Dear Red Raider Community:

We are looking forward to welcoming back all of our students and staff members next week and I am beyond excited, honored, and encouraged to kick off my first school year as your Superintendent.  Since “officially” assuming my new position on July 1, I have been grateful for the tremendous welcome and support that I have received from the entire Mechanicville community.  Over the past 12+ years, Mechanicville has become a second home for me and I look forward to working with our dedicated Board of Education, administrators, faculty, and staff as we continue to follow our District’s mission of inspiring each student to succeed every day, and provide outstanding instruction, programs and support for our students and families.  

Throughout the summer, our schools have been busy providing programming, instruction, and support to our students while providing authentic professional development to our staff all the while preparing, cleaning, and working to ensure our buildings are in peak condition as we start up this new school year. 

This year we have brought in many additional staff, programs, and supports to help our kids learn and grow while taking additional measures to ensure that we have built in additional safety and security measures to keep our schools safe. As we progress forward, we will focus on returning back to “normal”, by putting our focus back on student success, by supporting every student to succeed to the best of their abilities.  We will continue to promote greater transparency when we make decisions, to better communicate why decisions are made and how they will be carried out.  We will continue practicing shared decision-making by encouraging feedback from our school community, including students, parents, staff, and all stakeholders. 

These are your schools, and we need your feedback, both internally as well as through enhanced communication between our schools and our Mechanicville community so that we may promote the many great things that are happening in our classrooms each day!  Through positive collaboration, we will strive to make a positive difference in the life of each student entrusted to us. 

This is such an exciting time for all of us as we welcome our students back to the first day of school on Thursday, September 8th.  We look forward to a great year as we strive to make each of our students’ experience happy, healthy, and productive!

In closing, know that I have an open door policy. I hope that when we meet in the hall, at a school function, in the supermarket, or at a community event, you will feel free to share your comments and concerns—as well as any positive feedback you may have.  We not only want to hear what we can do better — we would love to hear what we are getting right!

We are looking forward to an amazing year!

-KK