As of this morning, Dennis Kenney is the new interim principal at Batavia High School.
Kenney fills the vacancy left when Scott Wilson accepted a position in Churchville.
The school district reviewed several candidates to replace Wilson on a permanent basis but has decided to extend the search.
Kenney will serve as principal until Dec. 22.
The school board approved his contract in executive session at the start of last night's meeting.
A resident of Warsaw, Kenney has 40 years in education and recently retired as a principal at Iroquois Central Schools, where he worked for 12 years.
His first 18 years in education was with the New York State Division Youth, which is now Child and Family Services, working in residential facilities with kids who had serious emotional issues and learning disabilities.
He's also been a principal at Barker, an assistant in Albion and Canandaigua and served for two-and-a-half years as superintended in Perry.
He has three sons and was on vacation in Virginia Beach with eight of his grandchildren when he got the call from Superintendent Chris Dailey asking if he would be interested in interviewing for the interim position.
"They'll find me a very visible high school principal and very approachable," Kenney said. "I'd like the parents to know that my door is always open, and staff, to come and see me on anything. The students, too. I think we have a great school district here and the high school has a great faculty, good assistant principals, and we're going to work together and keep moving forward."
