The Verona Board of Education met on Tuesday, February 13, and approved the hiring of a new head football coach for Verona High School. Tony Sorrentino has held high school, college and NFL coaching positions, and was most recently an assistant coach at the University of Tennessee. Sorrentino will also serve as the boys JV lacrosse coach this spring and as a long-term substitute in the digital arts department.
Superintendent Rui Dionisio said that the search and interview process that led to Sorrentino’s hiring took 10 weeks. Thirty-five candidates applied for the position, 10 were interviewed and Sorrentino went through six rounds of interviews. He also read from a press release about the announcement that was sent out later that evening.
There was also a report on an increase in special education costs. Verona currently has 40 students in out of district placements, which will be increasing to 41 next year. Verona’s business administrator, Cheryl Nardino, also noted that the district was also recently hit with an $180,000 for an out-of-district residential placement. But Nardino also told the BOE that Director of Special Services Frank Mauriello has taken a variety of other steps to contain special ed costs while delivering services to that population.
In other business, Dionisio gave an update on the winter sports teams at VHS, and the education committee noted that an advanced fashion design class is being added to the curriculum.
You can read the full agenda here.
The BOE’s website contains information on meeting dates, agendas and resolutions, Board policies, and videos of BOE meetings going back to the 2011-2012 school year. The next BOE meeting will be Tuesday, February 27 at 7 p.m. in the Learning Commons at VHS, and it is open to the public.
