During the Jan. 5 meeting of Voorheesville’s board of education, Superintendent Frank Macri first offered praise for the job the district’s transportation department had done over the past year, but added, “Like many school districts across the region, across the state, across the country, we have struggled with staffing with our bus drivers and getting bus drivers staffing.”

For months, the board of education, a separate rezoning committee, and the public have debated a number of options to reshuffle students, ultimately arriving at two proposals.

In a Dec. 30 letter to Judge Paul Evangelista, the Voorheesville attorney in the case wrote, “As neither an answer nor motion for summary judgment has been filed in response to” Voorheesville’s counterclaims against Norfolk Southern or its third-party suit against JC Pops, the village “is entitled to voluntarily dismiss its claims .…”

As the year came to a close, Guilderland found itself at odds with a very specific set of town residents.

Much was achieved over the course of the past year in the town of New Scotland and village of Voorheeville.

The four-quadrant gate systems, in addition to preventing cars from attempting to maneuver around the crossing stop arms — a feat attempted three times in the past two years — mean train engineers will no longer have to  blow their whistles as they travel over the county-owned roads. 

The lawsuit was filed on Dec. 11 by Thomas and Valerie Newell along with their daughter, Erin. The crux of the case turns on whether the pipe is defined as a water main, which the town would maintain, or a lateral, for which the Newells would be responsible.

Chief Judge Brenda K. Sannes signed the order Dec. 3.

“Yeah, it’s a place where families who are homeschooled can come bring their kids just to have open play games, projects,” project applicant Katie Coffey told Planning Board Chairman Stephen Feeney.

The new proposal shifts focus from procedural details to a broader framework that emphasizes equity, communication, and student growth.