Mattituck superintendent Jill Gierasch announces resignation

After just three years on the job, the superintendent of the Mattituck-Cutchogue School District has resigned.

Superintendent Jill Gierasch announced her decision in a letter to families Wednesday morning.

“An opportunity has been presented to me and will take me onto the next pathway in my educational journey,” she wrote, explaining that she was appointed Tuesday night as superintendent in the Cold Spring Harbor School District.

She was hired as Mattituck’s superintendent in June 2018 at a base salary of $204,321 in the 2018-19 academic year, according to data from the New York State Department of Education.

During the 2019-2020 school year, a Board of Education decision to increase her salary by 11.4% rather than the 2% set forth in her contract incensed some community members, though Board of Education officials have reasoned that at the time, Ms. Gierasch had one of the lowest salaries for superintendents across Long Island.

Contract information for her new position in Cold Spring Harbor was not immediately available.

Ms. Gierasch said she feels “heartfelt gratitude” for the opportunity to serve as superintendent in Mattituck.

“The past year is an example of our community pulling together and setting the example for others to follow. While it was not easy at times, it was your commitment to the Mattituck-Cutchogue faculty, staff and administration that allowed us to achieve such progress in difficult times,” she wrote.

Her resignation will go into effect at the end of the school year, though she assured to work with the Board of Education on a smooth transition.

“There is still a lot to be done prior to my departure from the district, including making sure that the district continues on its course of excellence,” she said.

The Board of Education meets at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the high school library.

The Mattituck Board of Education meets at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

The Southold and Greenport school districts both recently hired new superintendents after David Gamberg retired at the end of the last school year. Ms. Gierasch had been hired at Mattituck to succeed Anne Smith, who had been hired in 2014 as the district’s first female superintendent.