To further enhance the district’s multi-faceted response to the pandemic and its effects on students, staff, and families, Glens Falls City Schools is creating a new, district-level pandemic response coordinator position to be filled by Ms. Carrie Mauro, current Jackson Heights elementary principal. Mrs. Amanda Simmes, long-time teacher, instructional coach, and educational leader, will take over as principal at Jackson Heights. The new roles both begin on Monday, September 27th.
“The COVID pandemic keeps bringing us challenges that will take significant, multi-year strategies to address,” says Superintendent Paul Jenkins. “The Board of Education wisely recognized the intricacies of our overall strategy, and committed to supporting our students, teachers, and families with this new coordination role.”
From the outset, Ms. Mauro will continue and expand her work to sustain the district’s pandemic operations plan by:
- Acting as a streamlined liaison between administrators, the Departments of Health, employees, and families;
- Serving as the district’s main COVID coordinator to handle quarantine logistics, on-site testing of students and staff, and overall continuity of support to families affected by a positive COVID case;
- Solving operational challenges linked to the phase-in of student activities, academic intervention/enrichment, and other initiatives as schools and classrooms rebound to new-normal protocols.
“We’ve been working with an ‘all-hands-on-deck’ approach since March of 2020, and this streamlined role will allow our entire team of principals, teachers, psychologists, and social workers to do what they do best, when our students need it most,” said Mr. Jenkins.
Mrs. Simmes now takes on the new role of elementary principal after 22 years in the Glens Falls City School District, as a classroom teacher and a K-8 instructional coach for math, science, and social studies. Her degrees are from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (advanced studies in Educational Leadership and School Building Leader certificate), SUNY Plattsburgh (M.A. in Education), and the college of Saint Rose (B.A. in Math and Business Administration).
“I’m confident that our school community will benefit from having both of these talented leaders in their new roles,” said Mr. Jenkins.