Balloons adorned Fawn Hollow Elementary School’s front entrance and staffers greeted children stepping off buses with hugs and high fives for the first day of school Thursday morning. Shawn Cornut and reigning Monroe Paraeducator of the Year Jennifer Palmieri wore hats bearing the message, “Happy New Year!”
“At Fawn Hollow we have a lot of celebrate this year,” Principal Leigh Metcalf Ances said. “We have an assistant principal to support teachers and students, while helping ensure the building is safe. In a school of 700, you need two administrators.”
Kim Nelly, who has worked within the school district for 25 years, will step into the new role, which was approved in the last budget. Ances touts her experience in curriculum, special education and reading.
“I’m very excited,” Nelly said. “I’ve been teaching in Monroe since 1999. Prior to this role, I was districtwide for two years and we have very special teachers and students and families across the district. I am so excited to be back home at Fawn Hollow.”
Nelly, who was first hired as a special education teacher at Chalk Hill School in 1999, spent most of her career at Fawn Hollow, as a reading teacher from 2010 through 2012, and a reading consultant from 2013 to 2022.
For the past two years she was an instructional leader for English language arts for grades K-5 for the district.
“I’m just truly excited to support the teachers, students and families at Fawn Hollow Elementary School,” Nelly said. “This is my dream job.”
“It’s a position I’ve wanted to see at Fawn Hollow for a long time, back to when I was a principal here,” Assistant Superintendent Sheila Casinelli said of the new assistant principal position, “and Kim is the best person for the role.”
‘Be You’
The entire staff at Fawn Hollow Elementary School, from custodians and office staff to paras, teachers and administrators, participated in a video shared with families the evening before the first day of school.
Ances said each group read a page of Peter Reynolds’ book, “Be You”, aloud and submitted a video, before she edited the clips together for the final product.
“This will be our mentor text and our springboard for future discussions and activities with children centered around being responsible and safe,” Ances said of the book.
She said the video was good for community relations, giving parents a chance to see all the faces of staffers who will be working with their children this year.
Ances said one child getting off the bus Thursday walked up to her and said, “I saw you on video!”
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