Appointments made to Shen Board of Education
CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. » The Shenendehowa Board of Education has filled two board vacancies after interviewing eight of 14 candidates who completed the candidates’ package.
Appointed to the board last week after a night of interviews were Jason DiGianni and Joseph Weber. Both men are new to the board.
They will hold the seats until Board of Education elections in May which are held each year as part of district’s budget vote. This year there will be a total of three seats up for a vote by the public; the two seats held through appointments and one held by two-term incumbent Robert Pressly. Pressly has announced he intends to seek reelection.
The board vacancies were the result of the unexpected death of longtime board incumbent Gary DiLallo and the recent resignation by Christina Rajotte who left the board due to a family medical situation.
DiGianni and his wife, a counselor at Shen, have lived in the district for 20 years and have two children enrolled in Shen schools. He works for the state Department of the Budget and prior to that was an instructor in political science at the University of Albany.
“By teaching at SUNY Albany I understood the path that was needed for a student to get them ready for college because I saw a great variety of students,” he said during his introductory remarks.
Weber is a native of Long Island, has lived in the Shen School District community for the past seven years, and works for a public consulting group. He and his wife have three children; two are in Shen schools and the third has yet to start.
In introducing himself Weber said his work is primarily for the public sector across the health, human services and education spaces. He noted that in his job he helps clients on setting policy based on current federal and state guidelines and how to navigate financial challenges that come with being a public sector agency.
The evening of board interviews was held as part of a special board meeting on Feb. 4. The meeting with interviews was livestreamed on the Shen website. The initial 14 candidates who submitted applications were narrowed to eight after a review of each applicant’s candidate’s questionnaire and biographical material.
The pool of interviewees showed the growing diversity in the Shen community with one candidate of African-American lineage and two candidates of Indian descent seeking positions on the board.
Candidates were given 20 minutes each for their interviews. Each one was asked the same seven questions starting with a brief question focused on introducing themselves. Sixn of the eight candidates appeared in person in the Gowana Middle School library along with Board members while two chose to interview virtually.
The questions delved into the candidates’ positions on who they viewed as the board’s constituency, balancing the interests of the many with those of the few, the primary role of the board, issues that should be viewed as priorities, and the situational issue of one board member holding a contradictory opinion.
There were many similarities in the candidates’ answers to a number of questions and the differences slight. All said they believed the board’s constituency is the entire community of the district as well
as the Shen staff. All candidates said they felt responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and being responsible for the annual budget
were two of the board’s three priorities.
In answering the question on what to do if one board member’s personal opinion contradicts the decision of the board all came to the conclusion that there must be mutual respect for a variety of opinions.
In answering the question on balancing the public interests with that of special interests DiGianni said the public interest is an important one that frames the curriculum, where school is focused, and where the board is focused.
“I think looking at that and how that drives everything is a critical piece for the board,” he said. “That’s primarily a board’s role; vision, recognizing that, and having that view of where the district is going in that bigger perspective.”
In answering the same question Weber said he was familiar with the issue because it’s part of his background.
“At the end of the day the priority is what is best for the overall community, the overall district, but there is also the need that you’re
not losing sight of those populations with special interests, and that you’re having a dialogue on the impacts of the needs of the public interests and those of the special interests on the overall community and finding ways of compromise,” he said.