Following a 7-1 vote by the Board of Education last week, the contract of Kingston City School District (KCSD) Superintendent Paul Padalino was extended through the end of the 2027-28 academic year.
Under the terms of his extension, Padalino will receive a salary of $269,000 for the 2025-26 school year, with anticipated increases of 4.1 percent in the subsequent two years, culminating in a salary of $291,500 for the 2027-28 year.
Padalino took over as superintendent in January 2012, and in an interview with Hudson Valley One last week he recalled what he was tasked with as he hit the ground running.
“There were some acute needs and the (school) board made very clear that they wanted me work on our graduation rates, deal with our declining population and deal with 100-year-old Kingston High School (KHS), which was deteriorating,” he said. Graduation rates in the district have steadily risen since then, and the district addressed a declining student population by closing and either selling or repurposing four of its elementary schools, bringing the number down to seven. Padalino was also deeply involved with a now completed multi-year $137.5 million KHS renovation project.
Padalino said the community support for that project, as well as an upcoming districtwide $162 million renovation project, was indicative of how the community values the importance of public education, not just with capital projects, but also all aspects of how the district operates.
“They understand the urgency of that kind of work and also understand the urgency of having a 21st-century high school here for not only our current students, but for the future of the City of Kingston and Ulster County,” he said. “I knew that this is the kind of place where they were going to continue to support education it was right for our kids in our community.”
Though the KCSD is considered a small city school district, Padalino said its geographic diversity, along with other diversity, is part of what makes it so special.
“We talk about our diversity as far as our cultural diversity but we also have geographic diversity,” he said. “We have a strong, urban core and then we have suburbs, and then we have rural areas. It’s a city district, but we really hit all three of the of the general classifications. Our students come from different experiences, including geographically, and I think that that’s something that is kind of unique.”
Padalino has now added a few more years to his commitment to the KCSD, and he said he’s looking forward to helping guide the district through what could be a period of significant transformation.
“There are so many changes coming out of the New York State Education Department, and here in the district we’re implementing new curriculum to meet the next generation standards,” he said. “The state is…creating that portrait of a graduate and looking at things beyond Regents exams for opportunities for students to graduate from high school, and that work is going to be interesting and exciting.”
Padalino said he looks forward to continuing the district’s work in diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as ensuring students are getting what they need emotionally to succeed both in and out of the classroom.
“I think continuing our equity work following the culturally responsive framework, and looking at our students is one of the things that we’ve been focused on since really even since before COVID,” he said. “There is a mental health crisis with students and families in our community and most communities, so (we’re) continuing that work and the support that we can give our kids in our community that way.”
Padalino said he also looks forward to more collaborations with local organizations, as well as fellow school districts through Ulster BOCES.
“I see no downside to collaborating and cooperating with other schools in our region like we’ve been doing in Ulster County, he said. “I think we all can learn from each other right now, and that’s going to be kind of an exciting thing moving forward.”
Padalino still has his sights set on changing the state’s foundation aid formula, which he’s long said underfunds small city districts like the KCSD.
Other areas he’d like to focus on are capital projects designed toward improving athletic fields at Crosby Elementary and M. Clifford Miller Middle School.
“It’s something we’ve been talking about for a couple years now,” he said. “We did a great job at Dietz (Stadium) in partnership with the City (of Kingston), but we have a lot of other sports facilities in our in our district that need attention. We have almost 1,200 kids play athletics every season, so that impacts a lot of students and families.”
Is Padalino hoping to keep working after his current contract is completed? And if so, would he like to remain in the KCSD?
“That’s what everybody wants to know,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of gas left in the tank. I still love this work. I still love being in Kingston. I got a great team around me, excellent people, fantastic teachers, building leaders and so much community support. So to answer the question, I guess I’ll jump off that bridge when I come to it.”
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