School district appoints two administrators

Joseph Mosey, the new Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction for the Peekskill School District.

Joseph Mosey was named Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, and Frederick Hutchinson was named Director for Reading and Gifted, a new position, by the Peekskill School Board of Education.

Mosey has been filling the Curriculum and Instruction assignment on an interim basis since January 2010, when then superintendent Judith Johnson asked him to take on the vacant position.

In the role of chief curriculum officer, he is responsible for coordinating teaching and content throughout the district. “This job is all about collaboration,” Mosey said. “I work with the principals and the teachers to get them the resources they need to do the best job for our students. We want to give each student an opportunity to grow as an individual and be prepared for his or her future life and work.”

Previously, Mosey had been the principal at Peekskill’s Hillcrest Elementary School for five years, when that school was first fifth and sixth grades, and then fourth and fifth grades.

Under his leadership, Hillcrest received a High Performing School Award based on improving student test scores. Mosey, who is known for his strong interest in technology, began his career in New York City. He was a teacher and instructional coach before becoming an Assistant Principal. He attended New York’s Leadership Academy before coming to Peekskill in 2005. He is at the dissertation stage in the process of obtaining his doctoral degree from St. John’s University in administrative supervision.

“I am honored to have been offered this position,” he said. “Instead of thinking about one school and one group of teachers, now I am focused on 3,000 students and 400 staff members; it’s like going from a town to a city; there are more connections, more interactions. We are all pieces of the puzzle. We all put those pieces together to do what’s best for children.”

Hutchinson will fill a pioneering role as Director of Reading and Gifted, a position created this spring in response to a Board of Education renewed emphasis on literacy. He joined the Peekskill High School faculty last year as an English and reading teacher after a career as an educator in the greater Albany area.

“When I interviewed in Peekskill, I was struck by how much people in the high school care about kids,” he said. “I think that’s true throughout this district, and I’m really looking forward to working with all Peekskill’s teachers and students.”

Connecting with students is something Hutchinson can do because his decision to become an English teacher was not an early choice. “Finding my own learning style and strengths in high school was a complicated journey with some twists and turns,” he said. 

Thanks to some positive teacher mentors and his love of reading, Hutchinson embraced higher education wholeheartedly. He obtained his BA in Secondary English education from SUNY New Paltz, an MA in Literacy from SUNY Albany, and a Certificate of Advanced Study from the College of St. Rose.

He has taught English and also worked for a Regional School Support Center focusing on school improvement. “I am a strong believer in project-based learning and the effectiveness of a layered curriculum with appropriate expectations. I know the challenges here, and I know we can succeed. We have dedicated teachers like Jean Spooner and Romelle Moody, who wrote a grant to build a digital library in the high school. I’m looking forward to encouraging that spirit.”