Siwanoy Elementary School will not have a new full-time principal in place for the start of the 2025-2026 school year. At its most recent meeting, Pelham’s Board of Education described an aggressive search it undertook earlier this summer to replace Farid Johnson, who tendered his resignation in June, but said none of the possible candidates who emerged over the summer were able to advance to the final round of the hiring process.
“The search for the new Siwanoy principal is ongoing,” said Board of Education president Jackie DeAngelis at the August 7 meeting. “While it’s a high priority to fill this role, it’s even more important that we find the right person. The district has completed one round of the hiring process and has decided to continue the search for more candidates. As a result, it’s likely we will begin the school year with an interim principal.”
After Johnson went on a leave of absence in March, he was replaced on an interim basis by Susan Kramer-Gilbert, who had been the school’s principal for 17 years before retiring in 2020. DeAngelis said the board was “hopeful” that Kramer-Gilbert would continue to serve as interim principal, but added a note of caution, saying, “We are not yet in a position to confirm that, and the district will give information as things get finalized.”
DeAngelis said the hiring process began with the development of a “leadership profile” in conjunction with contributions from the community. Members of the community also participated in interviewing candidates who met the initial criteria set by the district. At that point, some of the would-be finalists were given a “demo task” to perform, after which they would advance to final interviews with superintendent Dr. Cheryl Champ and the Board of Education. “In this round, no candidates were advanced to the board for consideration,” said DeAngelis.
“We will continue that search to find the next leader of Siwanoy: the right leader,” said Dr. Champ.
The board then discussed its annual evaluation of Dr. Champ. DeAngelis said the board met in executive session without the superintendent and evaluated her performance using a standardized evaluation rubric. After this, the board rated Champ’s performance as “highly effective,” and proposd a salary increase that DeAngelis described as consistent with other raises among the district’s administrators. DeAngelis said the board proposed to grant Champ five additional vacation days to be used during this school year “in recognition of her significant efforts around the capital improvement bond.”
