The National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association named Michael DeSimone of the Charter School of Educational Excellence a Certified Master Athletic Administrator.
The group cited DeSimone, the school’s athletic director, for his contributions to the school and his ongoing professional development in the field of interscholastic sports administration. DeSimone has worked at Yonkers’ only charter school since 2011. A year after his arrival, DeSimone started the school’s first sports team for basketball. Since then, he launched all the K-12 school’s sports teams, which today include 21 interscholastic programs at the elementary, middle- and high-school levels.
“It’s not enough,” DeSimone said of the charter school’s programs. “We really want to make sure that we give every student an opportunity to participate, whether it’s an interscholastic sport, intermural sport or an afterschool activity.”
DeSimone will expand the charter school’s sports program with track and field teams. He also intends to introduce junior varsity teams for freshman and sophomores in 2024.
“Some sports have 50 to 60 kids trying out and we can only pick 15 of them, so there is a need for more programs,” he said.
The Charter School of Educational Excellence successfully propels student athletes into college, with several former students playing at the NCAA level. One standout is Tyler Roche, a junior at St. John’s University and a pitcher for the baseball team. Roche is expected to enter the Major League Baseball draft.
The recognition by the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association is the latest recognition for DeSimone. In 2021, the group Coaching Corps named him a Game Changer of the Month for his work at the charter school. DeSimone said that being a game changer is a matter of building allies and support.
“A game changer is just somebody who has done a good job getting others to see the vision and the philosophy that you have, and demonstrating that it works,” said DeSimone. “We’re able to carry it out because we have a coaching staff that is extremely committed to our student success, more so off the field than on the field.
