LEETONIA — A new superintendent has been selected for the Leetonia school district.

The school board Monday night approved a three-year contract for Gerald (Tony) DelBoccio of Poland as superintendent, beginning Aug. 1, starting at $105,000. He is replacing Dennis Dunham, who is leaving after four years with the district to be the Columbiana County Educational Service Center’s director of teacher and learning.

DelBoccio has been East Palestine High School principal since August 2021. He has 11 years of administrative experience, including August 2013 to July 2019 at Southern Local Jr. Sr. High School as assistant principal, principal and assistant superintendent in addition to monitoring testing, curriculum and federal funding (K-12). He also served as assistant principal at Groveport Madison High School in Groveport, Ohio, from August 2019 to July 2021

A Youngstown State University graduate, DelBoccio holds a Master of Science in Educational Administration and licensures for Administration and Superintendency.

DelBoccio said he is grateful for the opportunity to lead the district and excited to help work toward accomplishing goals.

“I wanted to extend my sincerest gratitude for being selected as the next superintendent for Leetonia Exempted Village School District. It’s truly an honor to have been chosen, and I am both thrilled and humbled by the opportunity to contribute to the school and community,” he said. “I am eager to bring my skills, experience and passion to this role and to work collaboratively toward our shared goals. Thank you once again for this incredible opportunity.”

According to board President Michael Henderson, DelBoccio’s excitement and outlook for the district made him appealing to the board.

“We were lucky enough to interview three really good candidates,” Henderson said. “Ultimately, we felt (DelBoccio) was the best option for Leetonia. How he talked about the future of the district, generally speaking, stood out to me personally.”

Henderson said the board began accepting applications for the position following Dunham’s resignation notice in March. There were 14 applicants and each board member individually reviewed all the resumes, he said.

The board selected the top three candidates — DelBoccio, Tim Fairfield (Leetonia 7-12 principal) and David Kennedy (Rootstown middle school principal) — and interviewed those three twice. Other applicants included Wendy Callewaert, Michael Dobran, Tom Domzalski, Frank Gant, Michael King, Rob Lee, Jonathan Ludwig, Kimberly Pittman, Aaron Walker, John Wilson and Rich Wright.

Also at the meeting, the board approved DelBoccio for extended days worked from June 1 to July 31 up to 30 days as approved by the board president at a per diem rate from his contract.

The board also approved a one-year certificated teaching contract for Alexis Seman for the 2024-2025 school year.