Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 20, 1993 TAG: 9303200302
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
TOTA TAKES JOB IN N.Y. SCHOOL DISTRICT
Retiring Roanoke School Superintendent Frank Tota accepted an offer Thursday to run the three-school district of Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., hours before a California school board announced Tota was a finalist for the superintendent's position in San Jose."That concludes that," said Bud Towner, president of the San Jose School Board, on Friday.
Dobbs Ferry School Board President Martin Berger said Tota officially accepted the position Thursday but had a verbal agreement with the board for several days.
Yet Tota said as recently as Friday morning that he would consider the San Jose job if an offer was made.
"I tell you, it's certainly interesting," Tota said of San Jose, just hours before his new job became public. "I certainly would consider it."
Tota refused to confirm Friday morning a statement by board Chairman Finn Pincus that he was under consideration for a position somewhere in New York state. He could not be reached for comment later in the day, after it was learned he had accepted the Dobbs Ferry offer.
Dobbs Ferry, which has about 10,000 residents, is in Westchester County, N.Y., 17 miles north of Manhattan along the Hudson River.
A New Jersey native, Tota worked in New Jersey and in New York before being hired by Roanoke 12 years ago.
From Dobbs Ferry, board President Berger said Tota will be paid $115,000 annually. His three-year contract as superintendent of the 1,100-student district includes five weeks of annual vacation time. Roanoke has 12,700 students.
He will begin his new job July 1, Berger said. Tota is to leave his Roanoke post on June 30.
Tota was chosen from more than 200 applicants because of his "vision for the future" and his ability "to relate to people," according to Dobbs Ferry School Board members.
"The whole package is a record of experience and great accomplishment," Berger said. "First of all, we were impressed by him personally. He connected to us very well.
"We want him to be active in the community, improve ground-up support for our schools," he said.
Dobbs Ferry School Board Vice President Bernard Schneider said that after interviewing Tota he found him to be "a person who knew how to relate to people."
Tota replaces retiring Superintendent Raymond Gerson.
"We think he's a wonderful superintendent of schools," Berger said. "From what I can tell, a lot of folks in Roanoke think the same. I think we got a very good picture of the kind of person he is."