New Paltz Student support coordinator announces leave from the district

The New Paltz Central School District (NPCSD) is losing its secondary student support coordinator, and school officials are still deciding whether to fill the position or reassign some of their responsibilities elsewhere.

Alexandra MacKinnon has been with the NPCSD since September 2006, serving most recently as the secondary student support coordinator and interim coordinator of special education. MacKinnon is leaving the district for a new job in education, and school officials were looking to figure out how to handle some of her responsibilities as early as next month.

“Until the position is filled, which will not be this school of year, and it might not be filled, we’re considering some possible reorganization within the department,” said Superintendent Angelina Urbina-Medina during a School Board meeting held on Wednesday, March 16.

Among the tasks they’re looking to tackle are coordinating 504s and CSEs, both related to students with disabilities.

“The 504s and some of the out-of-district CSEs need to be chaired,” Urbina-Medina said.

The 504 is named for its section of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act of 1973, designed to help parents of students with physical or mental impairments in public schools work with educators to design customized educational plans, which legally ensure that a student is treated fairly at school.

The Committee for Special Education (CSE) similarly ensures the Individualized Education Program (IEP) for students with disabilities are designed to give students the best chance for success within the general education curriculum wherever possible.

With MacKinnon’s imminent departure, school officials were looking to ensure 504s and CSEs were covered in the short term while they decide how they’ll be handled moving forward. Heading into last week’s School Board meeting, school officials hoped to hire someone to fill the role on a temporary basis as an administrative supervisor of 504s and CSE chairperson. But some trustees felt the terms of the resolution weren’t specific enough.

“My concern is that once we approve this position, it exists,” said Board President Bianca Tanis. “There’s nothing in it that says interim or temporary or with a date. Before we create any new administrative positions, I would like to see like an organizational chart or some kind of data so that we can create this position with the idea that it could continue in perpetuity. Because unless it’s phrased that this is an interim position, we are creating a new position. We haven’t abolished the other position.”

Trustees settled on a start date of Friday, April 1, with an end date of Thursday, June 30, the final day of the 2022-23 academic year. By that point, school officials said they hope to know whether to permanently fill the role of secondary student support coordinator, or reorganize the department entirely.