In what police say turned out to be a man with a cellphone, a student at Berne-Knox-Westerlo reported Friday that she saw a man with a knife or a large gun as kids were leaving for the day, prompting a lockout at the school and a mass-alert sent to emergency notification subscribers. 

Acting Supreme Court Justice Denise A. Hartman heard oral arguments today concerning Berne resident Emily Vincent, who was removed from her post as full member of the town planning board before the end of her term and made an alternate. She has filed an Article 78 against the town, requesting that the decision be nullified. 

EAST BERNE — Mark F. Resnick, an emergency-room nurse and a life member of the East Berne Volunteer Fire Company and Helderberg Ambulance Squad, died on Thursday, March 5, 2020. He was 58.

He was born in Utica, New York on March 12, 1961 to the late Alan and Barbara Resnick.

By splitting the role of school business manager between its superintendent and an accountant, Berne-Knox-Westerlo is hoping to attract superintendent candidates of a higher caliber when Timothy Mundell retires from the position within the next five years. 

The second phase of Berne-Knox-Westerlo’s $15.8 million project has been completed, and Superintendent Timothy Mundell reports that, now halfway through, the project is on schedule and slightly under budget. 

Although its absentee rate is roughly half that of the state average, Berne-Knox-Westerlo’s school board is considering ways to further cut the rate of chronic absenteeism, which is when a student misses 10-percent of classes in a school year. Chronic absenteeism is one of three critical metrics for Harvard’s National Center for Rural Education Research Networks, of which BKW is a part. 

Despite first appearances, Westerlo’s “new” zoning law is not an overhaul of the original 1989 document, but a necessary update that keeps the town in favor with New York State.

Soon after Westerlo authorized the use of NYCLASS as an investment vehicle, the Berne-Knox-Westerlo Board of Education followed suit, and the towns of Knox and Berne have expressed interest in the mutual fund. So what is it?