Zacher named interim superintendent

Served in similar capacity in five other districts

Grand Island Dispatch, March 17, 2006

Dr. Lawrence J. Zacher has been appointed interim superintendent of the Grand Island School District. He will guide the district through the first part of the 2006-07 school year while a new superintendent is selected to succeed Dr. Thomas Ramming, who announced his retirement effective June 30. Zacher comes to the district after having served as an interim superintendent in five other school districts. He most recently served as interim in the Lake Shore Central School District, and has been an interim superintendent in the Springville-Griffith and Gowanda Central School districts in Western New York. Zacher was superintendent of the Whitesboro Central School District for eight years prior to his retirement in 2002.

Dr. Lawrence J. Zacher

Zacher began his career as a science teacher in Wappingers Falls in 1966. He became secondary principal at Honeoye Central School in 1979 and served there until 1991, when he became superintendent in Mayville.

After three years, he became superintendent at Whitesboro.

His bachelor’s and master’s degrees both came from the state University at New Paltz, and he earned his doctorate in Education from the University of Montana.

Zacher resides in Whitesboro and has four grown children. His oldest, a daughter, has Down Syndrome and lives at home. He also has three sons, one a pilot, another a West Point graduate now working at Morgan Stanley and his youngest, a Navy pilot stationed in Washington.

“I’m looking forward to serving the district,” Zacher said in a telephone conversation. I’m not just holding the seat warm for the next superintendent. There are important issues with which the district needs to deal over the next several months. The important task of moving a quality district forward can not be interrupted.”

Zacher offers the district a wealth of experience in a number of areas and plans to work on establishing an improved credibility with the community. “I look on my role as interim superintendent as transitional,” he said. “I hope my efforts will pave the way for the next superintendent and allow him/her to be successful.”

Zacher’s contract is expected to run from the end of June through the end of October, or until a new superintendent is hired.