Peekskill Board to Appoint James Willis as New Superintendent
PEEKSKILL…..The Peekskill Board of Education has announced their forthcoming appointment of James Willis as the District’s next superintendent of schools, effective July 11, 2011. The appointment will be made at the Board meeting Tuesday, April 12, 2011.
According to Board president Michael Simpkins, “At the beginning of the search process, we asked our community to identify the qualities that were critically important for our next superintendent to possess. Our constituents, through surveys, emails, phone calls, and focus groups, asked us to look for an individual who is:
- A visionary instructional leader
- A visible and accessible communicator
- A strong administrator
In James Willis, our Board has found a leader for Peekskill who possesses all these qualities and whose experience and talents make him ideally suited to lead our district in these challenging times.”
Mr. Willis is currently the Superintendent of Schools of the Utica City School District, a highly diverse district of 10,000 students in nine elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school. At Utica, he has demonstrated his capacity for leadership by creating a five-year plan for the district, implementing a new comprehensive K-12 ELA curriculum, promoting student learning and academic achievement, and overseeing $187 million in capital projects. Prior to taking the helm in Utica, Mr. Willis was assistant superintendent for human resources in the South Country Central School District, and assistant superintendent for human resources and administration in South Orangetown Central School District.
Mr. Willis began his career in education by teaching social studies and English in the Odessa-Montour Central School District, and he has also served as an adjunct professor of curriculum development at Elmira College. Prior to teaching, Mr. Willis had a distinguished business career, holding management positions at SYSCO and Citibank. In addition, he has many years of active duty leadership experience as a Marine Corps officer. A graduate of SUNY Cortland, Mr. Willis has an M.S. degree in education from Elmira College and a doctoral degree in progress from Nova Southeastern University, as well as extensive academic coursework. He and his wife have four children.
The Peekskill Board of Education has, under the direction of Interim Superintendent Dr. Lorenzo Licopoli, adopted a task force process to study and plan Peekskill’s educational and operational priorities in the coming years. According to Board President Michael Simpkins, “We are confident that Jim Willis is the right person to lead us in bringing to fruition the goals and expectations that we have set forth in our 2011-2012 Educational Plan and budget, on which we are already collaborating. Together, we will design the best possible educational future for Peekskill’s children.”
Following his appointment, Mr. Willis will visit all of Peekskill’s schools in the next few months before taking up his new responsibilities in July.
For further information, contact:
Michael Simpkins, Board President [email protected]
Dr. Lorenzo Licopoli, Interim Superintendent 914-737-3300 x342 [email protected]