Will be Saratoga assistant super
Principal Piccirillo leaves GHS



GUILDERLAND — After not quite 20 months as principal of Guilderland High School, Michael Piccirillo is moving on.

He’ll leave his post at Guilderland on July 13 and on July 16, he’ll start a new job as assistant superintendent for secondary education and curriculum with the Saratoga Springs City School District.
Piccirillo describes his new job, at a district with about 7,000 students, roughly 1,300 more students than Guilderland, as "a perfect fit."
"I’ll be overseeing all the curriculum and instruction at the secondary level," he said, noting that’s where his background is, first as a social-studies teacher and coach and later as an assistant principal and then a principal.

Before coming to Guilderland, Piccirillo was the lead middle-school principal at Shenendehowa.
"I would have liked to stay here longer," Piccirillo said of Guilderland, but the opportunity to be a district-wide administrator with "a secondary focus" is rare, he said, and he thought he might not get the chance again.

He’ll earn $121,000 his first year at Saratoga Springs; his pay this year at Guilderland High School was $114,290.
Asked what he accomplished while principal at Guilderland, Piccirillo said, "I’m proud we established a comprehensive vision for the high school."
He worked with the staff to set 10 school-wide goals. They include: "engaging students in real-life application of knowledge and skills," reviewing current assessment of student progress "to develop assessments which go beyond the standards and include multiple means of collection and sharing data," having staff develop "positive supportive relationships with students with the ideal goal of each student having one adult at school they feel connected to," planning ways for the entire staff to "interact socially and develop personal relationships," and creating a leadership program that "provides students with the skills to represent and advocate for the entire student body."

Piccirillo said he is also pleased with the progress that was made in easing the transition from middle school to ninth grade and with some changes in the block scheduling.
Asked about his greatest challenges at Guilderland, Piccirillo said, "Change is difficult in any organization of this size. The challenge is how to work collaboratively in the best interest of the kids."
He went on, "Guilderland has a very good reputation, which is well-deserved. It’s always a challenge to continue to build on that success."
What will he miss when he starts his new job" "First and foremost, the students," said Piccirillo. "In a central office, I won’t have as much contact with the students," he said.
He concluded, "This is a great school. Our kids are so successful in so many ways, not just academically but in music, art, and sports."

"Hard worker"

Gregory Aidala, who will himself be retiring in November after seven years as Guilderland’s superintendent, had nothing but praise for Piccirillo this week.
"I enjoyed working with Mike," he said. "He was a very hard worker, and was approachable by staff, students, and parents. He was very student-centered. He constantly asked himself, ‘Is this in the best interest of the students"’"

Aidala pointed out that Piccirillo periodically had lunch with the high-school students.

Among Piccirillo’s accomplishments, Aidala cited his work on smoothing students’ transition from the middle school to the high school, his focus on issues at the building-cabinet level, and his instituting changes in the advisory period.

Students who spend half of the 85-minute period studying music will be able to take elective courses next year during the other half of the period.
Piccirillo also introduced a "PM school," for suspended or at-risk students, efficiently replacing individual tutoring, said Aidala.
And, Aidala called the 10 goals set up during Piccirillo’s tenure "a guiding influence in a lot of faculty discussions."
"We certainly wish that Mike would have stayed a longer period of time," said Aidala, "but a professional opportunity opened that really matched his background."

Looking for a long-timer
Aidala went on, "We wish the continuity was for a longer period of time."

Piccirillo was the second short-term principal at Guilderland High School with an interim principal in between. When John Whipple retired in 2003 after 14 years as principal, he was replaced by Ismael Villafane.

Villafane left after two years to return to Texas where he had spent decades as an educator. Frank Tedesco, a retired administrator who spent three decades in education, filled in at Guilderland after Villafane announced he was leaving in June of 2005 until Piccirillo started working just after Thanksgiving that year.
Aidala met with the school board in executive session on Tuesday night to "go over the background" of people he had contacted to serve as interim principal until a replacement for Piccirillo is found.

The board took no action on Tuesday, but will hear a recommendation and make an appointment of an interim principal at its next meeting, July 9, said Aidala.

The district will advertise to fill the post permanently, Aidala said, and candidates will go through at least two rounds of interviews conducted by committees made up of teachers, parents, supervisors, and administrators.
"We’d like to have a successful candidate by October 1," said Aidala. "The earlier, the better."

The search is currently underway for a new superintendent since Aidala is retiring in November.
"I feel strongly the new superintendent has to be involved in the process," Aidala said of the search or the new high-school principal.
He concluded, "We want someone that will spend many years here."