2024-2025 Board of Education Members

Mrs. Cynthia Neal, President
Term expires 2025
Mr. Gregory Brown
Term expires 2026
Mrs. Charlene Smith, Vice-President
Term expires 2027
Mrs. Juliette Wentworth
Term expires 2028
Dr. Richard Rubright
Term expires 2029

Student representatives, 2024-2025
Carlie Golden
Caylene Russell

Committees

Chenango County School Boards Association Representatives
Juliette Wentworth, Charlene Smith
Finance Committee
Cindy Neal, Richard Rubright
Policy Committee
Charlene Smith, Richard Rubright
Facilities/Transportation Committee
Juliette Wentworth, Greg Brown
Wellness Committee
Juliette Wentworth

About Committees
Board of Education Committee meetings (Facilities/Transportation, Finance, Policy, Wellness) are regularly scheduled work sessions in specific subject areas. These are held in public but they are not for the public; that is, there is no provision for public comment and only committee members have copies of relevant paperwork covering financial or facilities information, policies they are currently working on, transportation studies, etc.  At each school board meeting, committee members publicly report the outcomes of their work. 

What is BoardDocs?
BoardDocs is an electronic service that makes it easier to post and retrieve meeting minutes, agendas, schedules, and the policy manual. Content on BoardDocs is also accessible for those needing assistive devices to read websites. Click the black button on the top right of this page to open BoardDocs.

Navigating and searching BoardDocs
When you click the black button on the top right of this page to open BoardDocs, it will open to a simple welcome page. Now you can begin to navigate.

To access meeting agendas and minutes, click "MEETINGS" on the ribbon at the top right of the page. Click any of the dates to find its (1) Agenda, (2) a downloadable PDF of the agenda, and (3) a print button to use if your device is connected to a printer. You will also see (4) View Minutes for those earlier meetings after those minutes have been approved by the board.

The "AGENDA" button on the top right of the home page features the planned agenda for the next meeting, after the District Clerk adds it.

The "POLICIES" button on the top right of the home page opens to numbered sections in a grey box. Click each section number to see all the numbered policies in that category. Next, you can click each numbered policy so it opens to show that policy's title, code number, status, adoption date, contents, and more.

NOTE: Board of Education minutes older than those appearing in BoardDocs are available in the District Office.

Running for the School Board

Are you interested in running for the Otselic Valley Central School District Board of Education? Learn more from the The School Board Member Experience, and Running for the School Board, which are produced by the New York State School Boards Association. Please also review the 2025-2026 Annual Budget Calendar.

Open seats
At Otselic Valley the board of education (also called the "school board") has 5 members, and each year at least one seat is open for election.

What does a Board of Education do?
The school board is "a corporate body that oversees and manages a public school district's affairs, personnel, and properties...and...its members are elected by the residents of the school district that the board oversees" (School Law, 36th edition, p. 45).

A regular schedule of board meetings is set annually, although board members also attend special board meetings throughout the year as they are called. Meetings are conducted using parliamentary procedure, and minutes are maintained by the District Clerk. School board member training and resources are provided by the District.

Eligibility to run for election
To qualify for membership, an individual must fulfill the following criteria (School Law, 36th edition, p. 63):

• Must be able to read and write

• Must be a qualified voter of the district (a citizen of the US, at least 18 years old, not judged to be incompetent or ineligible

• Must be and have been a resident (though not necessarily a taxpayer) of the district for a continuous and uninterrupted period of at least one year immediately before the election

• May not have been removed from any school district office within the preceding year

• May not reside with another member of the same school board as a member of the same family

• May not be a current employee of the school board

• May not simultaneously hold another incompatible public office.

I want to run for the school board so how do I begin?
Contact Mrs. Gail Burpee, District Clerk (gburpee@ovcs.org; 315-653-7218, ext. 4042) to pick up a candidate packet when it's available on April 1. The required paperwork will include a nomination petition form on which you must collect at least 25 signatures of those supporting your candidacy, and expenditure statements. You are also asked to submit a bio to be published in the budget newsletter.

Contact:
districtclerk@ovcs.org

Resources: