Levittown names new school district superintendent

Levittown’s next school superintendent will be Todd Winch, district officials have announced.

Winch, the district’s assistant superintendent for instruction, will take over July 5 following the retirement of Superintendent Tonie McDonald, district officials said in a news release.

Winch, 49, began his education career in 1995 teaching social studies at the district’s Division Avenue High School and has served as assistant superintendent since 2016. He also worked as assistant director of pupil services and social studies chairperson.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in history, a master’s degree in liberal studies and a school district administrator certificate from Stony Brook University.

A spokesman for the district, Michael Ganci, said the announcement was being made now to allow Winch "to work closely with Dr. McDonald for the remainder of the year to ensure a smooth transition."

McDonald’s 2020-2021 academic year compensation was $291,183, according to a Newsday database drawing on data from the Empire Center for Public Policy and the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System.

Winch’s annual salary is $229,812, Ganci said. He will be paid $265,000 a year after he takes over in July.

McDonald, 62, whose planned retirement was accepted at the Levittown Board of Education’s Oct. 13 meeting, has led the district since 2014. She has been a Levittown resident for much of her life and guided the 7,102-student district through its pandemic closure and reopening.

Her notes to district families, once covering topics like the pleasures of reading and the dangers of tobacco use, turned instead to infection control and contingency planning.

"We have had great success limiting the spread of COVID-19 within our schools," McDonald said in a letter to the school community last November. "Our schools are a safe place for our students and staff."

During that period she was also president of the Nassau County Council of School Superintendents, a role she has sometimes used to publicize the challenges the school system has faced during the pandemic. She and her Suffolk County counterpart used joint statements to press for guidance from state health officials about vaccinations and mask protocols, or to sound the alarm about school bus driver shortages.

In an interview, Mari Ganga, president of the Levittown Council of PTAs, credited McDonald with returning the district’s children to in-person learning as soon as was safely possible, and with forging a cooperative relationship with parents.

"She doesn’t do it to appease us; she actually listens and bounces ideas off us," Ganga said.