The Amherst Central School District Board of Education appointed Katie Marzocchi, a Smallwood Drive Elementary Special Education teacher, as the Assistant Principal of Smallwood Drive. Mrs. Marzocchi will begin her new role on July 1, 2023.

For the past nine years, she has taught at Smallwood Drive where she co-designed lessons and taught in an integrated co-taught setting. Katie has built professional relationships and established rapport with not only the faculty, staff, and building leadership, but also with the Smallwood Drive community. This will help to facilitate a smooth transition into her new role as part of the administrative team.

Beyond the classroom, Mrs. Marzocchi has been an active member on the Behavior Support Team, Mindfulness Committee, Multi Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) team, Reopening Task Force, Therapeutic Crisis Intervention in Schools (TCIS) team, and she has served on both the building based and district based Strategic Planning committees. She has initiated, designed, and implemented an annual Autism Awareness Design contest, which is a fundraiser to give back to The Summit Center. She serves as a teacher liaison for Smallwood’s PTA, where she leads the communication between the teachers and the Smallwood PTA for grants, fundraisers, and school-wide events, such as Fall Fest and Evening with the Arts. She has presented new initiatives at faculty meetings and on professional development days throughout her nine years in our district.

During her administrative internship at Smallwood, she led MTSS meetings on analyzing student data and she  organized NYS ELA and Math state testing implementation. She co-facilitated two book studies on integrated co-teaching to support teachers’ professional learning capacity. She also supervised the arrival and dismissal of summer school and supported individual teachers with lesson development.

Katie earned her bachelor’s degree in childhood and special education from St. John Fisher College, a master’s degree in literacy from Buffalo State College, and a school building leadership certificate from Niagara University.