NEWS
Board President Patrick Butler resigns
Aug. 25, 2010 – Board of Education President Patrick Butler resigned from the board effective Thursday, Aug. 19, 2010. Butler has been on the board for 12 years.
His resignation follows the resignation of Steve Lackmann, who left the board to become the Cohoes High School library media specialist. Lackmann was appointed to the position on Wednesday, Aug. 24.
"Both Mr. Butler and Mr. Lackmann have contributed tremendous service to our Board of Education, our school district and our community during their time of service," said Superintendent of Schools Robert K. Libby. "We wish them both the best in their future professional endeavors."
The board, which has seats for seven members, is now left with five and several options on how to proceed. The board can choose to appoint new members, hold a special election or wait until the annual election in May for the seats to be filled.
At Wednesday's meeting, several members expressed the desire to allow the people of the city to decide who should serve on the board, but not wanting to spend between $6,000-8,000 for a special election. The board expects to announce its decision at its Sept. 22 meeting, which will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Cohoes Middle School Library.
Should the board choose to allow the seats to remain vacant, it will still need to operate as a seven-member board, which means a quorum will still require four members and in order to pass an item, a unanimous vote of the board will be required.
Former Board of Education Vice President Anne
Marie Hume will now serve as president. Mark Pascale will serve as
vice president.
