Millbrook makes its superintendent official

MILLBROOK — Laura Mitchell has been appointed superintendent of schools by the Millbrook Central School District (MCSD) Board of Education (BOE) and BOE President Perry Hartswick effective July 1, 2020.

Announcing the appointment, the board released a statement that it was “delighted” to do so, as Mitchell has been interim superintendent for the past five months, serving at a difficult time while a search was ongoing for a permanent superintendent. 

“During that time she has led our district through some of the greatest challenges the district has faced in recorded history, including the impacts from COVID-19,” stated the board. “Her leadership, positive attitude and experience have made it clear that our permanent superintendent has been here all along.”

Mitchell, who during the interim period executed a tour of the district, which she called a “Listening and Learning” tour, got to know the district and the people in it. She has practiced an open-door policy for staff and students alike, and has attended many events in the district to get better acquainted with the area and its residents.

When asked to comment on her appointment, she said, “I am thrilled and honored to continue to be part of such a wonderfully caring community that truly does great things for its students. Here’s to a bright and productive future — together.  Onward!”

Mitchell’s experience in education includes helping to found an all-girls public school in Queens in 2006, which served a very diverse population and had a graduation rate of 98%.

From there, Mitchell took a position as superintendent of a school in Garrison, N.Y., where she spent the past five and a half years and where she was instrumental in establishing a literacy program for grades kindergarten through eight. Other accomplishments while in Garrison include creating a 1:1 Chromebook initiative for grades three through eight and bringing computer literacy and expertise to younger students. She also oversaw a $9.9 million  capital project in the district.

Mitchell lived in Beacon for many years, but her mother worked at Cardinal Hayes School in Millbrook, so she is familiar with the village and has fond memories of visiting it as a child.  

She earned her undergraduate degree from Ithaca College, her M.S. from St. Rose’s College and her M.L.S. from SUNY Albany. She earned her Doctorate at Manhattanville College in education leadership. She has served as a library media specialist and as an assistant principal as well as a principal and superintendent, so her experience is vast. 

Both Mitchell and the BOE have said they are looking forward to a productive and fruitful partnership in the future.

Latest News

Bunny Williams's 
‘Life in the Garden’
Rizzoli

In 1979, interior decorator Bunny Williams and her husband, antiques dealer John Rosselli, had a fateful meeting with a poorly cared for — in Williams’s words, “unspoiled” — 18th-century white clapboard home.

“I am not sure if I believe in destiny, but I do know that after years of looking for a house, my palms began to perspire when I turned onto a tree-lined driveway in a small New England village,” Williams wrote in her 2005 book, “An Affair with a House.” The Federal manor high on a hill, along with several later additions that included a converted carriage shed and an 1840-built barn, were constructed on what had been the homestead property of Falls Village’s Brewster family, descendants of Mayflower passenger William Brewster, an English Separatist and Protestant leader in Plymouth Colony.

Keep ReadingShow less
The Creators: Sitting down with Garet Wierdsma

Garet&Co dancers

Jennifer Almquist

On Saturday, March 9, the people of Norfolk, Connecticut, enjoyed a dance performance by northern Connecticut-based Garet&Co, in Battell Chapel, titled INTERIOR, consisting of four pieces: “Forgive Her, Hera,” “Something We Share,” “bodieshatewomen,” and “I kinda wish the apocalypse would just happen already.”

At the sold-out show in the round, the dancers, whose strength, grace and athleticism filled the hall with startling passion, wove their movements within the intimate space to the rhythms of contemporary music. Wierdsma choreographed each piece and curated the music. The track she created for “Something We Share” eerily contained vintage soundtracks from life guidance recordings for the perfect woman of the ‘50s. The effect, with three dancers in satin slips posing before imaginary mirrors, was feminist in its message and left the viewer full of vicarious angst.

Keep ReadingShow less
Kevin McEneaney, voice of The Millbrook Independent

Kevin McEneaney

Judith O’Hara Balfe

On meeting Kevin McEneaney, one is almost immediately aware of three things; he’s reserved, he’s highly intelligent and he has a good sense of humor.

McEneaney is the wit and wisdom behind The Millbrook Independent, a blog that evolved from the print version of that publication. It's a wealth of information about music venues in this part of Dutchess County interspersed with poetry, art reviews, articles on holidays and other items, and a smattering of science.

Keep ReadingShow less