The Andover Central School board announced the appointment of Dr. Derek Schuelein on July 19th to Superintendent effective August 14th. After 4 days officially in office Dr. Schuelein was kind enough to grant Andover Exclusive an interview to get to know him and see how things were going so far.
If you happened to run into Dr. Schuelein already you may notice he's got a bit of a beard situation going on, which he says is not his usual look. The beard is the result of a lost bet with his wife over the color a set of chairs in storage. He was certain that they were black and she was certain that they were dark brown. Since, he's got the beard I'm sure you can guess what color the chairs are. He says the beard will be gone before the beginning of the school year, but honestly it's not a bad look.
Dr. Schuelein and his family will be moving here from down state. His wife is an accomplished pediatric physical therapist and together they have 3 children and a German shepard/lab mix rescue dog. Dr. Schuelein had many nice things to say about them. It sounds like they'll make a wonderful addition to the Andover community when they arrive. Right now Dr. Schuelein is in town working and figuring out the housing situation and the family is back in that other part of NY juggling the logistics of the move.
Our extensive research into Dr. Schuelein's background lead us to several articles about his previous appointments including a Summer 2020 article on the website MyRye that stated his favorite sport was football. In that previous article he did not elaborate on favorite football teams, which fed local fears (mainly mine) that he may in fact NOT be a Bills fan. When questioned on this serious matter he stated "I am not a Bills fan, but I do have friends that are." He also stated that the Buffalo Bills are the only true New York NFL team, which any Bills fan will tell you is true.
Dr. Schuelein went on to state that he was really much more into College football and supports his Alma mater Penn State. He had a lot of nice things to say about Penn State football and the institution in general. The college ball talk was all a cover to distract from the fact that he is a proud Patriots fan. He doubled down and stated that his wife also rooted for the Patriots, but as I did not interview her that is hearsay and we should not hold her accountable for that. Dr. Schuelein did reiterate that he doesn't have anything against the Bills specifically, and would be open to cheering them on (we're assuming provided they're not playing the Patriots).
The football talk lead to soccer talk, which naturally lead to a discussion of the ACS Sports merger with Whitesville. Dr. Schuelein explained that he's been reading through all the documents on the merger and had a meeting set up for Friday to iron out the transportation concerns. He stated "I think it will be a good thing that gives the kids of both schools more opportunities." He also had some fun and exciting meetings on his schedule with the Department of Health to get all the recommendations and guidelines firmed up for the new school year.
In addition to football, sports mergers and other administrative duties Dr. Scheulein enjoys golf, skiing and walking with his dog. Though he says he hasn't done much golfing since his kids were born and he's probably pretty bad at it these days. So someone should invite him out for a round of golf before the permafrost sets in. He went on to proclaim himself a really boring person and a bit of a workaholic.
Since getting to town Dr. Schuelein says he's really enjoyed the natural beauty of the town. He likes how friendly everyone has been and he say's he's met a bunch of folks just out walking around town. He has not yet had the opportunity to try Texas Hots or Salt Rising toast. He has however had a Beef on weck which he calls "a game changer." He hasn't had the subs at Steve's Gas N' Grub or Shorts, but seemed open to the experience. There were some concerns about the local pizza situation as he had previously been a bit spoiled for choice down near the city.
The last superintendent hit both of Steve Walker's dogs with his car when driving to his first day of work and to our knowledge Dr. Schuelein has not injured any animals in town either vehicularly or otherwise. So he's clearly off to a way smoother start to his ACS career.
I do hope you'll all join me in welcoming Dr. Schuelein and his family (when they get here) to town.
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