Central Bucks hires Lower Merion superintendent Steven Yanni at $275,000 salary

The Central Bucks school board voted unanimously Tuesday to hire Lower Merion superintendent Steven Yanni as its next superintendent, at an annual salary of $275,000.

The salary, approved as part of a five-year contract, is less than what the prior Central Bucks board had given its former superintendent, Abram Lucabaugh, who received an annual salary of $315,000 after getting a 40% raise last year. After Democrats won the November school board elections, Lucabaugh abruptly resigned and was awarded a $700,000 separation agreement by departing Republicans — a payout that has been under investigation by the new board.

But Yanni’s salary is also less than the $290,000 he is making in Lower Merion, one of Pennsylvania’s highest-spending school districts, where Yanni has worked for less than a year. Previously, Yanni spent five years leading the Upper Dublin School District; before that, he was superintendent in New Hope-Solebury.

“Central Bucks is home for me,” Yanni said at a community forum in the district Monday, while addressing a question about his short tenure in Lower Merion. As a Central Bucks resident for the last eight years, Yanni said, “I’ve watched what has transpired in the school district and community — the good times, the struggling times.

“I believe at my core I’m a unifier and a uniter,“ he said.

Central Bucks has been a flashpoint for controversy in recent years, with debate around masking and pandemic safety policies giving way to battles over library books and the district’s treatment of LGBTQ students. The community has been sharply divided politically, and its school board elections have drawn intense campaigning and interest.

Yanni said he hopes to focus the district on a shared goal: “making sure kids are successful.” If that becomes the mission, he said, “I think we’re going to be successful as a school district and a community.”

Yanni is scheduled to start in Central Bucks July 1 — taking over from Jim Scanlon, a former West Chester superintendent who stepped into an acting role leading Central Bucks in January.

In Lower Merion, Yanni’s departure has triggered another superintendent search. Before Yanni, another superintendent had left the district after only a brief tenure: Khalid Mumin, who spent a little more than a year in Lower Merion before becoming Gov. Josh Shapiro’s education secretary.

At a meeting Monday, Lower Merion board members told the community they were committed to finding the right candidate and bringing stability to the district.

“It’s going to be our fifth superintendent, or acting superintendent, in nearly as many years, and that’s not good,” said board member Todd Ridky. “We’re going to do everything we can to do this right.”

Board president Kerry Sautner said the board would be hiring a search firm and working over the next three to six months to identify a new leader. The board will “ensure this leadership change is a strong one, a stable one, that lasts us for years,” she said.