The City School District of Albany Board of Education has appointed veteran school and district leader Imran Abbasi to the position of assistant superintendent for human resources.
An Albany native and Albany High School graduate, Abbasi currently serves in the same role in the Troy City School District, a position he has held since 2021. He will begin May 1, taking over for the departing Kate Thies on Superintendent Joseph Hochreiter’s senior leadership team.
“We are excited to welcome Mr. Abbasi back home to Albany in this critically important position for our school district,” Hochreiter said. “His experience from the classroom through building and district leadership positions in a range of school districts will bring invaluable experience and perspective to our team.”
Abbasi will be responsible for directing all aspects of recruitment and retention for a district with nearly 2,000 employees. That includes the district’s strategic initiatives to diversify its teaching workforce and attract new educators to meet the challenges of an aging workforce.
More than 30% of the district’s teachers currently are within five years of retirement eligibility.
“I am so glad for this opportunity to return to Albany and to help lead my hometown school district forward at such a critical time,” Abbasi said. “Albany is a wonderful community and the school district is fortunate to have outstanding educators and staff at every level. I am looking forward to working alongside these dedicated employees to serve all of our students and families.”
Abbasi began his teaching career in Albany as an alternative education and seventh-grade social studies teacher at the former Philip Livingston Magnet Academy. Following a middle school teaching assignment in the Bethlehem Central School District, he moved into his first administrative role as an assistant middle school principal in the Cairo-Durham Central School District in 2007.
He then served as an assistant middle school principal in the Niskayuna Central School District for two years before taking over as principal at Clayton A. Bouton High School in Voorheesville in 2010. He became the principal at Schalmont High School in 2013, a position he held for six years before moving into his first district-level leadership position as director of social studies, world languages and ENL in Niskayuna in 2019.
He held that position until taking on the Cabinet-level HR role in Troy.
After graduating from Albany High, Abbasi earned a bachelor’s degree in social studies and a master’s in curriculum development and instructional technology from the University at Albany. He holds permanent school district administrator certification, and also completed a labor relations certificate program at Cornell University.