Albion welcomes 2 new principals, 4 teachers

Photo by Tom Rivers – Four new teachers and two principals at Albion Central School were guests today at the Albion Rotary Club. The new staff members are pictured outside the Village Inn. The group includes, front row, from left: Jennifer Lamont, elementary special education teacher; Rachel Curtin, elementary school principal; and Jennifer Ashbery, a former Albion fifth grade teacher who is now the elementary school assistant principal. Back row: Samantha Seaman, kindergarten teacher; Rachel Doberstein, second and third grade special education; and Lisa Kennedy, elementary and sixth grade art teacher.

ALBION – For the past five years, Albion would typically hire one or two teachers a year, who were hired to fill spots created by retirements.

The district could have hired more, because there were more retirements, but cuts in state aid and a shrinking enrollment resulted in net reductions in staff most years.

The district is continuing to reduce positions, but this school year will see more than one or two new faces among the teaching staff. The district has hired four new teachers, and also two new principals in the elementary school.

Rachel Curtin is replacing Jim Wood as elementary school principal. Wood is assuming many of the duties filled by Kim Houserman, who retired in June as Albion’s coordinator of secondary school programs. Wood will be responsible for many of the teacher evaluations, which require two to four observations plus a written report. The district has 180 teachers.

With Wood’s shift in a new administrative position, the principal’s job was open. Albion hired Curtin, who was a principal at Silver Creek. Prior to that she was a music teacher.

Jennifer Ashbery, a long-time fifth grade teacher at Albion, is the new assistant principal of the elementary school. Ashbery has completed her administrative certification and worked the previous two summers in an administrative internship through BOCES.

She fills a position that became vacant when Bridgitte Griffin left to work in administration at the Rush-Henrietta school district.

The new staff members joined the Albion Rotary Club for lunch today at the Village Inn.