The Long Beach Board of Education has appointed David Weiss as the new Superintendent of Schools, effective July 1, 2011. The appointment was announced at the May 10th Board of Education meeting. Mr. Weiss is a veteran educator and administrator with over 30 years of experience in public education.  Since 2004, he has been the Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education and District Chief Information Officer of the Commack Public Schools. Prior to that, he was an assistant principal at Commack High School.  Before going to Commack, Mr. Weiss worked for 20 years in the Rockville Centre School District as a social studies teacher, coach, and Coordinator of the International Baccalaureate Program. He began his career in Bay Shore, teaching social studies and mathematics.

While overseeing its instructional program, Mr. Weiss helped Commack to become one of the highest-performing districts on Long Island, all while operating in a conservative fiscal environment. Under his leadership, Commack increased its Regents Diploma, Advanced Regents Diploma and Special Education Regents Diploma graduation rates to among the highest in the state, while operating below the state average for spending.  He has fostered an invitational learning environment that encourages students to challenge themselves with a rigorous curriculum. Mr. Weiss is a recognized expert on the International Baccalaureate Program. Commack Middle School is the first authorized IB Middle Years School on Long Island, and Commack High School now has the third largest IB Diploma Program in North America. Mr. Weiss has been a member of the IB Organization’s North American District Task Force and recently assisted the IBO in an important national study of college-readiness standards. He is the immediate past-President of the Guild of International Baccalaureate Schools of the Northeast, a nine-state organization that he co-founded.

A strong believer in the importance of social and emotional learning, Mr. Weiss is a founding member of the Long Island Social and Emotional Literacy Forum and has contributed to the development of the New York State Education Department’s voluntary district guidelines for K-12 social and emotional development and learning.  

As District Chief Information Officer, he has been a pioneer and strong advocate for the use of data-driven instructional decision making.  He has presented on these topics at the local and state levels. He has also been a consultant and keynote professional development speaker for school districts on Long Island, Westchester and upstate.

Mr. Weiss completed his undergraduate education in history and sociology at the University of Rochester, where he was a member of the Dean’s select honor society. He received a master’s degree with distinction from Hofstra University and completed his administrative training at Long Island University/C.W. Post, where he is now a doctoral student.  He has had additional school finance training at Stony Brook University.

While in the Rockville Centre Schools, he was recognized for his teaching as a News 12/Hofstra University Educator of the Month in 2000, and honored as the Rockville Centre Herald’s Person of the Year in 1998.  In 2008 he was awarded the Technology Administrator of the Year Award by Western Suffolk BOCES.  

Mr. Weiss and his wife Linda, a Long Beach High School graduate, have raised their family in Long Beach. Mr. Weiss has coached both of his children on youth teams and more recently, has been an avid fan at high school games. His daughter Lena is a 2009 LBHS graduate now completing her sophomore year at Brown University, and his son Ben will attend Georgetown University in the fall after graduating from LBHS this June.

“Since I came to Long Beach 30 years ago, I have fallen in love with the city,” said Mr. Weiss. “ I am looking forward to contributing my energy and expertise to the continued progress of the Long Beach Public Schools.”