ALLEGANY, N.Y. — For more than two decades, Kim Moore has served the Allegany-Limestone School district as a teacher, director of instruction, principal of the elementary school and an English language arts teacher.

When fall classes resume next week for secondary students in the district, Moore will once again serve as a principal, but this time at the Middle/High School campus on Five Mile Road. Classes at the elementary campus in the district began today.

Superintendent Tony Giannicchi said Moore was appointed to replace Jason Mank, who resigned last week for personal reasons. Mank, who had previously served as assistant principal at the Wellsville Secondary School, was appointed in August to replace former Allegany-Limestone High School Principal Cory Pecorella, who resigned at the end of July.

Pecorella now serves as principal at the Olean BOCES Career and Technical Education Center.

Giannicchi said Moore “really took on a big challenge. … We are lucky to have her step in, especially so late.”

The superintendent added, “We are blessed to have Kim Moore in the Middle/High School. She has the ability to lead the building into the future, and the skillset to lead us in this unsettled period.”

Giannicchi was likely referring to the district’s reopening of campuses after six months of shutdown for in-class instruction due to the pandemic. The reopening will include several different schedules for secondary students as well as adhering to COVID-19 safety measures at the school, among other challenges.

When contacted about her new position, Moore said, “This is not where I expected to be a year ago, but I consider it another blessing.

“To have lived in Allegany my whole life and to have attended both the elementary and high school in this district, I think I’ll find this to be the perfect ending to my educational career,” she said. “Our district is rife with caring, intelligent, hard-working faculty and staff, and our school community’s students and families are second to none.”

Moore said her “good fortune to have worked with the faculty and support staff in both buildings and administration and BOE means more than I can express.

“I will give it my best,” she added.

When Moore left the elementary school as principal at the end of the 2018-19 school year, she had stated she wanted to return to teaching in a position at the high school. She had noted that in addition to teaching positions, she also had taught as director of instruction for a year and elementary principal for 4 1/2 years.