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Superintendent: Niskayuna posts high graduation rate, expands communications staff and flags federal funds freeze
Summary
Superintendent reported a 97.9% four‑year graduation rate for the class of 2025, staffing additions to the district communications team, and a potential $91,000 local impact from a federal funding freeze announced by the administration.
Superintendent Carl Momenthek told the Niskayuna Central School District Board of Education on July 1 that the district recognized 337 graduates last week and achieved a four‑year cohort graduation rate of 97.9 percent.
Momenthek said nearly 60 percent of graduates earned Regents diplomas with advanced distinction, and the district honored retiring high‑school principal John Rickert at commencement. The superintendent and board members highlighted student involvement in the ceremony and said digital highlights would be posted to district social channels.
Momenthek also announced changes to the district’s communications staffing. The district purchased additional services from Capital Region BOCES and will add a communications programs manager, Monica Lester, on a three‑day‑a‑week in‑district schedule and a new public information specialist, Erin Drescher, on a three‑day‑a‑week schedule. Lindsay Quackenbush will continue work on digital content two days per week, and the district will draw additional remote support from BOCES for website updates. The administration described the change as roughly a 33 percent increase in communications capacity.
Separately, Momenthek briefed the board on a federal action announced overnight by the presidential administration to withhold certain congressionally appropriated funds for schools. He said the national withholding totals about $6.8 billion and that, if upheld, the freeze would reduce the district’s federal funding by roughly 6.9 percent — “approximately $91,000.” Momenthek said it was “very, very early” in the process, that the law currently favors Congress, and that the district had budgeted for contingencies and did not expect the freeze to affect summer programming or the start of the school year.
Board members thanked staff and leadership for commencement work and congratulated new hires and promoted administrators listed in the consent agenda.
The superintendent’s remarks also included recognition of two alumni inducted into the district’s hall of fame and notice that video highlights of commencement would be shared on social media the following day.
