Edgemont residents learned of two significant departures from the Edgemont Junior-Senior High School via an email from the school on Wednesday September 14. At the September 13th meeting, the Board of Education accepted the resignation due to retirement of Dr. Barry Friedman, Principal of Edgemont Junior-Senior High School, effective August 31, 2012. Dr. Friedman began working in Edgemont in 1979 as a school psychologist at Greenville School. Four years ago he became principal of Edgemont Junior-Senior High School, where he is credited with making “profound contributions to the educational and social-emotional environment of the school.”

Members of the Board of Education accepted Dr. Friedman’s resignation with regret and with great appreciation for 33 years of service to the children of Edgemont; and wished him and his wife, Fran, a healthy, happy retirement, full of good times with family and friends. The Board also acknowledged Dr. Friedman’s timely announcement, enabling Superintendent Nancy Taddiken and the Board to engage in effective succession planning.

At the same meeting the Board also accepted the resignation of Christine Monseliu, Assistant Principal at Edgemont Junior-Senior High School, effective December 31, 2011. Ms. Monseliu will be relocating to Florida with her husband and children. She began working in Edgemont in October of 2005 after servivng as Director of Guidance and College Placement in Hastings, and as a school counselor in Chappaqua and Great Neck before becoming a full-time administrator. Members of the Board of Education acknowledged Ms. Monseliu’s skilled leadership during several periods of administrative transition at the Junior-Senior High School. During her tenure “she has established meaningful and supportive relationships with many Edgemont students.” Board members wished Ms. Monseliu well in her new role as a full-time mother to her twin daughters.

At the Tuesday, October 11, 2011 Board of Education meeting Superintendent Taddiken will present her proposal for the succession of leadership at the Junior-Senior High School.

These resignations leave both Scarsdale High School and Edgemont Junior-Senior High School in the search for new leadership.