Management Services 34

PROFILES IN SUCCESS: Andrew Selesnick

For Andrew Selesnick, Superintendent of KatonahLewisboro Schools, the connections with other school districts facilitated by PNW BOCES are essential. "Some of my most valuable relationships are with my counterparts in other districts," he says.

Those relationships are forged through the Chief School Administrators Association, a forum organized by PNW BOCES Management Services. Local superintendents typically meet monthly but throughout the pandemic they have connected far more frequently to discuss topics like how to maximize in-person experiences for students, manage competing and conflicting community wishes and needs, and work with county and state Departments of Health.

It’s just one of the many ways that the myriad services provided by PNW BOCES course through the KatonahLewisboro School District, supporting students, staff, and families. Others inlude: • Each time a student or parent clicks on the KLSD website or mobile app, they benefit from BOCES’ cost-effective contracts for digital media services. • Sixth graders at John Jay Middle School catapulted into their year with a visit to the BOCES Center for Environmental Education’s Challenge Course, discovering how to work as a collaborative unit. • Sports fans can sports fans can watch livestreamed games through games through a relatively new BOCES service, LocalLive; another example of BOCES sourcing programs and services that enhance schools. • The stories and photos on the school’s websites showing students learning are provided by a Communications Specialist contracted through BOCES School Communications Service. • Field trips and visits from guest educators in all schools, including a dance coach for middle and high school musicals, are all contracted for through BOCES Arts in Education Service. "Because New York State school districts operate on a relatively small, local level, BOCES plays a crucial role in providing the kinds of services that can only be provided when the scale is larger. PNW BOCES supports 18 districts and provides services that few, if any of us could manage or financially support by ourselves," says Selesnick.

Early in their careers, the superintendent and Dr. Mary Ford, Katonah-Lewisboro’s Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, attended the Future School Leaders Academy (FSLA), a collaboration between PNW BOCES and Bank Street College of Education, which results in New York State certification as a School District Leader and School Building Leader. Both say the relationships and educational leadership philosophy formed during that experience are pivotal to decisions they make every day.

Selesnick, who is currently an active member of the FSLA Advisory Committee and was among the first cohort of FSLA graduates, says that "The learning and the relationships remain with me to this day."

The collaboration with BOCES and Selesnick’s school leader colleagues is not limited to working hours. In winter months, the PNW superintendents talk regularly at 4 am about impending ice and snow on a Zoom call hosted by BOCES.

"It was a little daunting at first to think about seeing and being seen by my colleagues at that hour of the day,” laughs Selesnick, "but I wouldn’t want to contemplate those early hour decisions without them."