Teresa Thayer Snyder is ready to step down from her leadership post at Voorheesville school district following a life-changing year.
“I’m going to be 65 in November, and I felt it was time to pursue some other things. This is a terrific district, and it has been a lot of fun to be here,” Snyder said Friday, Sept. 12. “I’m looking forward to doing some teaching and writing, and at this point in time, I am looking forward to doing nothing.”
Snyder said she would not be looking to do anything administrative for schools, but possibly some consulting work along with teaching.
Snyder’s husband, Jim, died in February following a battle with cancer. Since his death, she bought a new, smaller home in Voorheesville, which is actually closer to her district office.
“It is a different lifestyle when you are used to being with somebody for 40 years and then you are going alone,” she said.
During the move, she also found some of her graduate work in philosophy.
“Discovering my ancient papers awakened a great deal of ambivalence in me — I was amused at the youthful sense of urgency and quasi-defiance of the way things were and, at the same time, a little blue that what I wrote then is still what I would write today,” Snyder said in her latest column posted on the district’s website. “I have become circumspect as I ‘mature,’ and now is the time for me to share with community what I shared with my colleagues on opening day.”
Over the next several months, school board members will work with BOCES to organize the search for Snyder’s replacement. Community input will be sought during the search process, too, on what qualities are desired for the district’s new leader.
“The thing about Voorheesville is it’s like a gold mine. It is a sweet little district at the foot of the Helderbergs,” Snyder said. “What isn’t there to like?”
Before becoming superintendent at Voorheesville, she served as the deputy superintendent at Shenendehowa Central School District. What drove her to Voorheesville was the smaller school atmosphere it offered.
She was not originally from the Capital District; she was born in Vermont and raised in New Hampshire. She also fell into her administrative career at the urging of colleagues after the director at Emma Willard left, where she was teaching at the time.
While at Voorheesville, she has been vocal on her views about increased testing and the implementation of the Common Core, along with other issues.
“I think it is incumbent of superintendents to be bold and challenge the status quo,” she said.
She said what has guided her decisions has been staying true to district’s mission of what’s good for the children. Having that mission has allowed her to make sure other things don’t overtake its true purpose.
Snyder said she hopes her successor will feel confident about the district their first day on the job, which is similar to how she felt.
“This is not a place that is screaming for a magic wand. It is screaming for leadership and positive energy,” Snyder said. “The nice thing about Voorheesville is all its ducks are in a row.”
Board member resigning
Following Snyder’s announcement, Kristine Gravino announced her resignation from the Voorheesville Board of Education, effective Sept. 30.
Gravino was reelected in an uncontested election to her second four-year term in May, but said a recent change in her career has left her little time to devote to the school board. Gravino said she had “mixed emotions” about her decision, but wanted to free her seat for someone with more time to devote to the board.
“Back in early June, circumstances beyond my control forced me to open my own private practice, and I found my responsibilities to have exponentially increased since that time,” Gravino said in her resignation letter. “Although I am happy and completely fulfilled with my own new business, it has left me with little time to complete the responsibilities of a board member to the best of my ability.”
Gravino will still be an active member of the district because she will be the professional liaison, as a licensed physiologist, to the Voorheesville Community Alliance for Healthy Choices.
She thanked the community for electing her to be a board member and found the experience rewarding.
“Over the last four plus years, I have learned a great deal from my fellow board members, as well as the team of administrators and staff we worked tirelessly with to make the necessary and important changes for our children and this wonderful school district,” Gravino said in her letter. “The task ahead is a difficult one, however, I know that whoever takes my place will be an asset to the team that is currently in place.”