Chatham Schools to elect four members
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MAY 17 -- SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF EDUCATION ELECTIONS AND
BUDGET VOTES
Three school districts serving residents of the Town of Chatham — Chatham
Central School District, Ichabod Crane Central School District, and New
Lebanon Central School District — will hold annual budget votes and elections for School
Board members on May 17, 2022.
Budget information is available on their respective websites. Information on how to apply to run for each district’s school board is found below. Board candidates must be able to read
and write, be a current resident of the district for at least one year, and be a
qualified voter of the district (citizen of the U.S., at least 18 years of age or
older).
In all school board elections, intended candidates must petition to get
signatures of 25 qualified voters from their respective district to get on the
ballot; petitions are available at each district and are due mid-April. Check
with your district for more details.
Chatham Central School District will elect four members to the Board
of Education. The vote will be held on May 17 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the
MED Elementary School gym.
Questions about serving on the Board of Education or the candidate petition
process can be directed to Deborah Pottenburgh, District Clerk at 518-392-1501
or Pottenburghd@chatham.k12.ny.us. The District Clerk’s office is located in
the Mary E. Dardess Elementary School, 50 Woodbridge Avenue in Chatham.
There will also be two days for voter registration held in the MED Elementary
School Lobby:
April 27 from 2:30-6:30 p.m.
May 11 from 4-8p.m.
Ichabod Crane School District will elect three School Board members on May 17, residents in the Ichabod Crane School District will be as the terms of Matthew
Nelson, Elizabeth Phillips and Jeffrey Ouellette expire. Anyone interested in running for a Board of Education seat may contact the district clerk at mpotts@ichabodcrane.org or (518) 758-7575, ext. 3001. Petition packets are available.
New Lebanon Central School District will elect three School Board
members for three-year terms beginning July 1.
Petitions must be turned in by April 18, 2022. For further information contact
Kelly McGivern, District Clerk at kmcgivern@newlebanoncsd.org. A petition is
available HERE.
At the May 17 election, voters also will be voting on the budget for the 2022-
23 school year. Budget information and voting information may be found here or by
contacting the district clerk at mpotts@ichabodcrane.org or (518) 758-7575,
ext. 3001.
CHATHAM SCHOOL BOARD MEETING HIGHLIGHTS
Highlights from the March 22 School Board Meeting included BOE Student
Representative, Mia Porritt presenting the findings from a School Student
Safety Survey conducted by the student government.
Chatham high school students were given the opportunity to complete a
survey regarding their comfort level with the training and the level of
preparedness in the event of an emergency/possible threatening situation.
The 62 participants evenly represented each of the four high school grade
levels.
A majority of the participants reported feeling "safe" or "very safe." However, nearly half of the participants also felt that the school could do better in their efforts to prepare students for crisis situations.
Students voices a need for more active drills and practice, as well as additional training and
assemblies. Although fire drills are common occurrences, students requested
more active drills regarding lock down, lock out, and active-shooter
scenarios.
Superintendent Sal DeAngelo reflected on the results of the survey and
acknowledged that the recent reduction in active drills and safety assemblies
reflected Covid safety protocols. DeAngelo noted an upcoming meeting
with the District Security advisor that would address additional staff training,
as well as further management response to the survey findings.
High School Science teacher,Sandy Fischer attended the board meeting
along with students Mason Levy, Eion Henchey, Jane Fischer and Adam
Fischer to provide an update on the Robotics club at Chatham High
School.
The students had been working since January to design and build a
robot to compete alongside 41 other teams in the Tech Valley
Regional Robotics Competition held at the MVP Arena last week. The
competition's 2022 challenge was to design and fabricate a robot that could
pick up large balls and accurately shoot them into a target.
The students explained their planning and prototype process and powered
up their robot on the meeting floor to demonstrate its capabilities.