21-03-2025
Canton Central superintendent candidates make pitches
Mar. 20—CANTON — Nearly 100 people attended presentations from two candidates for Canton Central School Superintendent Thursday evening in the Hugh C. Williams High School Auditorium.
BOCES Superintendent Thomas Burns, who has been helping the school board search for a new superintendent, hosted the event.
The two candidates, Potsdam High School Principal Kristin Towne and Canton Middle School Principal Joseph McDonough, gave short presentations on their backgrounds and visions. Then, they faced questions from an audience of district residents, faculty and staff.
Towne was first on stage.
"This is a great turnout," the Star Lake native said as she picked up the microphone and started her slide show presentation.
Towne graduated from Clifton-Fine and earned her bachelor's degree in art education at SUNY Potsdam. She holds leadership certificates from St. Lawrence University and a Master of Science Education in instructional technology.
Towne has 28 years of experience in education, with the past eight years in leadership roles. Her experience includes 16 years of teaching art at Brasher Falls and serving as high school assistant principal at Salmon River Central School District and PK-12 building principal at Hammond Central School District. She has been at Potsdam for the last four years.
She said that Canton Central has a tradition of excellence, a strong reputation and community values that she admires.
If she gets the job, she will begin by listening to the school community and the community at large.
"It is all about building relationships," she said.
Towne was asked about a poor report the school received in 2022 that indicated that hate speech was routine and consequences were inconsistent.
"You have to face that head-on," she said.
Students must follow a code of conduct, but they should also be educated about the impact of their behavior.
"They are kids," she said. "They make mistakes."
The community needs to be educated as well, she said.
"All students should feel welcome," she said.
When Towne was asked what qualities she needed to make and deliver hard decisions, she mentioned being let go after 16 years at Brasher Falls due to a staffing cut.
She said a superintendent needs to do what needs to be done, with compassion.
After a short break, McDonough made his presentation.
McDonough is from Maine but has lived in the Canton community for 20 years, 17 of which were spent at Canton Central.
He is the middle school principal at J.M. McKenney Middle School in the Canton Central School District. He has 25 years of experience as an educator and 15 years in leadership positions.
He has served as dean of students at Potsdam Central School, dean of students at Canton Central School,St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES regional summer school principal and elementary principal at Canton's F.S. Banford Elementary School
He holds a Doctorate in Education from the University of New England, a Certificate of Advanced Study and a Master of Education in Educational Leadership from St. Lawrence University, and a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and classics from Saint Michael's College in Vermont.
McDonough used two symbols in his presentation. The first was an aerial photo of the entire middle school faculty, staff, and students spelling out the word "BEARS" on the school's athletics field.
He said everyone is separate on the field but coming together to achieve a goal.
He also described the school with a three-legged stool analogy.
The stool is only firm when each leg is strong.
The three legs, he said, are relationships, systems and leadership.
Relationships build trust and morale and give people a voice.
Systems provide predictability and consistency; leadership needs to be steady, decisive and transparent.
Between faculty, staff and students, "It's a human-heavy industry," he said.
McDonough faced many of the same questions as Towne.
He answered each by reaching back to his three-legged stool analogy.
He said hate language is a problem that has not been solved at Canton, but it is a problem that exists beyond the school's walls. By building trust and giving people voices, they can make some changes.
Hard decisions are not hard if you are predictable and have systems people know and understand. he said.
"If you don't remember everything I said," McDonough said, harkening back to the aerial photo of the middle school spelling out Bears on the soccer field, "remember I said, 'together.'"
