By Tom Kane
Brooklyn Eagle

Editor’s note: Xaverian has announced that in the wake of Sal Ferrera’s stepping down as President, Robert Alesi, former Xaverian principal, has been appointed interim president. The following is a brief history of the two leaders.

Xaverian High School, founded in 1957, is part of an international network of schools sponsored by the Xaverian Brothers and is one of New York City’s leading college-preparatory schools for young men.

Xaverian’s rigorous curriculum, which includes one of New York City’s only International Baccalaureate programs, attracts nearly 1,400 students annually.

In 1993, a president was appointed by the Xaverian High School Board of Trustees to guide the school into the twentyfirst century. The man they chose to captain the ship was Salvatore Ferrera.

Dr. Ferrera, who holds a PhD from Fordham University, was a local educator and principal of P.S. 204 before joining ‘the Clipper’ (Xaverian’s nickname) as president and CEO.

After 16 years, the Stuyvesant High School graduate retired from his post in late September, 2009.

“We have achieved many meaningful milestones together,� said Ferrera in a letter to the Board, “and I will cherish the memory of our accomplishments.�

The board of trustees has appointed Xaverian Principal Robert Alesi as Interim President. Alesi is a Flatbush product out of St. Thomas Aquinas and a Xaverian graduate himself, ’78, who “took the B-9 bus to Xaverian everyday.� Alesi then graduated from Wagner College with his bachelors degree and Pace University with his masters degree, before becoming a math and business teacher at Xaverian in 1983.

His long road began as a freshman basketball coach, a position he kept after Principal Brother Warren Able offered him the teaching job.

“I finished my Masters and I was going out there to make a lot of money in the business world, but really, it was coaching that drew me here,� says Alesi. “I always think that God has a plan, God has a reason, and that was the hook for me here.�

Since 1983 Alesi has held many a positions at the “Big X� including coach, teacher, guidance counselor, department chair, dean and the summer school principal for 18 years. He was principal of the Academy and now holds the interim president post.

That means he oversees Xaverian’s Genesis Program for gifted grade-school students; its International Baccalaureate Program, for the most challenging courses for juniors and seniors; its Specialized Studies Program for students with learning disabilities; plus what Alesi calls “the real meat and potatoes of what our school is all about,� which is the Academy.

The transition has been an easy one, Alesi will tell you. He and Ferrera have been friends for 30 years. “Academic excellence, in every program, is so critical. Whether it be the kids that go on to Harvard, or to Stanford or to Yale; or whether it’s to get a kid with a learning disability into a great college that he never would have had the opportunity to get into, that’s academic excellence. But more than that,� continues Alesi, “if we don’t graduate men of integrity, if we don’t graduate good, Christian, Catholic men, then we really haven’t been true to the Xaverian mission.�

The main concern for everyone at this point is that the Xaverian mission remains intact. That should not be a problem with Alesi at the helm.

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