The Cortland Enlarged City School District plans to hire an athletics director who has worked in a Tompkins County district for the past 15 years.
Tiffany Beam, a physical education teacher in the Newfield Central School District, will be the Cortland district’s new athletic director and director of physical education. She joins the district effective July 1, the board decided Tuesday.
Beam’s resume online shows she earned a master’s degree in education from SUNY Cortland in 2004. She also earned a master’s from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix 2015 in education leadership and administration.
Beam was one of several new hires the board approved Tuesday night, with little discussion.
Beam succeeds Matt Wood, who had been Cortland’s director of athletics and physical education since July 2020. Wood holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and Certificate of Advanced Study, all from SUNY Cortland.
Wood has taught for more than 20 years; he began his career teaching physical education and health in the Vestal Central School District west of Binghamton. Cortland Superintendent Bob Edwards said Wood plans to move closer to home, in the Southern Tier.
In other business Tuesday:
•Edwards said the district is about to launch its Early College High School program. Edwards said the district is “creating things that will continue to benefit our students.”
When the program begins in late August, he said, “We’ll have the first cohort of students who will experience the college mindset.”
•The board honored the two students – senior Jack McGovern and junior Mallory May – who participated in the League of Women Voters’ three-day “Students Inside Albany” program. McGovern plans to continue his education at Binghamton University; he is interested in becoming a filmmaker. Neither May nor a school official nor the LVA woman mentioned May’s plans
•Board members acknowledged contributions from Lauren Mossotti-Kline and ex-officio member Jack Phelan, who are leaving the school board as the school year ends. Phelan was one of the students who earned a $500 award during the recent Section III scholar-athlete dinner. Phelan plans to attend college at the U.S. Naval Academy in Maryland.
