FALLSBURG- School administrators play a significant role when it comes to the efficiency of the
education system. They’re responsible for providing resources for teachers, promoting an inclusive school environment, and improving the quality of education. However, in recent years, districts throughout the Hudson Valley region have seen a decline in certified and available school administrator candidates. With this becoming a significant concern among many districts, school leaders are left to their own devices to figure out ways to reverse the issue. Some have implemented their own initiatives with the hope that they can incentivize teachers to pursue certification. But there’s one district that has seen signs of optimism with their efforts to increase the number of administrators, and that is the Fallsburg Central School District.
Fallsburg’s “Grow Our Own” administrative internship program, sponsored in part by the Mid-Hudson School Study Council and supported by SUNY New Paltz, is the district’s newest initiative to encourage more teachers to pursue an administrative role. Each intern is assigned to work under the guidance of an administrator and take on a variety of tasks related to the administrative position they are interested in pursuing.
The first slate of interns for this program consists of six teachers, Carlye Bertholf, Anthony Cordero, Laura DeGraw, Regina Giordano, Isabel Mejia, Daniel Redmond, and Jaime Walsh, and one high school speech-language pathologist, Jessica Scanna. These interns are mentored under current administrators; elementary principal Mary Kate Stinehour, high school principal Shana Bruestle, and Director of Pupil Personnel Services Leighanne Russell.
One of the program’s primary goals is to ensure that interns are comfortable enough in the role of an administrator before officially deciding to pursue a job in administration. The interns can pursue certification but are not obligated to finish the entire…
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