Shen Board of Education elects new officers
CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. » As part of the Shenendehowa School District Board of Education’s yearly organizational meeting last week, board members unanimously elected Deanna Stephenson president of the board and Christina Rajotte vice president.
Their terms of office are for one year with the possibility of a second consecutive year. The election of officers at the July 7 virtual board meeting was just one part of the night’s agenda.
Stephenson, who was vice president of the board the last two years, steps into the office held for two terms by board member Robert Pressly. Pressly remains a member of the Board of Education.
Nominations for board officers came immediately after the two recently reelected board members,
Naomi Hoffman and Gusta Miller, were administered their oaths of office.
Stephenson’s name was put forward by board member Todd Gilbert who noted in his remarks that it is his belief that she had done “an excellent job over the last two years” working with Pressly in a leadership role.
“I think she’s capable and ready to take on the role and learn that role as president,” he said.
The nomination was seconded by Miller.
“I think Deanna will be a fantastic leader for the board; she’s approachable, she’s strong, and she’s a doer. She’ll do a fantastic job,” Miller said.
Rajotte’s name was put forward for vice president by Hoffman noting that she has demonstrated a passion for education, especially those students with social emotional needs.
“She’s always been there for them,” Hoffman said as part of nomination. “She’s an advocate for our students. I think she’ll be an exceptional vice president and support Deanna in her role as president.”
After taking the oath of office, Rajotte noted in her board member comments that she has been involved in the school district in various positions for the past 15 years. Having come to know Stephenson well during that time, she said she and Stephenson share similar values and visons and balance each other well.
“Nonetheless, we have distinct personalities and approaches which I believe will serve the district well,” Rajotte said.
Thanking her fellow board members for their
support, Rajotte said she recognizes that each brings a passion, steadfast commitment, and a unique perspective to the board.
“I value that and I think we’re very fortunate to have such great perspectives,” she said. “I’m looking forward for this community and board to redefine and reshape education to respond to the challenges set before us and to create opportunities to meet the complex needs of all our students.”
In her first remarks as president of the board Stephenson acknowledged the coming school year would be an odd one, a year that would cast a shadow. However, she said, it would not be the first time Shen had faced a challenging time and made note of the financial downturn in 2008.
“I know we will overcome. Under the leadership of Dr. Robinson and his leadership team I know we’ll continue to go great things,” she said. “I look forward to the next year and all the opportunities. I don’t look at them as a challenge. Yes, there is a shadow behind us but we’ll stay in front of it as a district and a community.”
In other board members’ remarks both Pressly and Gary DiLallo noted that the issue of racism must continue to be addressed by the district.
“I see a need to continue as an organization to talk about and confront and address racism within the community,” Pressly said. “I see this as something that’s not going away. I see it as something that needs to be brought up as members as a means to end what we have in society and our need as an educational institution to address it.”
DiLallo was more succinct saying that it has become clear to him that implicit racism has not gone away in society, that it’s based in ignorance and it is incumbent upon the board and the district to address that ignorance.
In giving the board an update on discussions surrounding reopening the district’s schools, Shen Superintendent L. Oliver Robinson described the forthcoming work of school personnel as “heavy lifting”. As just one example he noted that district personnel are presently looking at traditional models but dealing with various alternatives at the same time.
“We are reviewing traditional schedules because we need to know what the kids need (in the way of classes), he said. “We need to that baseline.”
Robinson noted that despite a lot of talk on the subject of schools reopening and a statement from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, he had not seen a directive from the governor, has no idea what a plan for reopening is supposed to look like, and has seen no mechanism for submitting the plan to anyone.
In a very early, rudimentary, unseen draft of Shen’s reopening framework Robinson revealed that it is based on the same goals and objectives that drives the district budget process.
“We do this because we can’t have one set of structures doing one thing and a second set doing another,” he said.
As to engaging stakeholders in the process of reopening, Robinson said he didn’t want to foster “surplus conversation” until he was on firmer ground.
“One we get the guidelines and get some sense of what’s feasible and practical then we’ll start to engage folks into how we fine tune certain things,” he said.