FAYETTEVILLE-MANLIUS SCHOOLS – It was announced last week that Fayetteville-Manlius High School Executive Principal Dr. Raymond Kilmer has accepted a new position as the superintendent of schools for the Oswego City School District.
Kilmer will be taking over his next administrative post on Monday, Sept. 18, and though Sept. 17 is technically his last official day as the principal of F-M High School, he said he intends to be available to “anyone and everyone” in the local district as a supportive voice through not only the first weeks of the 2023-2024 academic year but far beyond.
“I’m only a phone call away,” Kilmer said. “I am deeply committed to this community and especially to the high school building, and I want to make sure the transition is as smooth as possible.”
A message sent to F-M High School families on Aug. 16 by the district’s superintendent, Dr. Craig Tice, stated that Mary Ann Murphy and Paula Kopp will assist Kilmer in getting the school year underway as interim assistant principals.
Kopp has previously served as interim assistant principal at Wellwood Middle School and interim principal at Eagle Hill Middle School, while Murphy has experience as a high school principal and assistant principal within the Tully Central School District and also served as interim assistant principal at Eagle Hill before completing an interim assignment at F-M High School this most recent spring.
Last week’s news of the change in building leadership follows the appointment of former assistant principals at the high school Patrick McNamara and Stephanie Rice to, respectively, the principal role at Mott Road Elementary School and the junior high principal role for grades seven and eight at C.S. Driver Middle School in the Marcellus Central School District.
Tice said that he will keep families posted about the search process for the two probationary high school assistant principals and the search for a longer-term replacement for Kilmer.
“It is a bittersweet time for us at F-M as we will miss Dr. Kilmer’s passion and enthusiasm in leading the high school, as well as his unique knowledge and history of school district practices,” Tice said. “We know that Ray is excited about the challenges that lie ahead for him in leading the Oswego City School District. I am confident that he will do a fine job in his new position.”
Kilmer began serving as the high school’s principal in July 2010 and has been executive principal for the last seven years.
His recent appointment as Oswego’s superintendent by that school district’s board of education marks his first step outside of F-M in his entire professional educational career, having started as a student teacher at F-M High School in September of 2000.
Kilmer graduated in 2000 with a master’s degree from Syracuse University before completing a long-term sub position the following spring semester and stepping on full-time as a social studies teacher at the East Seneca Turnpike school in September 2001.
Kilmer held that position teaching social studies until January 2007 when he became one of the high school’s three assistant principals.
He said that because F-M has been the only work environment he’s known since his college years, the decision to leave was difficult for him.
“But through lots of conversations with great colleagues and my family, I made the decision that I needed to grow professionally,” Kilmer said. “I had been considering a superintendency for the last couple of years, and Oswego gave me that opportunity.”
He said he set his sights on a district superintendent role or assistant superintendency because it would allow him to better support children pre-K through grade 12, not just those in high school.
“When the Oswego City School District posted the position for superintendent, I decided that I would apply and went through a really thorough, long process and was ultimately selected,” he said.
Kilmer said the City of Oswego reminds him in ways of Auburn, New York, where he grew up.
“It’s just one of the most beautiful areas being right on the lake,” he said. “They’ve done some incredible development and improvement in that city, and there are so many great opportunities for families. If you’ve ever met anyone from Oswego, you’d know they are very, very proud of their city and feel very connected to each other. That’s a nice place to be a part of.”
Still, he said he will miss F-M and cherish the memories of working there in the capacity of teacher and principal, calling it an “incredibly wonderful community” district-wide.
“For me, my memories are really grounded in my interactions with students,” Kilmer said. “Having the opportunity to connect with them and develop relationships with them and their families has been the greatest reward of this work.”
Reflecting on the years gone by, he recalled the excitement of his first Link Crew Day as principal when the class of 2014 was entering F-M High School in 2010.
“That was my largest class that has come through here—there were about 450 students,” he said. “That was our brand new freshman transition program, and it was so energizing and fun.”
Kilmer said he feels “hopeful and optimistic” about his new position and that he’s grateful for the “outpouring of support” he’s received from Fayetteville and Manlius families in the form of phone calls, text messages and emails.
Although he will no longer be an F-M administrator, Kilmer said he will remain within the district as a Manlius resident and parent of three kids in its schools: one a senior, one a sophomore and one a fifth grader.
“Living here still, I’m looking forward to just being my kids’ dad on the sidelines this year,” he said.
Kilmer said another thing he’s thankful for is the fact that his son’s soccer squad and his daughter’s field hockey team will not be facing off against Oswego this fall. Otherwise, he would have had to whip up a design for a poster or shirt that equally cheered on both districts, he joked.
In the Oswego City School District, Kilmer will be succeeding Amanda Caldwell, who filled in as acting superintendent after the interim term of Jeffrey Gordon, himself a retired F-M assistant superintendent for personnel, and the departure of Mathis Calvin III from his superintendent seat to fulfill the same role for the Lockport City School District.