A new head honcho is up on the Haldane Hill, but can he replace Full Day Phil?
Last year marked the end of Dr. Philip Benante’s six-year tenure as superintendent of our district, as he moved 30 miles upriver to take over the Arlington School District. With his departure, a gaping hole was opened up in our school, one that was filled, at least temporarily, by our Interim Superintendent, Carl Albano. Albano previously worked as the Garrison superintendent before retiring in September of last year. He leads our district this year while the Haldane Board of Education searches for a more permanent replacement.
Albano understands the superintendent’s role to be threefold: “It’s fiscal, it’s policy, and it’s also support for the admin team; like three buckets,” he said. Albano balances the school budget, allocates money, and works with our Board of Education to decide on policies and plans for the year. He also helps the administration team manage the day-to-day running of our school. Albano’s journey to his desk in the Admin building has been long; before he retired, he had worked in education for 34 years. His first experience in education was substitute teaching during college breaks, making $50 a day. He enjoyed it so much that he switched his major at St. John’s University from screenwriting to education. After he graduated and got his teaching certificate, Albano started teaching 5th grade, but after 7 years, he decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and enter the administrative side of education.
“My father was an elementary principal who loved his job,” Albano said. “He loved it. He just couldn’t stop Interim Superintendent talking about it. And, you know, I think that rubbed off on me a little bit, just seeing how much he liked it.” Albano returned to college and became assistant principal at John Jay High School, then Concord Road Elementary School. In 2003, he was hired by the Tuckahoe School District as the middle school principal for 9 years. He was then promoted at Tuckahoe to Assistant Superintendent and eventually Superintendent of Schools. The Tuckahoe school board president at the time, Julio Urbina, spoke highly of Albano in a 2015 interview with LoHud.com. She noted, “Mr. Albano has introduced more rigor into the general curriculum, dramatically improved the special education programs and services, and shown leadership in achieving the district’s strategic plan objectives, with resulting improvement in student outcomes.”
Albano served as Superintendent for four years before moving to Garrison for four years and finally to Haldane.
When asked to name his favorite part of being superintendent, Albano stated, “You can have a bigger impact on a community and really make positive change.”
What positive changes will we be seeing at our school? Albano says he will focus on two specific projects: the school’s 2024 Capital Project, which includes major renovations to the campus, and a Pre-K program. This isn’t Albano’s first rodeo in long-term infrastructure planning; he oversaw three capital planning projects in his previous superintendent roles, including a Pre-K program at both Tuckahoe and Garrison. Albano followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming a principal and then a superintendent. Although he’s only been our superintendent for a year, his leadership could potentially improve the Haldane campus and the student learning environment for years to come.