Fredonia Superintendent Jeff Sortisio

For the second time in the last two years, Fredonia Superintendent Jeff Sortisio is getting a longer contract.

The Fredonia Board of Education, without comment, approved Tuesday an employment agreement with Sortisio that runs through July 20, 2023. That amounts to a two-year extension of the contract the board approved in October 2018, which was itself a one-year extension of the original three-year deal Sortisio signed in July 2017 to become the Fredonia school district’s superintendent.

Asked after Tuesday’s meeting why the board extended Sortisio’s contract again, Board President Brian Aldrich replied, “We’re pleased with the work that he’s done in progressing the school district forward. We want to continue with the current administration and the success that we’ve seen, and we just felt the contract extension was something that was necessary in order to continue that.”

“While there were minor adjustments, no additional salary was asked for or provided in the remaining two years of the contract,” Sortisio said in an email response to questions about his new contract. “The two additional years do include the same percent salary increase that was negotiated a couple of years ago.” That was a 2.5 percent increase per year.

The superintendent’s salary this year is $154,442, which he said was not changed by the new extension. Sortisio’s original three-year contract contained a salary for 2018-19 of $142,626, according to a September 2018 OBSERVER report. The extension he signed in October 2018 increased that to $150,675.

Sortisio was asked, “What is it about the Fredonia school district that makes you want to stick around?” His reply: “You come for the work, but you stay for the people. I certainly enjoy the responsibility of being the superintendent of our district. In my third year I am starting to learn more about our community, getting to know staff members on a personal level, and engaging with students at all levels.

“I also think the relationship I have with the Board of Education is really critical to our district’s long term success,” he continued. “We have a dedicated Board of Education, a passionate community, a committed faculty and staff and really kind and caring students. There is so much energy to make our district better and better that I very much want to be a part of our long term success.”