As District Superintendent, Christopher D'Ambrese serves as the local representative of the New York State Commissioner of Education by assisting local school districts in the implementation of the New York State Education Law and the interpretation of the Commissioner’s Regulations and rules of the Board of Regents.
As part of his leadership role, Mr. D'Ambrese works closely with members of the agency's Executive Cabinet to ensure that programs and services provided by Rockland BOCES are of outstanding quality and meet student and family, as well as school district needs. Additionally, the District Superintendent assists component school districts in the recruitment and selection of school superintendents, as needed. The District Superintendent is accountable to the nine-member Rockland BOCES Board of Education.
Mr. D'Ambrese's three-decades-long career in public schools began as a special education teacher in the Onteora Central School District in Ulster County. After moving on to the Highland Central School District, he served the dual role of special education teacher and department chair at Highland High School.
After a decade at Highland High School, Mr. D'Ambrese moved to Orange-Ulster BOCES, where he supervised the incarcerated education program within Orange County Jail, the adult career training/continuing education programs, adult ESL-GED programs and worked directly with the Orange County One-Stop and Orange Community College in the development of literacy and employment/training opportunities for the adult residents of Orange County.
In 2015, Mr. D'Ambrese became the Director of Adult Education at Rockland BOCES, where he led the Adult Education Division and worked closely with Rockland Community College in providing literacy, employment and post-secondary opportunities to adult residents of Rockland County.
In 2019, Chris was elevated to Executive Director of Adult Education, adding supervision of Hudson-Valley P-TECH, Regional Night High School and Rockland Works (formerly the Rockland County Career Center).
