Connetquot schools superintendent Joseph Centamore resigns
Connetquot schools Superintendent Joseph Centamore has resigned, the district announced Wednesday. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
The Connetquot schools superintendent has resigned after three years on the job, according to a letter posted Wednesday on the district's website.
Joseph Centamore resigned Tuesday night, the letter stated. Bryan Frank will take over as acting superintendent.
“Returning to the district means a great deal to me and is both a privilege and a responsibility I do not take lightly,” Frank announced in the letter.
From 2015 through 2017, Frank was the district’s director of social studies and in 2023, he was the interim principal at Sycamore Avenue Elementary School in Bohemia. For the past six years, he has been a lecturer at Stony Brook University, the letter stated.
His background also includes a stint as an NYPD officer, and he completed a tour with the Army National Guard in Iraq, he said.
Bryan Frank, the acting superintendent of schools for the Connetquot Central School District, in a photograph that was posted with a message to the community. Credit: Connetquot Central School District
“As Acting Superintendent, my priority is to ensure a smooth transition while maintaining the stability and momentum of our schools,” he said in the letter.
Centamore was appointed superintendent of the district in 2023 after serving as a deputy superintendent in the South Huntington school district. He was paid $284,287.45 for the 2024-25 academic year, according to a Newsday database.
He was previously a middle school assistant principal in the Elwood school district, a middle school principal in the Rocky Point district and assistant director for human resources for Nassau BOCES.
Centamore could not be reached for comment. A district spokeswoman declined to provide further information.
Connetquot has been in the headlines as one of 13 Long Island districts impacted by the state’s Native American mascot ban. The district sued the state to keep its original Thunderbird nickname, but the school board voted last year to accept a proposed settlement that called for it to rebrand as the T-Birds.
The name change prompted a federal Education Department investigation, which found the district violated civil rights law for complying with the state mandate. The case has been referred to the Department of Justice.
Lorena Mongelli has been reporting for Newsday since 2021. Prior to that, she covered breaking news at the New York Post.
