{"id":115219,"date":"2026-01-28T16:35:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T16:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/115219\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T16:35:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T16:35:23","slug":"nyc-appoints-new-principal-at-curtis-high-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/115219\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC appoints new principal at Curtis High School"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"VMNUSGHSU5FUBORTLBDOKMOXWE\">STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 A new principal has been appointed for Curtis High School, St. George.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"XYRHOLFC6JGJTG7EDOP3ZPUP7Q\">Nicholas Mele, previously serving as principal of Markham Intermediate School (I.S. 51), Graniteville, has been named the new principal of Curtis High School. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"TRRKNHLJERFHNOQW47P7K7UKPM\">He is taking over the role from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.silive.com\/education\/2026\/01\/curtis-high-school-principal-retires-after-38-years-in-education-ive-been-blessed.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Gregory Jaenicke, who retired this month after serving as principal since 2015.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"XR3EFO3AJRE3XBCB3TGDOXILLQ\">\u201cNew York City Public Schools is pleased to welcome Nicholas Mele as the new principal of Curtis High School,\u201d said Chyann Tull, spokesperson for the city education department. \u201dMr. Mele brings valuable leadership experience from his years as a classroom instructor and middle school principal and is well-equipped to partner with families, support school staff, and continue strengthening the school community.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"2TFOUDFFTJF27H5HCNVRPU5TGU\">Jaenicke\u2019s final day as principal was Monday, with Mele taking the helm as principal officially on Tuesday. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"XP45U34PVNCHTD77EN4U6QNJ2Y\">\u201cWe also extend our sincere thanks to Principal Gregory Jaenicke as he retires and are grateful for his years of dedicated service,\u201d said Tull.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"AJ4O2UMTKNDXTJ4JNHZJF6UNMQ\">Mele was principal at I.S. 51 since 2011. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"UDBDJECTQ5HLHKNCBUKQUENWDM\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.is51.org\/ourpages\/auto\/2026\/1\/27\/44457096\/Letter%20from%20Mr_%20Mele.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.is51.org\/ourpages\/auto\/2026\/1\/27\/44457096\/Letter%20from%20Mr_%20Mele.pdf\">In a letter to the school community on Tuesday,<\/a> Mele shared the news that his departure is \u201cvery difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"3Z62BY4FINENXNAFTGBYJH6LFY\">\u201cThis community has been my home for the past 15 years and the countless relationships I have made during my time as principal I will cherish for the rest of my life,\u201d he wrote in the letter. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"NMLQ3XAYQ5EJPOGFP24CWJNOKY\">He added that serving as I.S. 51 principal has been the \u201cgreatest honor\u201d of his career and is confident that the school will continue to thrive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"RPZGUKOKLREVFCST5WKAHTHNUU\">\u201cThank you for the trust, support, and countless memories I will carry with me. I.S. 51 will always hold a special place in my heart, and I look forward to watching its continued success,\u201d he wrote in the letter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"3ZU5TNS42NEWVMRLIIO6PUHWDI\">The city education department did not immediately say who will serve as interim acting principal at I.S. 51 after Mele.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 A new principal has been appointed for Curtis High School, St. George. Nicholas Mele,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-115219","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}