Groton High school welcomes interim principal

Following months of hard work and planning under the leadership of Groton Central School Superintendent Margo Martin, both Groton Elementary (GES) and Groton Jr/Sr High School (GHS) opened their doors to students Friday, Sept. 11.

Since 2016, Kent Maslin has been at the helm as the principal of GES, but GHS has seen a few different faces sitting at the principal’s desk. Unfortunately, Martin found herself without a principal for GHS at the beginning of August.

Without much time to adequately fill that seat for the start of school, the decision was made to seek an interim principal, so GHS has welcomed Scott Poreda, who is a retired administrator.

Poreda, who is a 1982 graduate of Newark Valley High School, can relate to the Groton community in many ways. He was raised on his family’s farm in Newark Valley, where he milked cows, cut, raked and baled hay and repaired broken fences. He still had time to wrestle and play baseball, football and soccer in school.

When Poreda entered SUNY Binghamton, he thought he would pursue a career in the computing field but realized after his first year that he “felt like a small fish in a big pond” compared to the majority of students in his classes, who were more advanced and competitive than he was.

Poreda earned his bachelor’s in sociology in 1986. He found that he really loved the human relations part of his education, and he discovered his real passion was to teach and relate to people versus “sitting in front of a computer all day.”

In 1988, Poreda added a MAT in social studies to his bachelor’s degree and landed his first position at Spencer-Van Etten High School teaching global studies, government and U.S. history for the next 13 years.

Poreda’s parents, Herbert and Janet Poreda, had originally lived in New York City, but Herbert had worked on a farm in Owego during school breaks and loved it so much that he moved to Newark Valley and bought his own farm as an adult.

Herbert had 13 siblings, and Scott said he has over 100 cousins on Herbert’s side of the family. Scott is extremely proud of the fact that he is the third child in that “cousin group” to earn a bachelor’s and the first to earn a master’s degree.

“I feel that I proved you really can ‘get off the farm and go to college,’” Scott said.

While at Spencer-Van Etten, Scott earned his CAS (Certificate of Advanced Studies) in Educational Administration through Cortland State University and also made time to coach modified football, girls softball and wrestling.

When Scott left Spencer-Van Etten, he became the assistant principal and athletic director at Southern Cayuga for the next three years, after which he took on his first principalship at Indian Lake, where he was the principal for the entire school, kindergarten through grade 12.

“Of course, the school had less than 200 students in it, the largest class size was 25, and the kindergarten class had only nine,” Scott said.

One of Scott’s fondest memories of Indian Lake was its tradition of high school juniors “adopting” kindergarten students and “sticking with them” to help them along.

“That really showed the true spirit of a school being a family,” Scott said. “I am seeing that same thing here at Groton right now. The high schoolers are stepping up to help the younger students with all that is going on. In dark times, you can really see the light with students.”

After two years at Indian Lake, Scott was principal at Otselic Valley High School for the next five years, after which he retired from education and worked in retail management to spend more time with his family.

As the next few years went by, Scott found that he truly missed being in education, so when an old friend “gave him a tip” that Groton was looking for an interim principal, he jumped at the opportunity.

When asked about his first impressions, Scott said, “We have a lot of work to do, but the students here are phenomenal, and the teachers are bending over backwards to make this a great year for the students.”

Scott said he is hoping to see everyone back full time, in person before the end of this year, and after hearing about the Class of 2020 graduation, he would like to “outdo that experience” for this year’s senior class.

Scott is starting out by studying the culture of Groton and asking a lot of questions “to understand what’s important to everyone.”

“I was never part of a STEAM program before, but it’s been great so far to collaborate with the faculty there,” he said. “They know more about the trades than I do, but I’m already able to help them out with academics, so it’s a great meld.”

Scott also mentioned how good he is feeling about working with Associate Principal Jake Roe, who has been a constant in that seat since 2018.

“Jake is such a good people-person,” Scott said. “We complement each other — the energy of youth with the patience of experience.”

Next week, this column will feature an interview with Roe to give a little insight into “the other half” of GHS’ new “dynamic duo” in the main office.

Groton on the Inside appears weekly. Submit news ideas to Linda Competillo, lmc10@cornell.edu or 607-227-4922.

In brief:

Chicken barbecue weekend

The McLean Fire Dept. Rescue Squad will offer a chicken barbecue Friday, Sept. 25 beginning at 4 p.m. until the chicken is gone.

Dinners may be picked up as drive-through only. Dinner is $10 and includes a half chicken, salt potatoes, baked beans, dessert and beverage.

The Groton Cruisers Car Club will hold its chicken barbecue Saturday, Sept. 26 at the C.R. Pavilion on Main Street. Chicken halves only for $5 each will be ready beginning at 9 a.m.

The club is also running a bottle and can drive all week. Drop off at the trailer on Main Street, near the Pavilion, to support the Groton Cruisers Car Club and scholarship fund.

Join the Cub Scouts

Registration for the Groton Cub Scouts will be held from 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30 at the Groton American Legion Pavilion on Main Street.

Cost is $47 and covers registration through the end of December 2020 for all kids in kindergarten through fifth grade.

For more information, contact Shana Snyder at (607) 591-9565 or grotonnycubscoutspack10@gmail.com.

Zoning Board vacancy

The town of Groton is seeking to fill a vacant position on the Town of Groton Zoning Board of Appeals. Applications are available at the Town Clerk’s Office, 101 Conger Blvd. or townofgrotonny.org.

Completed applications may be mailed to the Town Clerk’s Office, P.O. Box 36, Groton, NY 13073, dropped off in person, or emailed to townclerk@grotontown.com.