The new superintendent in the 4,750-student Chester County district is Joel DiBartolomeo, 59, a Philadelphia native who is a high school superintendent in the New York City system.

DiBartolomeo, who was principal at Bartram High School in Philadelphia and at Harriton High School in Lower Merion, will start work Nov. 30. In an interview yesterday, he said that with his selection, "hopefully, there will be a chance for healing. I'm optimistic. If people will engage with me face to face, we will not have a problem and the kids will win."

He added: "I will be living in the community. I want to move beyond the traditional role of superintendent to be a neighbor, here for kids, families, and the community."

The vote to hire DiBartolomeo was 6-2. Of the six board members voting for him, five will leave Dec. 7, when their terms end.

The board touched off a furor that has not yet subsided when it fired Superintendent Myra Forrest in June. The board has given no reason.

That vote, taken without any notice to residents or those on the board who supported Forrest, sparked expressions of outrage from hundreds of residents.

More than 150 people, many of them teachers, were at the board meeting Wednesday when DiBartolomeo was hired at a starting salary of $165,000; his contract runs through June 2014.

Most of those at the meeting, including several incoming board members, supported putting off any vote until the new board takes over, several observers agreed.

Board member Eugene Endress, who voted to hire DiBartolomeo and fire Forrest, said yesterday that the district could not wait for the new board to take office and go through months of a selection process.

"Always before a new board came in, decisions were made by the standing board. We felt we should do this," said Endress, who is leaving the board. "We decided that time was running short and it was time to appoint a new superintendent."

He said DiBartolomeo "has very good credentials. . . . I think once he gets on board and starts communicating with the people, the majority will come over to his side. He's a good leader."

DiBartolomeo began his career in 1973 as a social-studies teacher at Bartram. As a high school superintendent in New York, he provides support, supervision, and long-range planning for dozens of principals.

Barbara McMeekin, a board member who opposed firing Forrest and hiring DiBartolomeo, said the board majority had "been acting as an oligarchy and ignoring the community's wishes."

She added that DiBartolomeo "was just shoved down their throats, so we have a fractured community now. . . . I don't understand who in their right mind would want to come here, given the contention and the questions swirling around."

DiBartolomeo will have a lot of convincing to do, said Scott McCutchen, father of three district children. He started a Web site to protest Forrest's firing and the board's decision to hire a replacement.

"I'm angry and disheartened and disgusted," he said yesterday. "In 17 days, six new board members out of nine will be seated. . . . They have the right to do this, but it doesn't make it the right thing to do."

DiBartolomeo is "going to face a hornet's nest," McCutchen said. "Every decision he makes is going to be very publicly scrutinized." Asked whether he would ask the new board to consider firing or buying out the new superintendent, he said, "Nothing is off the table, frankly."

Ray Feick, the interim superintendent, said yesterday that he thought the public anger would wane once the new board was seated.

"I don't think the new board is going to get even with the last group. They will plan for the future and say that the past is past," he said.

The five departing members who vote to hire DiBartolomeo are Endress, Edward Kerner, John Dutton, Eric Scheib, and Karen Zelley. William LaCoff, who is also leaving, voted against hiring DiBartolomeo.

McMeekin, who will remain on the board, voted against DiBartolomeo and, with Scheib, in favor of putting off the decision until the new board takes over. Member Debbie Bissland, who will remain on the board, voted to hire DiBartolomeo. Member Rosemary Bilinski was absent.

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