Schoharie to Fill Principal Position After Sudden Departure

SCHOHARIE - Schoharie Central School will be filling the position of elementary school principal after the sudden departure of Betsy Wright after the Easter break.

School board members last week named Shelley Baldwin-Nye as the interim elementary school principal effective retroactive to April 13, the day after students returned from Easter break, through the end of the school year on June 30.

Board members also approved the resignation of Ms. Wright as elementary school principal effective June 30.

There was no discussion on either motion and Ms. Wright's resignation was included in the general "consent" personnel items instead of being voted on individually.

"I’m not sure where Mrs. Wright went," SCS Superintendent David Blanchard said Friday.

He also added, "I appreciate her service to Schoharie Elementary School."

Ms. Baldwin-Nye is retired from Niskayuna after 14 years as an elementary principal, Mr. Blanchard said.

"We will work with a large group of stakeholders to hire a new principal to start July 1st," he added.

Ms. Wright was named elementary school principal in June 2025. She served as assistant principal in both SCS schools before becoming interim elementary school principal in January 2025.

Ms. Wright was named interim elementary school principal in January 2025, jumping from the junior-senior High School, where she was serving as the assistant principal. Mrs. Wright started in that role for the 2024-25 school year after spending the second half of the 2023--24 school year as the assistant principal in the Elementary.

In June 2025, Ms. Wright was given a four-year probationary position as elementary school principal retroactive to January 13, through January 12, 2029. The appointment was at her current salary per the Schoharie Administrators Association contract.

Prior to coming to Schoharie, Mrs. Wright was most recently the assistant principal at Mont Pleasant Middle School in the Schenectady City School District and has worked as a reading teacher, classroom teacher and instructional coach. 

She replaced former SCS Elementary Principal Andrea Polikoski who stepped down from her position December 2024 to assume an elementary principal role at Scotia-Glenville CSD.

After 10 years as principal at SCS, Ms. Polikoski accepted the position as the principal of Glen-Worden Elementary School in the Scotia-Glenville Central School District and left Schoharie on January 2, 2025.