The Rye City Board of Education has tapped its middle school principal for an assistant superintendent position with the school district, the schools superintendent announced Friday.
Joseph DiGiovanni, the principal at Rye Middle School, was handpicked by the district for its assistant superintendent for Human Resources position and approved by the school board at its Friday morning meeting.
DiGiovanni will replace Brian Alm, who left in June to become the superintendent of the Blind Brook district. He is expected to assume the position immediately. Alm collected a $230,000 salary during the 20245-25 school year, the fourth highest salary among Rye City School District administrators, state records show.
DiGiovanni was earning a salary of just over $205,000 as Rye Middle School principal in 2024-25, according to state records. It is unclear what he will earn in his new position.
Schools Superintendent Patricia Murray said DiGiovanni was selected following an “extensive search.”
In his wake, the middle school’s current assistant principal, Nicholas Clair, will takeover as interim principal. The school district will also begin a search for a new principal.
DiGiovanni first joined the Rye school district since 2014, entering Rye Middle School as its assistant principal in replacing Joe DeRuvo. He was later promoted to interim principal during the pandemic, in 2020, when longtime principal Anne Edwards retired over medical issues. He was given the permanent position that same year.
In an email to the school community, Murray said during his time with the middle school, DiGiovanni has been an “instructional leader” and “skilled administrator” who demonstrated a commitment to building a stronger community.
“We are confident he will bring these qualities to his new position,” Murray, who took over for Eric Byrne on July 1 as schools superintendent, added.
Before his arrival in Rye, DiGiovanni was the assistant principal and humanities coordinator at Hendrick Hudson High School in Montrose, N.Y. Prior to that, he taught seventh, eighth, and ninth grade social studies for 10 years at Fieldstone Middle School in North Rockland.
He started his career as a high school social studies teacher in the Warwick school district.
DiGiovanni has a bachelor’s in Sociology from SUNY Oswego and a master’s in Instructional Technology from the New York Institute of Technology.
“Please join me in congratulating Mr. DiGiovanni on his new position!” Murray concluded in her email.
