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By JEANETTE WOLFBERG

HUDSON – “It has been a privilege to work with so many talented administrators, teachers and staff members in the Hudson City School District (HCSD) over the last 11 years,” said April Prestipino, who leaves her position as Assistant Superintendent of School Improvement this November to become Assistant Superintendent of Assessment, Accountability, and Technological Innovation for the Albany Central School District. “I consider myself extremely blessed to have had the opportunity to serve the students and the community for so long. Hudson is not an easy place to work, but it is a very special place to work,” she said in dialogues in October.

Dr. Prestipino started her education career in Columbia County as a fifth grade teacher in the New Lebanon Central School District in 1998. In 2007 she shifted to data analysis, first for Questar III BOCES and then for Capital Region BOCES. Then in 2012 she joined the HCSD as Coordinator of School Improvement, after running into Maria L. Suttmeier, who had just been selected for superintendent and invited her to apply for the position.

When Dr. Prestipino started in the HCSD, it was still recovering from the 2008 recession. It had been “in focus” by the NY State Department of Education (NYSED) for inadequate achievement since 2003-04. Only 59% of the class of 2012 graduated. But during Dr. Prestipino’s term in the district, the HCSD climbed out of focus of the state Department of Education, closed John L. Edwards Primary School, consolidated primary and intermediate students, introduced the AVID program (which Dr. Prestipino was very involved in), confronted the Covid crisis, had three superintendents, and increased its graduation rate. For the class of 2022, the rate was 83%, according to NYSED data.

Meanwhile, Dr. Prestipino got a Doctorate in Educational Leadership in 2020. Dr. Suttmeier retired in 2022, Lisamarie Spindler took over from Dr. Suttmeier, and then Juliette Pennyman took over from Dr. Spindler this September.

The HCSD was Dr. Prestipino’s first exposure to “the demographic diversity and cultural differences that make up [Hudson’s] student body.” Hudson has the most ethnically diverse student body in Columbia County. By “spending time with students in [various] settings,” Dr. Prestipino “gained extensive knowledge about and respect for how and why students engage in various cultural behaviors and activities.”

For example, many HCSD students observe Ramadan, so Dr. Prestipino learned about the holiday, realized how it could affect these students while in school, and learned “how we needed to adjust school activities during Ramadan.”

In addition, Dr. Prestipino said she learned about structures and gender roles in Bengali and Hispanic families. This helped her interact with not only students but also their parents.

Dr. Prestipino said her best HCSD experiences were the district’s leaving NYSED focus and the Varsity Basketball team’s season of straight wins until the quarterfinals. Both occurred in 2016.

In January 2016, NYSED informed Dr. Suttmeier that it was ending its focus on the HCSD. Dr. Prestipino joined her in getting cake and balloons to a school board meeting to announce and celebrate the accomplishment. One reason NYSED had removed the undesirable designation from the HCSD was that the high school graduation rate had increased to 71% for the class of 2014. At that time, Dr. Prestipino attributed much of improvements to students: “They care about the school!”

Over the years, Dr. Prestipino said, she learned “the unselfish lengths administrators, teachers and members of the staff have gone over the years to take care of our students academically, physically and emotionally…. I have [talked] with administrators from other districts who have stated that the dedication to our students is palpable.”

She also learned the importance of building and nurturing relationships and partnerships and earning the respect of others at all levels: students, families, teachers, staff, elected officials, higher education institutions, community-based organizations, and the community in general. The most difficult time in her tenure was the Covid crisis.

When asked what she sees as the biggest challenges facing education, Dr. Prestipino said one is the shortage of teachers in specialties such as foreign languages, English as a New Language, and Career and Technical Education. “Districts are competing for the same pool of qualified candidates,” and so applicants can “ask for higher starting salaries.” This has “made it very difficult to maintain some long-standing programming.”

One factor driving this shortage, she said, is that “teaching has become a less desirable career.” Among the variety of reasons for this are changes in retirement policies.

When asked for recommendations for incoming district administrators, she advised: Build relationships with all facets of the community; “ask a lot of questions;” and seek to understand the history behind an established practice before making significant changes. “I’m not saying changes aren’t necessary, but it is important to understand and respect what has come before,” she said. Doing so would help make it “easier to establish” a reason for the change.

Eventually, Dr. Prestipino said, she would like to get involved with supervising and mentoring educational leadership students and interns, out of gratitude to the “talented leaders” who guided her in her own professional development.

Looking back at her time “as a proud Bluehawk” in Hudson, Dr. Prestipino said, “I never thought I’d leave Hudson until I was ready to retire. Life had other plans for me,” but “the Blue and Gold will always have an important place in my heart.”