Locals don't know  their ancestors' freedoms were defended in part by black patriots, says Aaron Mair, speaking of Albany County's only Revolutionary War battle.

"We’re reaching into the metaphorical couch cushions, looking for change,” said the school superintendent of proposed cuts, after years of cutting, in next year's $93 million budget.

Guilderland's super has calculated that the cost for 23 Capital Region districts to meet new state requirements would total over $5 million; 59 teachers would need to be hired and qualified ESL teachers are in short supply.

"At the end of the day, we've done the right thing for students," said Guilderland's business administrator as the district has used its fund balance to preserve programs, causing the comptroller to deem it "susceptible" to stress.

Being part of some of history's most storied battles and earning a Bronze Star hasn't diminished Kenneth Bailey's small-town qualities.

GUILDERLAND — Over 50 people came to school on a recent cold winter’s night — parents and their children — to talk about a book. No one was required to read the book but those who had gathered pursued it with passion.

GUILDERLAND — Tracy Martone, winner of the school district’s Technology in Education Award this year, says she always wanted to be a teacher.

As a girl, she collected textbooks from her aunt, a school principal. “They were from the eighties, the kind with the answers in the back,” she recalled.

Mojmir Frinta, after World War II wreaked havoc in Europe, found redeemng beauty in its churches and spent the better part of a lifetiime restoring, researching, and teaching about sacred art.

GUILDERLAND — More than four decades after it was built, Farnsworth Middle School leaders and staff remain committed to students’ personal and social as well as intellectual development.

Dogs that few want to adopt — most of them are pit bulls — get training from county jail inmates, which helps the inmates as well as the dogs.