ALTAMONT — Donald Otterness was a middle-aged man when he saw a slide show of New Zealand and promised himself that, one day, he would go there.

That was 20 years ago.

Leaders say
Teachers grow through evaluation

GUILDERLAND — Guilderland teachers are being evaluated in ways that help them grow professionally, say leaders of a committee that developed the new system.

Health-insurance quandary
School board debates consultant’s role in RFP

GUILDERLAND — Officers of the local union that includes bus drivers and mechanics ex-pressed concerns to the school board last week about a $10,000 efficiency study on busing students.

Editorial
Seize the day and plan for the future

The time is ripe for a regional master plan.

From the Helderberg highlands to the valley below, in all of the towns we cover, there is talk of planning.

GUILDERLAND — A teaching assistant at Farnsworth Middle School who resigned last month was arrested yesterday for endangering the welfare of a child and unlawfully dealing with a child.

GUILDERLAND — A local PTA lost thousands of dollars when a fund-raising company abruptly shut its doors last month.

From the editor
Varied views inform, enlighten

I admire Liz Funk. A Voorheesville teenager, she first called our office last spring because she was organizing a high school chapter of NOW.

RENSSELAERVILLE — Town Hall was packed on New Year’s Day as the town board’s two Democrats differed sharply with the three Republicans on several key appointments for 2006.