A homecoming for Levittown superintendent

In the 1970s, Tonie McDonald walked the halls of Levittown Memorial High School as a student. In 2014, she is Dr. Tonie McDonald, and is walking the halls of what is now the district’s central office and career and technical education center as the superintendent of schools.

As of July 1, McDonald is the new chief of the 7,200-student district, which serves portions of North Wantagh and Seaford. “It feels great to be back here,” she said. “It’s a great district. It’s home.”

McDonald graduated in 1977, and thought about becoming a teacher. It was a time when enrollment was declining and schools were closing across Long Island, so she studied social sciences at Adelphi University and became a paralegal. After having two children, however, she decided to follow her dream, and returned to Adelphi to earn a master’s degree in education.

For 10 years, she worked at Division Avenue High School, first as a social studies teacher, and then as chairwoman of the department. She moved to the central office, where, in a five-year span, she served as testing coordinator, director of pupil services, assistant business manager and assistant superintendent for business and finance. Along the way, she earned a doctorate in educational administration from Hofstra University’s Department of Foundations, Leadership and Policy Studies.

Following a four-year stint in Plainedge as assistant superintendent for business and administration, she returned to Levittown to replace Dr. James Grossane, who became Smithtown’s superintendent.

McDonald’s sons followed in her footsteps, attending elementary school at Gardiners Avenue. “It’s a big difference when you go back with your children to school,” she said. “It’s so much smaller.”

But with Memorial no longer operating as a high school, her sons instead went to MacArthur in North Wantagh, graduating in 2004 and 2007. Their mother said they had great teachers along the way, who instilled in them the value of a good education.

McDonald said she has a vision for the school district, and it starts with increasing student achievement. She said that while Levittown is in a good place, there is always room to do better. Any district that rests on its laurels, she said, will miss opportunities for growth.

While the new national education standards have drawn some ire among teachers and educators in the past few years, McDonald is a support of raising the bar. “I like the Common Core,” she said. “I think it’s a tough, rigorous curriculum, and we should expect the most from our children.”

She added that she wants to ensure that teachers are well prepared to teach the new standards, and that means providing them with solid training. McDonald said that her staff has a lot to offer, and she doesn’t want to run a top-down school district.

“I’m very collaborative,” she said. “I don’t ask people to do things that I wouldn’t do, and I want to hear what they have to say.”

With a school business background, McDonald said she understands budgeting and the financial pressures facing schools, such as the property tax cap. She wants the district to be responsible to taxpayers and transparent with its finances. McDonald is a taxpayer herself, still living in the same Levitt house in which she grew up. Her brother lives next door.

Describing herself as hardworking and compassionate, McDonald said she cares about the people who live in the community and the children who attend the district’s 11 elementary and secondary schools.

The Gerald R. Clapps Career and Technical Center, formerly Memorial High School, is one of those schools, but McDonald noted the differences. There are no more lockers in the hallway, and her office in the central administrative wing used to house either the school nurse or psychologist, she recalled.

An avid Mets fan, she had her office walls painted royal blue. Her office is a testament to her educational past. Nameplates from her various positions line the wall beside her desk, and business cards from her former jobs are spread out under the clear plastic blotter on her desk. She looks out into the school’s courtyard, which, she noted, has changed since she was a student. It now has a greenhouse.

Because the district takes in portions of North Wantagh and Seaford, McDonald said she wants those families to feel just as much a part of the community as those with a Levittown address.

Upon becoming a superintendent for the first time, she received lots of congratulation messages — she has a bag full of cards — and plenty of advice. “I’ve had many people tell me many things,” she said. “I think I have to find my way.”

In a year when she is having her own homecoming, McDonald is particularly excited to for the Homecoming celebrations in the fall at MacArthur and Division. Right now, however, she is just looking forward to getting the school year started. She hopes it will be the first of many, and says, “I hope to retire from this job.”