Highland Mills resident named 2006 national distinguished principal

Highland Mills - Dr. Roberto Calderin, principal of New Windsor School in the Newburgh Enlarged City School District, has been selected as New York State’s 2006 National Distinguished Principal by the National Association of Elementary School Principals and the United States Department of Education. Calderin was nominated and selected by his fellow principals through a statewide search process conducted by the State Administrators Association of New York State. Calderin is a Manhattan-born, Bronx-raised bilingual Hispanic-American. He has resided in Highland Mills since 1996. He is a graduate of Cardinal Hayes High School, Fordham University, City University of New York and the State University of New York where he earned degrees starting with a bachelors of arts in 1979 and culminated with a doctorate . He also currently serves as a director on the boards of the Orange County Human Rights Commission, Orange County Community College and the Orange County United Way and is a former board member of McQuade Services for Children and the Cornell University Cooperative Extension. While a resident of New York City he founded and directed Camp Fordham while still in college, served as vice chairman of the East Harlem Council for Community Improvement, and was president of East Harlem Kiwanis. He has served as principal of New Windsor School since January 2003. Prior to this position he was an administrator in the North Rockland and Yonkers School Districts and was a teacher with the N.Y.C. Board of Education and the East Ramapo Central School District. He was the 2006 recipient of the J. Walsh McMillan Award for Educational Leadership and Fordham University’s 2006 Dissertation of the Year. “Research results prove what school communities know from experience - successful schools depend on dedicated instructional leaders,” said Vincent L. Ferrandino, the executive director of the National Association of Elementary School Principals. “This honor represents our deep appreciation to a few of those who are committed to the academic, social, and emotional development of school children both in the nation and overseas.” The criteria for selection of the principals, set by NAESP and the US Department of Education, require that the honorees are active principals of schools where programs are designed to meet the academic and social needs of all students and where there are firmly established community ties with parents and local business organizations.