Pelkey Appointed Malone CSD Superintendent of Schools

MALONE –Brandon Pelkey was appointed Thursday evening as the next superintendent of schools of Malone Central School District.

The Malone CSD Board of Education called a special meeting to appoint Pelkey, the current Franklin Academy high school principal.

Pelkey’s appointment begins July 1. Acting Superintendent Stan Maziejka will stay in that position through the end of August to help with the transition and allow the district time to find a new high school principal.

School board members and groups of constituents including teachers, non-teaching staff, administrators and parents interviewed Pelkey for five hours on Tuesday, May 2. The school board conducted a final interview on Thursday, May 4, then called a special meeting to make the final appointment.

“The school board was struck throughout the interview process by Mr. Pelkey’s deep dedication to student success. No matter whether the topic was budgets, staffing, or anything else, everything we asked about was all brought back to one thing: what is best for the students of the district,” said school board President Phil Hans. “The board is very excited about Mr. Pelkey’s commitment to students and his vision for a shared decision-making process that’s centered on students. We are dedicated to providing Mr. Pelkey with the resources he needs to lead the district into a bright future.”

Pelkey has been in leadership positions at Franklin Academy since 2011, and he’s been the high school’s principal since 2013. He taught at FA for 15 years, and he also spent a year as principal in Brasher Falls.

He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at SUNY Potsdam, and a Certificate of Advanced Studies from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

Pelkey is a member of the Malone Rotary Club, the Malone Administrator’s Association, and the School Administrators Association of New York State, and he spent many years coaching swim, cross country and track.

The district’s Board of Education launched a search for the position in December, and applications were due earlier this month. After reviewing the six submitted applications, three were not viable candidates for the position and one decided to rescind their application due to other opportunities.

The board announced plans to interview two internal candidates, Pelkey and Assistant Superintendent Dustin Relation, but Relation pulled his application due to personal issues.

Franklin-Essex-Hamilton BOCES District Superintendent Dale Breault Jr. facilitated the search process.