Valley Stream 24 board grants tenure to multiple educators

The Valley Stream 24 Board of Education approved a series of personnel actions Tuesday, granting tenure to multiple teachers and approving a staffing assignment.

Board members voted to grant tenure to Lisa Bernstein as a reading teacher, Cheryl Kalmyong as a library media specialist, Samantha Ponzil Byerams as a technology teacher, Naomi Rashad as an elementary classroom teacher and Christian Seeger as a reading/AIS teacher, each with effective dates read aloud during the meeting. The board also approved the assignment of Joseph Schrupp to serve as an academic intervention specialist teacher while retaining his tenure and seniority in the elementary classroom teacher tenure area, consistent with the district's collective bargaining agreement.

Board staff read each motion into the record and members seconded the motions; after the roll calls the presiding officer announced each motion carried. The motions were presented during the personnel portion of the agenda and were handled individually and as part of a consent block for several additional items.

The personnel motions were introduced and moved by a board member who read the superintendent's recommendations. The transcript records the board's voice votes — in each case the presiding officer asked "All in favor?" and received "Aye," followed by "Motion carries." Individual member votes by name were not listed in the meeting transcript.

The actions formalize tenure and assignment decisions that the superintendent had recommended; the motions in the record include the effective dates provided at the time of the motion. No appeals or challenges to the tenure recommendations were recorded during the meeting.

What happens next: the personnel decisions take effect on the dates noted in the board motions. The board moved additional consent items as a block and scheduled follow‑up where required under existing district personnel processes.