VOORHEESVILLE — Former Voorheesville teacher Brian Hunt will take the helm as the school district’s new superintendent this July, as the current superintendent, Teresa Thayer Snyder, retires.

He says the job is a perfect fit — both professionally and personally.

Hunt and his wife, Deb, have been working and living in separate school districts since their wedding two years ago, he said; he in Edmeston in Otsego County, and she in Schalmont in Schenectady.

“We’re over 100 miles apart now,” Hunt said. The two are moving in together in the Voorheesville district.

“We have a house under contract,” he said.

Hunt taught social studies at Clayton A. Bouton High School for seven years, he said.

“It was my first full-time teaching job, in 1989,” Hunt said. At the school board meeting last week, when Hunt’s post was announced, a former student of his with children of her own in the district shook his hand and welcomed him back.

“The people here — it’s a really positive community,” Hunt told The Enterprise.

Hunt earned a bachelor of arts degree in history from Brown University; a master of arts degree in social sciences from Wesleyan University; state certification as a social studies teacher from Siena College; and school district administrator certification from The College of Saint Rose.

Hunt lost his first teaching job in Voorheesville after four years, when the board reduced the number of faculty because of budget cuts. Hunt was recalled back to Voorheesville when the budget was restored in 1998, he said. Three years later, in 2001, Hunt left for a position in administration.

“I was interested in being involved in a leadership position, to work with other school districts and staff members,” Hunt said.

He worked as an elementary school principal with both the Mohonasen and the Schalmont districts.

When the Schalmont district closed his elementary school, Hunt was again out of a job. He soon filled the position of superintendent of the Edmeston school district.

“Edmeston is a district with 430 students. It’s rural and sparsely populated. Voorheesville is a small school district, but Edmeston is smaller,” Hunt said. Voorheesville has nearly 1,200 students.

“Voorheesville is a wonderful school district. I’m pleased to be coming back,” Hunt told The Enterprise. “Voorheesville is a very high-performing district, academically. It’s exciting to be part of that kind of organization. I’m looking forward to that.” 

Hunt wants to be involved with “continuing and ever-improving the performance of our students,” he said.

He is ready to handle the changes in the state’s teacher evaluation system, he said.

“I want to make sure that it is done as well as possible,” Hunt said, “in ways that are collaborative, and that are positive.”

He said that he negotiated with the Edmeston teachers’ union four years ago. The state has now set a “framework for local unions and local districts” to institute teacher evaluations by Nov. 15, he said.

“We’re on a short timeline. It will be interesting,” he said. “We want to do it the right way. We want to make sure it’s done correctly.”

Rather than come in with new programs, Hunt said, “I’m learning all about what’s going on there right now. I’m getting myself reacquainted.”

Hunt said that he and his wife had been looking for a way that they could work closer to each other. Deb Hunt teaches special education in Schalmont. When Brian Hunt saw the superintendent’s opening in Voorheesville, he applied.

“The opportunity to come back to Voorheesville and be with my family — I couldn’t pass it up.”

Voorheesville welcomed Hunt back to the fold at the school board meeting last week with home baked brownies and a round of applause.

According to a 1989 edition of the school paper, The Helderbarker, that Hunt kept, he was quoted describing the district as having “a nice community feeling,” he recalled.

This week, he said, “I really am looking forward to being in the community.”