Colleen Kane loved living in Orange County about 12 miles west of Woodbury Commons where she was principal of a middle school in Goshen since 2008; but, she was ready to come home. So, when an opportunity presented itself in the form of a vacant middle school principal position in the Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake School District, she jumped at the chance.
Burnt Hills came up and I know it’s a fantastic school district, so I was thrilled for the opportunity to even apply for the job, said Kane, who grew up in Columbia County. `Burnt Hills has a nice reputation; they’re really progressive in some of the work they’re doing and I’m happy to be part of that.`
Kane said there’s something special about middle school age, which is why working with kids in their formative years is exhilarating.
`I think that for students, this is a great time to mold them, teach them and have a really nice opportunity to get to know them as students. It’s an interesting age; they’re very creative, inquisitive and it’s exciting to watch them grow up,` said Kane. `You see more of a change from sixth to eighth than you do anywhere else. They’re a lot fun.`
Getting to know students on a personal level, beyond just waving hi in the halls, is critical to Kane’s administrative approach; so, she’ll spend the first couple months really getting to know the students and their families, when she officially takes over on Dec.13.
`If we’re really going to take a whole child approach to education, the whole child is the family too, so that’s a huge part of it,` said Kane. `I think this is an age where kids tend to push parents away and I like to spend time with parents, help them navigate that and the ways you can maintain relationships with your kids. I just don’t think you can get success if the parent’s aren’t on board. It’s a really important piece for me.`
There’s one skill you’ve got to possess to foster success in a middle school, said Kane, and she has it down pat: listening.
`You have to be a good listener. A lot of the feelings and situations they’re dealing with are new to them and oftentimes they have the same confusion that we do about some of their behavior and decision making,` said Kane. `You have to be able to listen and help them work through it. I always said to my students, I’m a teacher first, regardless of what I do as a principal, I’m always a teacher and I think that’s something I try to remind myself of everyday.`
She said she’s looking forward to parlaying some of the initiatives she was a part of in Goshen, into the BH-BL school district.
`We’ve been able to make a lot of nice strides in those home-school connections, we’ve been able to bring a lot of health and wellness initiatives into our school, we have brought some educational initiatives into our sixth grade ELA program that I’m really proud of. I would say we’re almost a fully inclusive school and we’ve done a lot of work with our special populations and made a nice connection with our ESL families,` said Kane.
One area Kane said she will be keeping an eye on when she takes charge of O’Rourke Middle School is technology.
`This is the future. For all the students, this is their world we’re living in right now so it’s about trying to keep up with technological initiatives. It’s about matching the technology with classroom instruction and trying to find the tools and software and gadgets they love, to make learning fun for them,` said Kane. `Technology gives it a whole other level of what they call hands on learning, and there are a lot of neat things out there for kids to take advantage of.`
Kane was chosen from a pool of some 60 applicants, according to information from the district, and was one of the finalists selected by staff and parents in the district.
`Though we had many qualified candidates for this position, Colleen’s exceptional qualities stood out for me and members of the interview team,` said Superintendent Jim Schultz in a statement. `She is a visionary leader who will be able to pull together and work with all the stakeholder groups at our middle school. As soon as the Burnt Hills visiting team walked into her school in Goshen, we felt a sense of family and community among the staff and students there.`
Kane holds a certificate of advanced studies in educational administration from the College of St. Rose, bachelors and masters degrees from Russell Sage College and New York State certification as a school district administrator and a school counselor.
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