New Instructional Technology Coordinator Named for Lynbrook Schools

Story by Rosemary Leonetti. 

The Lynbrook Board of Education has announced the appointment of Neil MacDermott to serve as the district’s instructional technology coordinator, effective Aug. 15. His appointment was unanimously approved at the Board’s Aug. 14 meeting.

Mr. MacDermott comes to Lynbrook from the Valley Stream Union Free School District #24. He served for seven years as the director of the Valley Stream Teacher Resource Center, a position he held while serving as an elementary classroom teacher in the same district since 1994.

At the teacher resource center, Mr. MacDermott was responsible for managing the resources of this state-funded, nonprofit staff development organization; writing and submitting the annual continuation grant; and supervising the center’s employees and instructors. He has extensive experience integrating technology into the classroom to maximize student achievement, and is also experienced at providing assistance and training to help teachers enhance their classroom instruction through the use of technology.

Mr. MacDermott has served on the New York Teacher Centers’ Technology Committee since 2007, working to support the statewide implementation of educational technologies. In 2012 he became a New York State Common Core Ambassador, representing the Long Island Network of Teacher Centers as the mathematics ambassador for the Network Training Institute. Mr. MacDermott also shares his knowledge of how to integrate technology into curriculum as an adjunct professor at New York Institute of Technology. In addition, he has been a frequent presenter at state and regional educational conferences.

Mr. MacDermott holds two master’s degrees, one in educational administration from the College of St. Rose and another in special education from Dowling College. He completed his undergraduate studies at Stony Brook University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history.