SALAMANCA — When pupils return to Seneca Intermediate School in two weeks, a new principal will greet them.
The Salamanca City Central School District Board of Education has chosen Erin Barie to take the helm at the school to lead students in grades 4 through 7. Barie began in her new role July 1.
“It was a leadership structure change because I was the assistant principal (at Seneca Intermediate) the past school year,” Barbie explained. “Nikki Beaver, the previous principal, is now Principal of Elementary Instruction overseeing classes from Pre-Kindergarten through seventh grade in curriculum and instruction trying to align with the elementary building and the Seneca Intermediate building.”
Now that Barie has taken over as the Seneca building principal, Beaver is navigating both the Seneca and Prospect buildings. Barie said Beaver is working on a goal to be sure both schools are aligned instructionally and with all it supports. She said this will allow a smooth transition for students moving on from the elementary grades into the intermediate grades.
“Including Salamanca High School, we’re really trying to push very hard this year across all three schools to align with instructional support, cultural support in regards to restorative practices and creating a positive climate aligning curriculum across all the buildings,” she said.
Barie said their focus this year will be the theme, “Getting Better Together.” She said Seneca Intermediate will work alongside Prospect Elementary and the high school to align curriculum and instructional supports for students, professional development for staff and increase community and family engagement.
Barbie’s personal focus is to make a difference in the lives of the students. She wants to be sure each individual student feels supported in whatever that looks like for them, so it’ll be on a case by case basis.
“For some students, it’s going to be academic support. For others, it’s going to be emotional support,” she said. “So, we’re going to be sure that teachers have access to whatever they need that they can, in turn, give to the student.”
Barie received her bachelor’s degree from the SUNY Cortland in 2003, and she has two masters degrees — one in Reading K-12 from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2009 and an Educational Leadership Masters from Winthrop University in South Carolina in 2016.
In addition to her most recent position of assistant principal at Seneca Intermediate, Barie spent 18 years in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg public school system in North Carolina where she was a 5th grade teacher, an academic facilitator, Dean of Students and an assistant principal.
“It was a very large school district and I was in a number of their schools throughout my career at Charlotte-Mecklenburg, beginning in 2003,” she said. “Then I moved back to New York state to be with my family.”
Originally from Pavilion, Barie resides in Allegany with her husband, Rich, and their two children, Cooper and Lennon.
