Hernandez Pidala named superintendent at Millbrook Central School District

MILLBROOK —  Caroline Hernandez Pidala was named superintendent of the Millbrook Central School District (MCSD) by its board of education on Tuesday, April 25.  Hernandez Pidala has been the district’s interim superintendent since summer 2022, and as the board noted in its announcement, “…has had a significant impact on the district since she took the helm this past summer.”

Coming to Millbrook from the Arlington School District in 2015 to be the Millbrook High School principal, she was made assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction/pupil personnel services in 2018. She then rose, in 2021, to be named deputy superintendent of schools.

About her appointment, Hernandez Pidala said: “I feel extremely blessed and lucky to work within this community. The students are awesome, the faculty and staff are top-notch and the parents and taxpayers are so supportive. We have a team of administrators that are like-minded in keeping students first in our decisions and maximizing our efforts in the way that best impacts students.

“Our board of education is truly student-centered and supports the strategic vision that has been developed, and I feel like we are one large team rowing in the right direction. I couldn’t really ask for more.”

The feelings between the board and the superintendent tend to be mutually respectful, as the board also related in its announcement: “The 2023-2024 fiscal budget, created by Ms. Hernandez Pidala and the District’s leadership team, has the lowest administrative component and the highest program component of any budget over the past five years.  She has also began restructuring for long-time sustainability. With her guidance, the MCSD has completed a five-year strategic plan, inclusive of key stakeholders and components of groups of varied interests.”

In the years since Hernandez Pidala came to Millbrook, much has changed: She has worked with two different superintendents and two assistant superintendents; school principals have changed in some cases; and even the board of education has changed some of its members.

The district also suffered, along with the rest of the world, the effects of COVID-19, with students going to remote learning, even graduations being done via the internet, and the athletics so prevalent in this school district being brought to a halt in some cases.

Most schools are still coming back from those years. In addressing this, Hernandez Pidala had this to say: “We are focusing on the social-emotional growth and development of our students and working to close the gap in learning left in the wake of a global pandemic. We are also trying to engage families and have them be true partners in educating the next generation of leaders, workers and thinkers. The district aims to create sustainable practices so that we can benefit from our efforts in perpetuity.

“Over the past eight years, Millbrook has come to feel like home,” she said, adding, “I love the community and I am fortunate to say I love my job. Not everyone gets to say that.”