Will become superintendent in Arlington
Philip Benante, the superintendent of the Haldane Central School District, said on Tuesday (April 30) that he will leave at the end of the school year to become superintendent of the Arlington Central School District in Dutchess County.
Benante left the Arlington district, which has 10 times the number of students as Haldane, in 2018 to take the Cold Spring job and led the district through the pandemic.
“As some of you are aware, I reside in the Arlington community and this opportunity allowed me to be closer to home, something that has become increasingly important to me as my children grow older,” Benante wrote in a letter to the community. Benante and his wife live in Pleasant Valley, and his children attend schools in the Arlington district.
“Dr. Benante has been an exceptional leader and we are so grateful for the work he has done to support Haldane over the past six years,” said Peggy Clements, the school board president, in a statement. “Although we will miss his leadership, we wish him the very best in his new role and look forward to a productive couple of months with him as we finish this school year. We’ve begun to make plans to fill this important position.”
Before coming to Haldane, Benante spent much of his career at Arlington. He began as a fifth-grade teacher at Titusville Intermediate, one of its 11 schools, before becoming assistant principal at Arlington High School and the principal at Beekman Elementary. From 2013 to 2018, he was deputy superintendent.
In making the appointment, the Arlington school board called Benante “a student-focused leader with a commitment to academic excellence who respects and values the expertise of faculty and staff.”
The Arlington district covers a wide area of Dutchess, including LaGrange, Pleasant Valley, Beekman, Union Vale and portions of the Town of Poughkeepsie and East Fishkill. It has 7,700 students.
Benante has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from SUNY Cortland, a master’s degree in special education from Mount Saint Mary’s College and a doctorate in educational leadership and policy development from Fordham University.
