OSWEGO, NY – The Oswego City School District Board of Education held its annual Organizational and Regular Meeting on the evening of July 5 , 2023.
Three new Board members were sworn in, having been recently elected to the positions by the voting residents of the District. Sean Callen, Julie Chetney and Kristin Norfleet all took the oath, along with re-elected board member Dr. James MacKenzie.
Acting Temporary Chairman Daine Schrader asked for nominations for board president, and Dr. James MacKenzie was nominated for the position by board member Tom Ciappa. The following roll call resulted in all members voting “yea” for MacKenzie, and his election to the position of board president.
MacKenzie’s term will last until the next Annual Organizational Meeting, when a vote for president will again be counted. The new president was then duly sworn in to begin his term of office.
Tom Ciappa was nominated for, and elected to the position of vice-president of the Board, with only newly elected board member Kristen Norfleet voting “no.”
The meeting continued with MacKenzie reading through a list of actions that the district intends to act upon in the upcoming school year, all of which met with approval.
MacKenzie noted a corrected date for the District Budget Vote and the School Board Member Election, which will take place on May 21, 2024.
All items on the Consent Agenda passed unanimously. All items on the Curriculum Agenda passed unanimously. Under the Personnel Agenda, tha Board approved the retirement of longtime Executive Director of Business and Finance Nancy Squairs, effective August 31, 2023. All other items on the Personnel Agenda passed unanimously.
Under Items From the Board, newly elected board member Sean Callen mentioned positive feedback that he had received regarding the flags flying at the school stadium. Callen thanked Tyler Broadwell and other unnamed contributors and commented that the project was a good example of the District and community working together to achieve a positive result.
“I think that is an awesome example of collaboration of the district and certainly the Buc Boosters, so I just wanted to thank them for getting them up…it came with a lot of resistance and I didn’t understand that at the beginning, but having them up there and getting the compliments…I think it’s great, so thank you,” Callen said.
All BOE meetings are held the first and third Tuesday of every month, the next bi-weekly meeting to be held on Tuesday, July 18 at 5 p.m. To view the full agenda, please click here.
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Here is to hoping this board can undo the damage created and left by the last two boards that hired the previous superintendent and all his outside folks. Time to start restructuring and getting back to focusing on what’s best for kids, get the spending under control and cut some unnecessary positions at the district level. Remember you were voted in to make positive change. Look at the people voted off over the last two years, they were too busy with personal agendas and not educating students.