Principal hired for Scotia-Glenville elementary school

PHOTOGRAPHER: Ned Campbell

A principal in the Schenectady City School District will be the next principal of Sacandaga Elementary School in Scotia.

The Scotia-Glenville Central School District Board of Education voted unanimously Monday to tap Tonya Federico to replace Ann Comley, who retired June 30.

Federico, 39, of Niskayuna, has been the principal of Central Park International Magnet School in Schenectady, a K-8 building, since 2007. Schenectady plans to fill the position and is in the process of posting it, said Karen Corona, school district spokeswoman.

Federico was selected from more than 100 applicants and was one of three candidates interviewed by the Scotia-Glenville school board. She will earn an annual salary of $107,000. She starts Monday, Aug. 11.

“I truly believe that all students can achieve at high levels,” she wrote in her application letter. “I aspire to support teachers to help students achieve high levels of success in a safe, positive learning environment.”

Federico said she was especially interested in focusing on curriculum and instruction for elementary English language arts.

“We are very pleased to have a person with Tonya’s experience joining our administrative team at Scotia-Glenville,” Superintendent Susan Swartz said. “I am especially pleased with her emphasis on ELA skills in the classroom.”

Federico has been an educator for 17 years. Before 2007, she was assistant principal at what was then Central Park Middle School. In 2005, she was an adjunct professor at Cazenovia College, where she taught adult students about phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension and the writing process. From 1998 to 2005, she was a kindergarten and third-grade teacher at the Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet School in Schenectady, and before that, she taught kindergarten in Rowland Heights, California.

Federico earned a Master of Science degree in education administration from the University at Albany and has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and psychology with a minor in biology from Alfred University near Elmira.

Her predecessor at Sacandaga Elementary, Comley, retired after 14 years with the district and 32 years as an educator. She was principal at Sacandaga Elementary for three years and principal at Lincoln Elementary School for 11 years.

Comley, who was known to hand-deliver the daily bulletins to each classroom every morning, offered advice to her successor when she retired last month: “Be accessible and have an open-door policy.”

Sacandaga Elementary, with 367 students, is the largest of four elementary schools in the Scotia-Glenville district.