Massena Central School District appoints two new principals
Aug. 2—MASSENA — The Massena Central School District will start the 2022-23 school year with two new principals in place.
During a special meeting on Monday, the district's board of education appointed Jefferson Elementary School sixth grade teacher Nicole A. Terminelli as Madison Elementary School principal. She replaces William Jaggers, who was appointed as a high school science teacher.
"We're very happy to get Nicole as one of our building leaders. She's been working in the district since 2009, so she has an extensive background at the elementary level. She's one of our strongest teachers and has now stepped up to the building leader role," Superintendent Patrick H. Brady said.
He said Ms. Terminelli has been involved with a variety of district programs such as the Positivity Project for character education, and training teachers on New York state assessments and curriculum alignment. She also serves as a St. Lawrence County legislator for District 14.
"She's very invested in the community. She's very invested in the school. Now she's ready to take that next step as a building principal," Mr. Brady said.
Mr. Jaggers served as Madison Elementary School principal for the 2021-22 school year, taking over for Danielle J. Chapman, who had been appointed as director of educational support services.
"We appreciate the time that Bill served as our Madison Elementary principal. He had made the decision to go back into the classroom, where he was an excellent science teacher. We appreciate that we had the opportunity to place Bill back at the high school. He was a great science teacher for us for several years at the high school. Students really liked him and he got great results," Mr. Brady said.
Mr. Jaggers will also be working with technology teacher John L. Root to help launch a ninth and 10th grade career and technical education program.
Board of education members also appointed Kendra Quinlan as J.W. Leary Junior High School principal, replacing Amanda J. Zullo, who accepted a grades six through 12 principal position at Tupper Lake Central School.
"We're pleased to be able to land Kendra Quinlan as our new junior high principal. Kendra has a strong background in teaching and counseling. She's been the high school counselor at Heuvelton for the past four years," Mr. Brady said.
He said she has also worked as a counselor for the St. Lawrence-Lewis Board of Cooperative Educational Services, as well as other counseling and teaching positions prior to moving back to the north country in 2017.
"I think it's a great fit. She has a varied background. She's had varied teaching and counseling experiences. She's been involved with alternative disciplinary practices in her work. She's taught a class on trauma and resilience. Resilience is certainly a characteristic we want to teach our students today," he said. "Kendra has a great deal of potential. She's really set high expectations for staff. Our hiring committee saw her as a strong leader, and we're very pleased to bring her on to our team here in Massena."
Mr. Brady said the special meeting was called to seek approval for those and several other hiring recommendations.
"We had several hiring recommendations that I wanted the board to be able to act upon so we could get them in place as far ahead as we could before the start of the school year," he said.
