North Babylon UFSD Welcomes 4 New Administrators

NORTH BABYLON, NY — The North Babylon Union Free School District appointed four new administrators on July 1.

New additions to the team include Laurie Melesh, assistant superintendent for pupil personnel services and special education; Nicholas Pei, coordinator of English as a new language, world and dual languages for kindergarten through 12th grade; Jackie Kane, coordinator of elementary curriculum and instruction for pre-k through fifth grade; and Charles Schulz, coordinator of English language arts, reading and library for grades sixth through 12th.

For the past eight years, Melesh has served as supervisor of special education at the Mineola School District. Before that position, she worked as program director for Westbrook Preparatory School from 2013 to 2016. She holds a bachelor of science degree in speech-language pathology and audiology from SUNY Cortland and a master of science degree in special education from CUNY Hunter. She also holds certifications in applied behavior analysis, educational leadership and school district leadership.

Schulz has served as director of English, English as a new language and library as well as associate principal in Commack School District since 2019. Before that position, he was the coordinator of English in Commack School District from 2015 to 2019. He holds a bachelor of arts degree from SUNY Buffalo and a master of science in education from Hofstra University. He also holds a school district leader certification.

Kane has worked in the North Babylon School District as a kindergarten through 12th-grade technology integration specialist and then as the elementary technology integration specialist for the last eight years. Prior to that, she was an elementary teacher at Kennedy Crossan Elementary School in Philadelphia. She holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from The University of Scranton and a master’s degree in instructional technology from Chestnut Hill College.

Meanwhile, Pei possesses 13 years of experience related to educating multilingual learners in the New York City Department of Education and North Babylon School District. He served as English as a new language teacher at Parliament Place Elementary School since 2021. Before coming to North Babylon, he was an ENL teacher and ENL and dual language coordinator at P.S. 20 John Bowne Elementary in Flushing, Queens, from 2011 to 2021. He holds a bachelor’s degree in international business from the University of Maryland and a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University. He also holds a master’s of education in school leadership and TESOL from Touro College.