Dr. Sarah Chauncey
The Northville Central School District Board of Education has selected Dr. Sarah Chauncey, a veteran educator and administrator with experience at the local, regional and state levels, to be the next superintendent of schools.
Dr. Chauncey currently serves as the district superintendent of Rockland BOCES. As a BOCES district superintendent, she serves a dual role acting as both the chief executive officer of Rockland BOCES and as the region’s representative of the New York State Commissioner of Education.
Dr. Chauncey began her education career as an elementary teacher. She has worked at Rockland BOCES for the past 12 years serving in several capacities including library media specialist, chief information officer, director of instructional technology and curriculum development, and other positions before being appointed district superintendent/CEO. She also has three decades of experience as a corporate analyst, computer consultant, trainer and developer of commercial software and business applications for major corporations.
“The Board and I are extremely pleased that our school district attracted a candidate of Dr. Chauncey’s caliber,” Northville Board of Education President John Sira said. “She understands that Northville is a special place, and we’re thrilled she wants to be a part of it. Dr. Chauncey’s vast experience in education and in the private sector will be an asset to Northville schools and the community.”
The Northville board will formally appoint Dr. Chauncey at their March 8 meeting. Dr. Chauncey will be in Northville that day and again on March 9 to meet with staff and the community. Her official start date is July 1.
A Central New York native, Dr. Chauncey grew up in Solvay in Onondaga County and says she and her husband are looking forward to living Upstate again.
“Northville is the type of student-centered, close-knit community we want to live in. The district has put in place many innovative practices and it’s clear that the community, staff and the Board of Education care deeply about the opportunities they want their children to have access to,” Dr. Chauncey said. “The wider world can learn a lot from Northville about what it means to be a part of a community.”
Dr. Chauncey earned her bachelor’s degree in education from the State University of New York at Oneonta and gained her early teaching experience in Camden, Rome and Utica. While earning a master’s degree in Library Science from Syracuse University, she developed a passion for information systems and programming and shifted her career focus to work as a software and technology consultant and trainer. She worked in the public and private sector for companies such as Citicorp, Newsweek and Time, and was the co-owner and vice president of StarTech Software. After earning her Master of Business Administration from New York University, Dr. Chauncey decided to return to public education as a library media specialist for the East Ramapo Central School District. At Ramapo, she continued to develop software and her product “Digital Pencil” – a precursor to web browsers and online learning management programs like Blackboard – was awarded a Gates Innovation Grant.
A longtime resident of Nanuet, she also served on the Nanuet Board of Education for 23 years.
Dr. Chauncey describes herself as a servant leader and says the first thing she’ll do as superintendent will be to learn about the district and community from the staff and residents who know it best.
“We serve each other. We have to work together, it’s a collaboration,” she said.
Dr. Chauncey holds a doctorate in information management from Syracuse and a masters in educational leadership from St. Thomas Aquinas College. She earned her school district leadership certification from the College of St. Rose.
During the next several months, she and her husband will be moving to the district and will spend several days working in Northville prior to her official start date. Dr. Chauncey will replace current superintendent Dr. Leslie Ford, who will retire at the end of June.
In addition to her husband, she has two adult children, a daughter in Colorado and a son, who lives in Saranac Lake.
