PARENT TO PRINCIPAL

BACK TO SCHOOL: Teri Crowe takes over at St. Clement’s School in Saratoga Springs

From parent to teacher to principal, it’s safe to say that Teri Crowe is familiar with the ins and outs of St. Clement’s School in Saratoga Springs.

Crowe, who was assistant principal at St. Clement’s last year, took over as leader of the school in September. She brings with her over 20 years of teaching and leadership experience and a huge heart for the school community her family has grown up with.

“It’s a great school,” Crowe told The Evangelist. 

A native of the Saratoga area, Crowe has always been familiar with St. Clement’s Church. She attended religious education there and went to Mass with her family on Sundays. But it wasn’t until Crowe was married and looking to send her son to school that she started to think outside the parish setting. 

“I’m from Saratoga and I started my career at Greenfield Elementary School on the public school side for 10 years,” she said. “And Saratoga Springs City School District is a great district, but when it came time to send my child to kindergarten, he was going to be in a very big class … and they had to keep their thumb on him. So my husband said, ‘Is there another school?’ ”

Crowe thought of St. Clement’s and set up a visit. After that, “the rest is history,” she said. 

The catch for her was the feeling that the school gave. More than a safe space for children, it was a place of warmth and camaraderie, where the families and teachers felt connected. 

“The warmth here, the family connections that are made, even now he’s out of the school and in college, and he has the closest relationships with his friends at St. Clement’s,” Crowe said of her son. 

Crowe and her husband were only planning to send their first child through the school, but after how impressed they were, they decided to stay and sent all four of their children through St. Clement’s.

When her youngest was in pre-K, Jane Kromm, the previous principal of St. Clement’s, approached her about a teaching job. Crowe went on to teach Grades 4 and 5 from 2019-24, then she took over as assistant principal. Even then, Crowe was still teaching Grade 4 while in her new role.

This year will be the first time Crowe isn’t in the classroom full-time. It’s a “bittersweet” feeling, she said, but she isn’t worried about the change. 

“The type of person I am, I’m going to be proactive, I’m going to be involved,” she said. “You’ll see me on the front lines; you won’t see me much behind my desk. I’m going to be out in the classrooms and giving those kids high-fives, and I want them to know the principal’s office isn’t always the bad place to go.”

It’s no surprise that Crowe ended up as principal given her own family’s teaching history: Her parents were both teachers, and two of her siblings teach in the Saratoga area as well. She recalls going with her mom to school on take-your-child-to-work days, wanting to be a teacher one day, too.

“It was something I always loved to do,” she said. 

She obtained her bachelor’s in elementary education from SUNY Buffalo and her master’s in reading and literacy from The College of Saint Rose. She also holds a certificate in School Building and District Leader from SUNY Plattsburgh. 

Crowe plans to continue building on the “faith and family” foundation that St. Clement’s models, and to strengthen the school’s relationship with the parish and with the local community through outreach and give-back programs. 

At the start of each school year, St. Clement’s announces a new theme as a motto for students to lean on. In this year’s theme — “Be the light” — Crowe hopes students learn to let their true selves shine throughout the year. 

“You can be the light for someone else, and you can be the light in all the choices that you make,” she said. “Shining bright and being you, and you are God’s child.”