The district’s committee on diversity, equity, and inclusion voted to move forward a resolution to the school board to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day, which will be discussed with public comment at a later date. The committee is also working on a land-acknowledgement declaration, which is taking time to research. “They want it to be authentic, to see whose land we’re on,” said board member Kim Blasiak.

The Berne-Knox-Westerlo Board of Education accepted Superintendent Timothy Mundell’s proposed budget in a unanimous vote, along with the district’s annual bus proposition and the proposed purchase of 1772 Helderberg Trail. All three items — plus school board elections — will be subject to a district vote on May 17.

Superintendent Marie Wiles, in answering questions from the board and the public about her draft budget on March 15, said that the nearly 5-percent spending increase and the nearly 3-percent tax increase “are the highest they've been in my time here” as she stressed the importance of “balance” in not overburdening taxpayers.

Before voting to approve the nine-page memorandum of agreement on March 8, board member Rebecca Butterfield asked for data on the SRO, saying she would like to know what he does on a daily basis and what actions have been taken on criminal matters.

Lyricist Jerome Leiber and composer Michael Stoller together wrote over 70 chart hits. All of the songs in “Smokey Joe’s Café” were written by them, songs that became staples of the 1950s and ’60s.

The message that said, “I have a gun,” according to Inspector J.T. Campbell of the Albany County Sheriff’s Office, was found on a Voorheesville Middle School bathroom stall door at approximately 9:50 a.m. on Thursday. 

A 15-year-old Berne-Knox-Westerlo student was arrested by the Albany County Sheriff’s office and charged with making a terroristic threat, a felony, although the office does not believe the student had access to firearms.

The Berne-Knox-Westerlo Board of Education appointed one of the high school’s English teachers, Bonnie Kane, as the secondary-school principal to replace outgoing principal Mark Pitterson at the end of the current school year.

Currently, the Voorheesville Central School District is not projecting a budget deficit in 2022-23, unusual in a first-draft spending proposal. 

The Guilderland School Board’s Feb. 15 resolution says the Cobblestone Schoolhouse property “is declared to be of no further use or value to the District and in fact, continued ownership of Property is fiscally detrimental to the District.” The resolution goes on to authorize listing the property for sale or auction.