On April 20, 2022 Melinda Howard was appointed by the board of education as the new assistant Principal at West Genesee Middle School with an official start date of July 1.
Howard comes to us from Baldwinsville CSD where she is highly regarded and currently serving Van Buren Elementary and Ray Middle School in an administrative capacity.
She has been very active facilitating committees in areas of Social Emotional Learning, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and various building leadership teams. Her experience with student support systems, supervision, and collaborative work with families was highlighted in her visits across the last few weeks. Members of the committees remarked on her special education experience as she spent 9 years in kindergarten through Grade-5 settings previous to her role as an administrator.
In addition to certification as School District Leader (SDL) and School Building Leader (SBL), she has certifications that align with a Bachelor of Science in Childhood and Special Education, Minor in Anthropology, Concentration in Linguistics and Masters of Science in education, reading and literacy from State University of New York at Geneseo, and a certificate of advanced study in educational leadership from Syracuse University.
“Comments from members of the interview committees consistently noted the value of her experiences with professional learning communities, as well as descriptors such as passionate, engaging, genuine, dependable, and a fierce advocate for kids and resource of empowerment for staff to support students,” Superintendent David C. Bills said. “Those descriptions were shared by those who have worked with Mindy in her past.”
On a personal note, Howard and her husband love to travel to visit new places, learn about other cultures, and eat delicious food. While at home they enjoy spending time on Cross Lake. They also love to take their two dogs on hikes and to go camping in the summer.
