The Scotia-Glenville School District’s Board of Education elected Pamela Carbone as president of the board of education and Gary Normington as vice president.
Carbone received four votes to Ben Conlon’s two votes at the Monday, July 13, meeting. Normington was elected unanimously to a second term as vice president.
The biggest thing is that I’m starting my 14th year on the board so I have a lot of experience, said Carbone.
Carbone replaced Margaret Smith, who held the position of board of education president for five years.
`Margaret Smith nominated me. She had chosen not to run [again this year]. She did a fabulous job for five years running the board of education, but she decided that it was time to step down,` said Carbone.
Smith is still on the board of education for another three-year term.
Carbone teaches math and science in the Schenectady City School District. She has one son who graduated from the Scotia-Glenville School District in 2002 and a grandson who will be entering the Scotia-Glenville School District this fall as a kindergartner. Carbone has lived in the district since 1985.
`As a teacher I’m concerned on the individual level with education, but I’m also concerned on the higher level – I want to see that all the kids in our district get all the very best that we can offer them, but at the same time we have to be fiscally responsible to our tax payers,` said Carbone.
Carbone also served as the president of the Capital District School Boards Association, which is made up of representatives from 32 school districts and two BOCES programs in the Capital District. Her tenure lasted from 2003 to 2008.
`We have a couple of other challenges coming up for us as we move forward with the capital project that the voters approved in May,` said Carbone.
`There will be a lot of work involved with that and we’re also implementing full-day kindergarten,` said Carbone.
She also noted that the Scotia-Glenville School District has done a lot to bring their special education students back to the district from other programs.
`Our special education kids can stay in the district with their families and with their friends and neighborhood kids and be part of the normal school type of setting,` said Carbone.
Carbone added that the board of education wants to thank Smith for her years of dedication to her position as president of the Scotia-Glenville School District’s board of education.
`It was a real privilege for me to be president of the board of education for five years and I’m really proud of all that we accomplished during my time as president,` said Smith.
`It wasn’t always easy but I felt that we worked together as a board and administration to do what was best for our students,` said Smith, who noted the main reason she stepped down was that it was time for someone else to have a leadership role on the board.
`As far as Pamela, I think she’ll make an excellent president,` said Smith.
She said that she continues to enjoy serving the board of education.
Normington, who is a software trainer for Community Computers, was unavailable for comment at press time.
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