Superintendent gets extension, raise

CENTERVILLE — St. Mary Parish Superintendent Leonard Armato, who has led the district to the brink of an A grade in the state accountability system, got good grades on his review Thursday.
The St. Mary School Board emerged from a brief closed session during its regular monthly meeting and approved a two-year contract extension with a $5,000 annual raise for Armato.
The raise sets Armato’s salary at $140,000. The raise and the new contract go into effect in June, two years after he succeeded Donald Aguillard as superintendent. Aguillard became the Lafayette Parish superintendent in spring 2015.
Armato taught and served as an administrator in Patterson before being appointed district supervisor of special education in 2003. He was selected as the new superintendent from a field of 10 applicants in 2015.
In 2015-16, his first full year as superintendent, the St. Mary district improved its performance score by more than eight points, moving to just short of the minimum score required for A schools.
Board member Wayne J. Deslatte moved to extend Armato’s contract and offer the raise. The motion passed without objection.
“I would like to thank the board,” Armato said. “We look forward to being an A school next year.”