NOT YOUR AVERAGE JOE!

As new principal at Saratoga Central Catholic School, Joe Kilmade is laser-focused on two things.

“We have two goals,” said Kilmade, who was announced as new principal in April. “To get the kids to college and to get the kids to heaven. And they are equally important. All of my efforts are focused on these two things.”

It is a role the Kilmade is well-suited for as a quick glance at his background indicates with years of experience as an administrator in Catholic education. Kilmade was born in Albany and attended Holy Cross School and La Salle Institute before going to Villanova University. After graduation, he joined the Lasallian Volunteer Program because “I didn’t want to jump right into the workforce. It was always in the back of my mind that I wanted to be an English teacher, coach basketball and speak Spanish.”

He was placed in Tulsa, Okla., in a low-income middle school and it was in that city where he met his future wife, Jessica, who was working with the Alliance for Catholic Education in its teacher’s program. Through that program, Kilmade received his master’s degree in educational administration from Notre Dame.

“And I fell in love with education and got into administration pretty quickly,” he added.

After three years in Tulsa, Kilmade became the founding principal of the Nativity Preparatory Academy in Rochester for one year then returned to the Midwest. Kilmade spent 10 years in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, the sixth largest Catholic School District in the United States with over 100 schools, including 20 high schools. He was principal or assistant principal for nine of the 10 years.

Kilmade, however, was drawn back to Albany last winter because his dad, Michael, was suffering from ALS and cancer. 

“It was a blessing,” Kilmade said. “Because of the pandemic I was able to be here physically while working in St. Louis.”

Sadly, Kilmade’s father died in May. His mother, Debbie, a long-time Albany resident still lives in the family home, and the Kilmades, along with their 6-year-old son, Danny, live in walking distance. During that time, Kilmade started looking for a job in the area. 

“I had applied for a different job within the Diocese and I was invited to apply for this one because they felt it would be a really good fit,” Kilmade said. “I had been looking elsewhere and was offered this job and pulled my other applications.

“I was very much looking to be a Catholic school administrator. I tried a non-Catholic environment and came to the conclusion that this is my calling. When I was looking for work, I had a one-track mind. It was the first avenue I pursued and I was blessed to get the job.”

Kilmade’s philosophy as an administrator of a Catholic school is multi-faceted as well.

“I feel my job is to provide programming that supports the students academically, physically, spiritually and emotionally,” he said. “I need to be focused on all of those things in equal parts.

“My job is to listen and serve. I very much feel the parents are entrusting their children to our care and I take that very seriously. I spend a lot of time listening and talking with people and try to understand what their needs are and motivate that staff to meet those needs and then find the funding to meet those goals.”

Kilmade has already put his stamp on SCC during the pandemic in which the school is focused on the obvious health and safety aspects of dealing with COVID-19. The school has also tweaked the facilities to rearrange where classes are, for instance emptying out the weight room and turning that into a classroom, while also keeping an eye on the beneficial aspects of activities such as sports and after-school programs.

“The challenge of being a new administrator is getting to know the place, who the people are, what their skills are, and being in a new state, just who to report to,” he said. “That is challenging enough and then throwing in the pandemic piece.”

The school has already seen an increase in enrollment due to the in-person learning model and smaller class sizes, which allows for increased social distancing and safety.

“I think I am a very creative administrator,” Kilmade said. “I can manage the day to day and feel that I do a good job of forming consensus and creating a vision for the school.”