The July Summer Enrichment provided an early welcome to Memorial Park School for the incoming kindergarten class.
Those four weeks also gave someone else a chance to get comfortable before students return Tuesday, Sept. 7 to begin the 2021-22 year.
“The Summer program gave me a big jump on meeting students and families,’’ said Karen Hinderling, who became principal at MPS as of July 1.
Hinderling, who lives in Clinton with her three sons, comes to Waterville after having spent most of her 25 years in education in the Oriskany School District.
When she started as an elementary teacher there at the beginning of her career, Hinderling had no need to get familiar with the district as she’s had to for Waterville.
Having grown up near Rome, Hinderling attended Oriskany school from kindergarten through high school graduation. During her time back as a teacher, she did two groups of looping classes - staying with the same group of students for two years.
Hinderling became a teacher leader to guide her colleagues through the early years of Common Core and led the district’s new teacher program. She joined the administration team as Oriskany’s director of technology.
She then spent three years as the district’s elementary principal. “That was wonderful because I could get to know all the kids in the building,’’ she said.
Early last year, an opportunity to expand her administrative experience came out outside of the Oriskany district. Three weeks after the coronavirus forced…