WESTERLO — Katherine Helen (née Salisbury) Loetterle was a charismatic woman who put her energies into tasks as diverse as feeding her farm family, directing airport travelers, and modeling clothes for senior fashion shows.

She died on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020. She was 95.

The CSEA, which represents non-instructional workers at the Berne-Knox-Westerlo Central School District, won raises for its members with a 3-percent increase for the 2019-20 school year and a total increase of 18-percent by 2023. Workers who have been with the district for 15 years or longer get additional compensation. 

Peter Hotaling, who was Westerlo’s assessor for 19 years before the town replaced him with Garth Slocum, has filed an Article 78 proceeding against the town, requesting that he be reinstated with back pay and that the town reimburse him for medical costs he accrued after losing his insurance.

In the absence of the town attorney answering our questions, we urge Berne Town Board members themselves to read New York State’s Civil Service Law, then to do the right thing: Reinstate Cheryl Baitsholts as dog control officer. The new board members took an oath of office on New Year’s Day to uphold the law. Failing that, we urge Baitsholts to do as the Knox workers before her did: File for a ruling that will force the town board to restore her job.

At Berne-Knox-Westerlo’s regular board of education meeting, Yira Matiz, who was hired last summer to teach seventh- and eighth-grade Spanish, accused the school administration of not performing its due diligence when following up on complaints that Matiz was ineffective in the classroom. Matiz was forced to resign, she said.