Local educators shadow Cohoes administrators

Middle School Principal Mark Perry and intern Aaron Thomson sit with some CMS students during lunch.

Two administrative interns have been shadowing Cohoes administrators over the past few weeks through the Institute for New Era Educational Leadership at The College of St. Rose.

The interns each spent time with several different administrators during their five-day visit to Cohoes to see the different types of roles they could play in a district as a future administrator themselves.

During the first week of March, Aaron Thomson, a Schenectady City High School math teacher, shadowed several district administrators, including Middle School Principal Mark Perry and Assistant Superintendent for Business & Administration Robert Libby.

"Shadowing the Cohoes administrators has definitely exceeded my expectations," Thomson said. Thomson said he learned a lot about how the administration communicates with one another and they way a district runs.

Perry said he enjoyed working with Thomson during their time together.

"I loved to be shadowed because all the book work is great, but this is the real deal, and it's a great opportunity for people to see that," Perry said. "Aaron spending a bit of the day with us to see how a school runs… this gives him a real feel for it."

St. Rose partnered with seven public school districts, including Cohoes and the schools of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany in order to develop the institute, which works with “building leaders” to provide professional development, mentoring, job shadowing, online discussions and support aimed to boost their leadership capacity. The goal is to teach these individuals to serve as skilled assistant principals and principals.

In addition to hosting interns, three Cohoes teachers participated in the job shadowing this year.