Principal Departs At CCS

Meccariello Sixth Over Past 8 Years

By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com

On appointing Anne Meccariello high school principal on March 10, 2020, CCS Superintendent of Schools Bill Crankshaw praised “her sense of loyalty to the district.”

It didn’t pan out. She resigned Feb. 26, just short of a year.

April 1, Meccariello will become superintendent of schools in the Campbell-Savona Central School District in the Finger Lakes, 25 miles northwest of Corning.

“From the moment I saw the superintendent of schools position posted for Campbell-Savona, I knew I was very interested in becoming a Panther,” Meccariello – a Redskin and, after 2013, a Hawkeye – told WETM TV 18 in Elmira.

Gary Kuch resigned in 2008 to become Worcester Central superintendent, and his successor Mike Kring, served five years, and the revolving door began.

Seeking to boost test scores, the CCS school board and Superintendent C.J. Herbert created an “executive principal” position.

Lynn Strang was recruited from Hoosic Falls in July 2013, and raised the high school’s test scores into the two 2 percent in the state, winning CCS a “Rewards School” citation.

But the test scores rose as the outcry rose against “Common Core” testing, and she departed at the end of the 2014-15 school year.

The “executive principal” title was voided, and duties were reassigned to Kristin Butler, who was named director of curriculum.

After more than a year, Donna Lucy, with STEM successes in New York City’s Bedford Stuyvesant and inner-city schools in Providence, succeeded Strang in August 2016, but a culture clash ensued – the following spring, parents objected when Lucy objected to girls wearing short-shorts to school. In June 2018, Lucy departed.

Athletic Director Jim Brophy was named interim principal, and held that position until Kristin Butler became principal on July 1, 2019. But she lasted less than a year, resigning the following March 2020 for “personal reasons.”

Crankshaw, saying “we are in need of consistency at the high school,” named Meccariello, who had served five years as elementary principal and has been in the CCS District since 1998, to succeed her. And and now she’s resigned in less than a year.

CCS School Board President Tim Hayes said “we’re working with our new superintendent” – Sarah Spross, who joined the school district March 1 – “to bring aboard someone who can bring us through this school year.”

He said a meeting is planned Thursday morning “to discuss some of the options that are available.”

Last week, the CCS school board passed a resolution stating, “It is with bittersweet emotion that we accept this letter of resignation from Mrs. Ann Meccariello. We are saddened, but also very excited for her as she moves to pursue her professional development and career.

“We truly appreciate all her years of service here at Cooperstown, particularly her tireless work as principal during this pandemic.”