Stissing Mountain makes quick staff changes

PINE PLAINS — The Pine Plains Central School District released a letter on Tuesday, Sept. 27, addressed to administrators, faculty, staff and parents that briefly addressed immediate changes to the school staff.The letter said Dennis Malloy had resigned as dean of students for Stissing Mountain Middle/High School and that the middle school principal, Robert Hess, has been granted an administrative leave.Hess has been temporarily replaced by interim principal Anthony Celenza as of Tuesday, Oct. 4. Celenza has acted as principal at several schools in the region during his long career.Until the district fills the position of dean of students, the duties will be shared by Celenza and high school principal Tara Horst.“Many people hope that Mr. Hess’ leave of absence isn’t too long because he is a respected and admired administrator. He’s always very good with the kids and the parents. He really is. He’s greatly missed,” said local parent Patricia Hollick. “The kids are going to miss him because he is very personable.“I think we have a great school,” she continued. “The school is communicating well with the parents.”As far as releasing information to the media, the school has been very tight-lipped about the reasons for the staffing changes.Board of Education President Bruce Kimball would only confirm that the two changes were related.Superintendent Linda Kaumeyer said that it is district policy not to discuss any personnel issues and the district is required by law to protect the privacy rights of all school staff members.She went on to say that the focus of the school at this time is to continue the academic programs and foster the well-being of the students.Gary Silveira, an attorney with the school district’s official legal representative, Shaw, Perelson, May & Lambert, LLC, said that he is not aware of any pending lawsuits against the district.The New York State Police and the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office, meanwhile, have no records of any charges filed against either Malloy or Hess.

Latest News

South Kent School’s unofficial March reunion

Elmarko Jackson was named a 2023 McDonald’s All American in his senior year at South Kent School. He helped lead the Cardinals to a New England Prep School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC) AAA title victory and was recruited to play at the University of Kansas. This March he will play point guard for the Jayhawks when they enter the tournament as a No. 4 seed against (13) Samford University.

Riley Klein

SOUTH KENT — March Madness will feature seven former South Kent Cardinals who now play on Division 1 NCAA teams.

The top-tier high school basketball program will be well represented with graduates from each of the past three years heading to “The Big Dance.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Hotchkiss grads dancing with Yale

Nick Townsend helped Yale win the Ivy League.

Screenshot from ESPN+ Broadcast

LAKEVILLE — Yale University advanced to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament after a buzzer-beater win over Brown University in the Ivy League championship game Sunday, March 17.

On Yale’s roster this year are two graduates of The Hotchkiss School: Nick Townsend, class of ‘22, and Jack Molloy, class of ‘21. Townsend wears No. 42 and Molloy wears No. 33.

Keep ReadingShow less
Handbells of St. Andrew’s to ring out Easter morning

Anne Everett and Bonnie Rosborough wait their turn to sound notes as bell ringers practicing to take part in the Easter morning service at St. Andrew’s Church.

Kathryn Boughton

KENT—There will be a joyful noise in St. Andrew’s Church Easter morning when a set of handbells donated to the church some 40 years ago are used for the first time by a choir currently rehearsing with music director Susan Guse.

Guse said that the church got the valuable three-octave set when Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center closed in the late 1980s and the bells were donated to the church. “The center used the bells for music therapy for younger patients. Our priest then was chaplain there and when the center closed, he brought the bells here,” she explained.

Keep ReadingShow less
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Penguin Random House

‘Picasso’s War” by Foreign Affairs senior editor Hugh Eakin, who has written about the art world for publications like The New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and The New York Times, is not about Pablo Picasso’s time in Nazi-occupied Paris and being harassed by the Gestapo, nor about his 1937 oil painting “Guernica,” in response to the aerial bombing of civilians in the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War.

Instead, the Penguin Random House book’s subtitle makes a clearer statement of intent: “How Modern Art Came To America.” This war was not between military forces but a cultural war combating America’s distaste for the emerging modernism that had flourished in Europe in the early decades of the 20th century.

Keep ReadingShow less