Canajoharie School District starts search to replace retiring superintendent

PHOTOGRAPHER: Edward Munger Jr.

A new era is in store for the Canajoharie School District as a search ensues for a successor to longtime superintendent Richard G. Rose.

Rose, who turns 60 next month, plans to retire Dec. 1 following a 25-year career at the school district, which looked a lot different when he was hired as high school principal in 1986.

Then, the high school was situated near the Mohawk River and there were still students in the old West Hill school building in the village.

Since then, the district has built a new high school and renovated the pool and added a middle school and elementary school wing. Rose took the helm of the district as superintendent in July 1998.

Rose said the district’s enrollment, currently at 1,052 students, has fluctuated over the past two decades, hitting a peak of 1,200 students during his tenure. “That’s typical of rural New York,” he said, explaining that many of the state’s rural communities have been losing population.

Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery BOCES Superintendent Patrick Michel is guiding the Canajoharie Board of Education through the search process, which began last week with a meeting among parents and staff discussing the characteristics they seek in Rose’s replacement. “It’s a good thing that this school board has chosen to solicit the input of the community before they get into the process,” Michel said Tuesday.

The field of potential candidates isn’t what it was years ago, he said. Nowadays, budget cuts, calls for salary caps and the general atmosphere in the education industry isn’t the most positive, he said. “The pool of candidates is getting smaller and smaller.”

HFM BOCES will place advertisements on the Internet and in trade publications, Michel said, adding that the Board of Education is looking for a candidate from within the region or the state.

According to an outline of the search schedule, advertisements will be going out starting in May with a July 31 deadline for applications. Interviews of candidates and visits to their districts will run from August until September, when the Board of Education will make its choice.

The board is offering a salary range of between $110,000 and $125,000 plus benefits for the new leader of more than 1,000 students, 91 teachers, 73 support staff and three school buildings.

Rose said he’s still planning the specifics of his retirement but he expects it will entail a lot of fishing.