It's been a busy summer in the Batavia City School District, with new teachers and aides being hired, planning for the capital improvement project, custodial staff getting buildings and grounds ready for a new school year, and a search for a new principal for the high school. And after all that, Superintendent Chris Dailey said he just can't wait for the school year to start Sept. 7.
"What I'm really excited about is our kids are starting to come back into school," Dailey said. "It's too quiet in July. Yes, we've had summer school here but it will be nice to have all our kids back soon. We're really excited to get everybody back."
One of the big pending tasks is replacing Scott Wilson as principal of Batavia High School.
Wilson left to become principal in Gates-Chili, where he taught for 13 years. He's maintained a residence just a block-and-a-half from the school.
"He took an opportunity to go back home where he where he started, so that gives us another opportunity to her great educator here at the high school," Dailey said.
The application deadline is Aug. 16 and there's been a lot of interest in the job, Dailey said.
"We've had a flurry of applications in the last week and we're expecting between 30 and 40 candidates," Dailey said. "We will thoroughly vet them, get down to one or two to share with the faculty for opening days and then hopefully have someone in place before September when students come back."
There will also be a new principal at Jackson Primary School this fall, with Kia Evans taking over for Diane Bonarigo. Bonarigo, who retired, is filling in as the interim principal at the high school until a replacement for Wilson is hired.
Fall sports teams start practice on Monday and teachers are already starting to prep their classrooms.
Students and parents won't see many changes at the schools, other than a lot of new faces among faculty and staff.
"We've had some amazing additions to our faculty," Dailey said. "The impact that will have on our kids is going to be amazing. At the end of this month, we have new teacher orientation and I'm just really excited to get these people involved with our kids."
