BIO

Michael Cornell currently serves as Superintendent of Schools for the Hamburg Central School District, which educates nearly 3500 students each day in four elementary schools, one middle school and one high school. Mr. Cornell also serves as the President of the Erie-Niagara School Superintendents Association and is the Co-Chair of the New York State Council of School Superintendents (NYSCOSS) Legislative Committee. He has also served two terms on the NYSCOSS House of Delegates.

Prior to working in Hamburg, Mr. Cornell served as the Principal of Amherst Middle School from 2010 - 2015. With more than 30% of the students at Amherst Middle School qualifying for Free/Reduced Lunch, Mr. Cornell was able to maintain the school’s status as one of the highest performing middle schools in Western New York, ranking 7th in overall academic performance out of more than 100 public middle schools. He also served his administrative colleagues as president of the Amherst Administrator’s Association.

Mr. Cornell was recognized by the School Administrators Association of New York State (SAANYS) as the 2013 Middle School Principal of the Year for Western New York, and by Phi Delta Kappa as the 2014 Middle School Principal of the Year.
He began his administrative career in 2006 as an Assistant Principal at Lancaster High School.

Mr. Cornell was a social studies teacher at Kenmore West High School in the Kenmore Town of Tonawanda Union Free School District from 1995 - 2006, where he also served as a Department Chairman, Chairman of the Kenmore Staff Development Center Policy Board, and 2nd Vice President of the Kenmore Teacher’s Association.
Mike has also served as an Adjunct Professor at Niagara University, teaching The Capstone for the School District Leader to students in their Educational Leadership program.

Also active in public affairs outside of education, Mr. Cornell was appointed by then-Governor George Pataki to serve on the Niagara River Greenway Commission in 2004, and was appointed to the Niagara County Redistricting Commission in 2011.

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