By Dan Hust
MONTICELLO — November 16, 2010 — Monticello Central School’s top official is one of two finalists seeking to helm an upstate BOCES.
Supt. Pat Michel confirmed yesterday that he had applied to become the Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery (HFM) BOCES’ district superintendent in Johnstown, between Utica and Albany.
“It’s been my lifelong dream ... to be a BOCES superintendent,” Michel said.
He added that it has nothing to do with Monticello, where his sons graduated and his daughter is a ninth-grader.
“I work in a great place with great people,” Michel said, citing no dissatisfaction.
Rather, he’s attracted to the collaboration and state-level work inherent in a BOCES leadership position.
“I think this is an exciting time to be part of that process,” he explained.
Michel, however, is competing against a current HFM BOCES employee, Dr. Lorraine Hohenforst, its assistant superintendent and chief operating officer.
A press release on the BOCES’ website indicates the two candidates will meet with the HFM board on November 29 for a final interview.
The new district superintendent will then be selected by the board at its December 1 meeting, with duties commencing January 31 or thereabouts.
The combined salary is listed at just under $167,000, about what Michel makes now at Monticello – where he said he’ll remain if he doesn’t get this new job.
Made available by the death of the man who held it for 14 years, Dr. Geoffrey Davis, the district superintendency entails overseeing services provided by 360 employees to 15 school districts serving nearly 18,000 students from the Mohawk Valley to the Adirondacks.