Superintendent defends decision on transferring teacher

Shelter Island Superintendent Michael Hynes defended Tuesday night the decision he and Board of Education members made to transfer popular teacher Jennifer Rylott from the classroom to a newly created position of academic administrator.

“I’m still the principal,” Dr. Hynes said at a special school board meeting. “I’m still the superintendent. I’m still the business official.”

His words came in response to a question from board member Linda Eklund, who said people have been asking her if the activist superintendent hired just a year ago to set the district on a new course was abandoning his academic leadership in favor of handling financial matters.

Dr. Hynes said a column carried in the July 19 Shelter Island Reporter should have made it clear that his academic goals for the district remain the same. But Ms. Rylott’s skills are critical to handling added paper work resulting from various state and federal mandates, he said. She is supporting the superintendent, not supplanting him in his role as academic leader, he said.

For a full story on the meeting, see Thursday’s Reporter.