,” Board Vice Chair Robert Bilson said. “We’re very proud of the district. This whole process was a wonderful process. I believe the district is in great hands.”
While Vilardo did not vote for Wojton, he said, We’ve raised good in-house candidates.” He also contended that the last time the school board hired a superintendent from outside the district, “He lasted two years and was fired.”
Board President Anthony Paretto maintained there was never a need to conduct a broader search for Laurrie’s replacement, saying, “We had excellent candidates applying for the job.”
None of the school board members commented on the absence of parent or community involvement in the superintendent selection process.
“I don’t just sit in this seat. I take everything seriously,” Board Member Clara Dunn said. “My vote is coming from my heart. I’m fully confident my vote is the right vote.”
Laurrie announced his intention to step down from his post, after 42 years in the school district, in early October. He has been the district superintendent since 2016 and has said he will stay in that post until the end of the school year to assist the new superintendent with the transition process.
Paretto said Wojton’s appointment as superintendent will become effective July 1.
In remarks after his selection, Wojton said he was “honored” and would be “committed to our students, parents and community.”
A life-long resident of the Falls and father of three, Wojton said, “There are only good things to come (for the district).”
Laurrie called his successor “competent and collaborative.”
“I believe the board made an outstanding choice.”