Webutuck BOE picks new principals, loses yet another

WEBUTUCK —  The Board of Education officially hired two new school principals at Thursday night’s business meeting, filling the vacancies left by Webutuck High School Principal Kenneth Sauer and Elementary School Principal Michael O’Neil, who both resigned this summer.

Joel Freer was unanimously approved by the board to be the elementary school principal with a salary of $85,000 a year.

According to School Superintendent Richard Johns, Freer was an assistant principal at Highland Elementary in Fort Montgomery.

“He is very vivacious and outgoing, a ball of energy,� Johns said. “However, no one expects him to fill O’Neil’s shoes.�

Johns said that Freer was chosen from a field of more than 24 applicants.

In an interview after the meeting, board president Dale Culver said that he is optimistic that Freer will enhance the kindergarten to fifth-grade programs.

“He comes to us with a lot of good ideas, and he seems to be focused on the future,� Culver said. “He has very big shoes to fill, but he has a very capable staff to help him.�

Jay Posephney has been chosen to replace Sauer at Webutuck High School with a salary of $107,000 a year.

According to Johns, Posephney was an assistant principal for three years at Linden Hill School in Hawthorne, N.Y..

Student board member Megan Sehneider, senior at the high school, said that a group of students helped to pick Posehney out.

“He was very vivacious, and had some great ideas of what he wanted to do with the school,� Sehneider said. “He was very energetic and very nice to talk to.�

Culver said that Posehney has had varied and diverse experiences with children that will help him with his new position.

“He is very high energy, but he is also down to earth,� Culver said. “The board felt very highly of him.�

Just as the board filled two open principal positions, the board received a resignation letter from Eugene Brooks Middle School Principal Scott Richards.

The board tabled voting on Richards’ resignation in order to have time to look over his letter.

Richards’ resignation is the third principal resignation for the district this summer — which means all three of the district's three principals resigned this summer. The board also had to deal with the resignations of three Webutuck High School teachers last week, and a requested leave of absence for another teacher.

During Monday night’s meeting, resignations were accepted for third-grade teacher Nicole Cuoco, speech and language therapist Kristen Hosley, earth science teacher Kristin Gargano and social studies teacher Thomas Grega.

At the beginning of the meeting during public comments, John Panzer said that he was troubled by all of the resignations.

“There is a rumor that there will not be enough teachers in the fall for the district,� Panzer said. “Losing three major leaders in the school system tells me that something is wrong.�

Johns admitted that there was a huge turnover this summer, but said there would be enough teachers in the district for opening day.

In other business, a delegation of students, former students and a parent asked the board to hire former high school basketball coach Michael Riddle as the district’s new athletic director.

Riddle, who worked at the high school from 2003 to 2005, is currently working as an athletic director at a YMCA in Scranton, Pa.

High school student Alex Murphy said Riddle was more than just a coach.

“He touched the lives of many while he was here,� Riddle said. “When I had a seizure during basketball camp, [Riddle] stayed at the hospital with me for six hours to make sure I was okay. He is more than just a coach to me, he is a mentor and a friend.�

Resident Peter McAfree also supported Riddle for athletic director.

“When you look at the athletic director position, it all starts with leadership,� McAfree said. “You need to redefine the position to reconnect with children. I do think you have a chance to hire someone to do that.�

McAfree asked to speak to the board about Riddle with the board in executive session, which was agreed to by the board.

Building Excellence Team (BET) Chairwoman and teacher Lynn Buckley made a presentation to the board at the beginning of the meeting detailing English Language Arts (ELA) test goals, staff development goals and math development goals for the elementary schools.

In the presentation, she said that math results have improved substantially for grades three to five from over a year ago, while ELA results have increased for grade three and grade five in ELA.

“We are going in the right direction,� Buckley said. “We have not reached all of our goals yet, but we are going in the right direction."

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