Meet The School Leadership Team - Capital Region BOCES

Across our organization, our school leadership team works to foster supportive, enriching learning environments for our students, and helps expand the professional learning and growth of our teaching and support team.

Career & Technical Education

Albany Campus

Joe poses and smiles

Joseph Slichko

Interim Principal
thomas.nicholson@neric.org

Valerie smiling

Valerie Smith

Assistant Principal
valerie.smith@neric.org

Adult Education

Michael Markou headshot

Michael Markou

Adult Education Program Manager
michael.markou@neric.org

Michael Markou joined Capital Region BOCES as the Adult Education Program Manager in 2022. Prior to that, Michael worked at Bryant & Stratton College for 17 years in a variety of capacities, most recently holding the post of Dean of Student Services. Markou is a graduate of SUNY Oneonta and Russell Sage College.

Louise Bigando

Louise Bigando, MSN, RN, Ed., SDL
Director of Health Careers & Services
louise.bigando@neric.org

Susan Ryan

Health Careers & Services Interim Principal
susan.ryan@neric.org

Schoharie Campus

Schoharie Career and Technical School Principal Matthew Ward, who has short brown hair and a closely trimmed beard and mustache, looks at and smiles for the camera.

Matthew Ward

Principal
matthew.ward@neric.org

Matthew Ward joined our Career and Technical School team in 2021. Prior to this, Matt served as Greenville High School principal and was also an assistant high school principal in both Guilderland and the Cairo-Durham school districts. The College of Saint Rose graduate got his start in education as a social studies teacher at Ichabod Crane, where he also held several coaching positions.

Special Education

Airline Drive Academy

Airline Drive Academy Principal Barb Lounello, a white woman with shoulder length blond hair, glasses and a black shirt and coat, looks at and smiles for the camera.

Barb Lounello

Principal
barb.lounello@neric.org

Barb Lounello has been a principal with our Special Education programs since 2009 and was a School Social Worker also with our Special Education programs from 2004-2009. Prior to working at BOCES, Barb worked at Albany County Children’s Mental Health Clinic and Parsons, and prior to becoming a Social Worker, Barb was an elementary education teacher with Albany City School District.

Airline Drive Academy Assistant Principal Amanda McNeal, who has cropped black blond hair and is wearing a black shirt and blue button-up shirt, looks at and smiles at the camera while standing in front of a bookshelf.

Amanda McNeal

Assistant Principal
amanda.mcneal@neric.org

Maywood Academy

Gabriele Barbato, who has short brown hair and a closely trimmed beard and mustache, looks at and smiles for the camera.

Gabriele Barbarto

Principal
gabriele.barbato@neric.org

Gabriele Barbarto joined the Maywood Academy in 2021. Previously, he served as Pre-K through Grade 6 principal and, prior to that, an instructional supervisor at Eagle Point Elementary School in Albany. Additionally, Gabriele served as an assistant principal at Schenectady High School and site principal for the BOCES Regional Summer School program. A graduate of the College of Saint Rose, Gabriele got his start in education in the Schenectady City School District, where he taught for a decade before moving into administration.

Assistant Principal Kristen Roys, who has long black hair and is wearing dark rimmed eyeglasses, dangly silver earrings and a black and white checked collared shirt, looks at and smiles for the camera.

Kristen Roys

Assistant Principal
kristen.roys@neric.org

Kristen Roys joined Maywood Academy in 2021. Prior to that, she was a special education teacher for over a decade, most recently in the Elmira City School District. There she also provided technology trainings, focusing on assistive technology and making technology platforms more accessible to students with disabilities. Kristen got her start at St. Catherine’s Center for Children after earning degrees in Psychology and Special Education.

District-Based Elementary, Middle School and High School Locations

Special Education Principal Carol d'Estienne, who has shoulder length brown hair and is wearing a purple top, looks at and smiles for the camera.

Carol d’Estienne

Principal
carol.destienne@neric.org

Carol d’Estienne has been a principal with our Special Education programs for the past 20 years and has worked with a variety of programs and students. Prior to working at BOCES, Carol was a special education teacher in New York, California and Vermont, was a Special Education Training and Resource Center trainer and an adjunct faculty member at Sage College and The College of St. Rose.

Cooperative Virtual Learning Academy

Cooperative Virtual Learning Academy Principal Carrie Sunkes, who has long blond hair and is wearing a white blouse and a dark blue jacket, looks at and smiles for the camera.

Carrie Sunkes

Executive Principal
carrie.sunkes@neric.org

Carrie Sunkes has spent the past 20 years in the field of education, as both a teacher and administrator in various area school districts. Carrie began her career as a teacher of accelerated math and Academic Intervention Services in math in the North Colonie School District, and was a sixth grade teacher, Coordinator of Gifted and Talented Enrichment and Intermediate Elementary Summer School principal at Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake Central School District. Most recently, Carrie served BH-BL’s Virtual Elementary Principal. In this new role, Carrie helped create a virtual learning environment that reinforced academic skills while introducing technical platforms that allowed student and teachers to stay connected and learning throughout a nationwide pandemic.