To: Nyack School Community

From: Roberta R. Zampolin

Date: June 14, 2002

Re: NYACK MIDDLE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL TO BE APPOINTED BY THE SCHOOL BOARD

I am pleased to announce that the eight month comprehensive search process for a new Middle School principal will culminate in the appointment of DAVID MCCALLA at the School Board meeting on Tuesday, June 18. Dr. McCalla, currently a Middle School principal in Naples, Florida, will be replacing Marty Fiedler who retired last August, and interim principal Peter Telfer.

Dr. McCalla was among eight semi finalists candidates, out of a pool of 48 nationwide applicants, presented by search facilitators FOCUS Associates, to a committee of 13 staff, parent and community members. The group narrowed the field to five for recommended further interviews by the Superintendent, with finalists from this process going to the Board.

All were impressed with Dr. McCalla's demonstrated leadership abilities as a consensus builder and as a standard bearer for middle school excellence in diverse communities. His strong sense of teamwork and collaboration, both in the school building and extending out to the community, are invaluable assets, and were attributes emphasized as desirable by the Nyack/Valley Cottage community during our input process.

Principal of the Golden Gate Middle School in Naples, Florida since 2000, he was formerly principal of the Homestead Middle School (1993-2000) in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Prior to that he was Assistant Principal in a Middle and High School in that county, as well as a Math Teacher and Choral Director.

From the University of Miami he received a Doctor of Philosophy in Music, Masters in both Music and Education, and a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry/Mathematics. A motivational speaker for faculties in the Miami-Dade district, he has also been a guest national faculty member for the Yale University Child Development Center and received the Patrick Francis Daly National Award for Excellence in Educational Leadership from Yale University.

Dr. McCalla is looking forward to living in the Nyack community, where he hopes to become an integral part of the local scene. "In a district the size of Nyack, I can strongly connect with the Nyack/Valley Cottage community, reaching out to families and getting to know them and their children intimately, " he says. "I am most gratified, as an educator and individual to live and work side by side with the people whose lives I touch and can positively impact."

Dr. McCalla will be joining our staff on July 8. We welcome him to our Nyack School District family.

Si ou bezwen enfòmasyon tradui an kreyòl, rele Jocelyne Abraham nan 353-7044

Si le hace falta información traducida en español, llama a Marie Montañez al 353-7108.