ALBANY — Brenda McClaine, who is still working for the Guilderland schools and being paid her teacher’s salary, was sentenced Friday in Albany County Court for third-degree grand larceny, a felony.

She was arrested last March for stealing $100,382.50 from the Guilderland Teachers’ Association, according to the Guilderland Police who arrested her; she had been the union’s treasurer.

McClaine will serve her six-month sentence “intermittently,” the judge said, being jailed only on weekends for 60 consecutive weekends. She will then be on probation for five years. She is to report to jail on Friday, Nov. 28, at 6 p.m.

The sentence was worked out in September as part of a plea deal. Had she gone to trial instead, McClaine could have served a maximum of two-and-a-third to seven years.

McClaine, who gave her age in the September court session as 39, said she was divorced and that she had two dependent children. At the time of her arrest, she lived at 37 Armstrong Court in Altamont. In September, she answered “yes” when Judge Stephen Herrick asked if she stole money from the teachers’ association for her personal benefit.

Last Friday morning, McClaine’s lawyer, Peter Moschetti Jr., told the judge, “Before there was a criminal investigation, full restitution was paid by Brenda.”

Maceo Dubose, who was the president of the GTA at the time of the arrest, told The Enterprise then that the union had been reimbursed in full in February. The GTA has about 450 members, which includes nurses, counselors, social workers, and psychologists as well as teachers. Their dues are a portion of their salaries and, Dubose said earlier, the union members pay biweekly dues of roughly $40 each.

McClaine was elected treasurer of the GTA in the spring of 2012. Her two-year term began on July 1, 2012. The theft occurred between Aug. 13, 2012 and Oct. 28, 2013, according to the felony complaint.

Dubose said it was first noticed in the fall that the account was awry and he filed a complaint with the Guilderland Police on March 3. After her March 27 arrest, McClaine was arraigned in Guilderland Town Court and released on $15,000 bail.

In court last Friday, Judge Herrick called the situation “rather unique.”

He told McClaine, “After you had started taking funds that were union funds and utilizing them for your own benefit, you became aware of some issue and you went to your attorney and you and your attorney approached the teachers’ association and actually disclosed the full amount of the taking to them.

“And my understanding, which is confirmed by the people, is that full restitution plus more than that actually was paid back to the association before the matter was referred to the Guilderland Police for criminal investigation and you cooperated fully from the beginning with the teachers’ association and with the people, the police, and the district attorney’s office, which is reflected in the plea bargain….”

Herrick went on to say, “The fact remains that this is a serious offense where there has been a breach of trust. You were treasurer of the teachers’ association and you violated that trust and this is a serious matter that has been taken seriously by the Albany County District Attorney’s Office and by the court and I believe responsibly by you and your attorney. And I think the sentence is appropriate here based on your cooperation balanced by the seriousness of the offense.”

McClaine made no statement in court and neither was a victim’s impact statement read.

When The Enterprise this week asked the new president of the GTA, Erin McNamara, why the union decided not to read a victim’s statement, she said, “To be honest, I didn’t know we could.”

McNamara said she could not comment further on the union’s view of McClaine since McClaine is still a member.

McNamara did say that the GTA has changed its policies to require three, rather than two, signatures. McClaine has admitted in court in September that she had forged the signature of the then-GTA President Dubose, to cash association checks; she collected dues and then deposited them into her personal checking account.

Further, McNamara said this week, “Everything is electronic now...There is no exchange of checks between us, the district, and NYSUT,” she said of New York State United Teachers.

Superintendent Marie Wiles said that McClaine is working out of the district office, doing research and analysis for which she is qualified. Wiles also said McClaine continues to be paid, as she has since her arrest, her regular teacher’s salary, which is $66,268 annually.

A person with a felony conviction can be a teacher in New York State, according to Jeanne Beattie with the State Education Department; the only conviction for which a teacher automatically loses certification is one for child sexual abuse.

McClaine has worked for the Guilderland School District since 1999 and, before her arrest, she taught math at Farnsworth Middle School to 70 students in an Academic Intervention Services program, offering additional help to sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders.

After Dubose had released the information about McClaine to the Guilderland Police in early March, McClaine had “called in sick and was very upset,” Wiles said at the time, without naming McClaine. McClaine returned to school the following Monday and was then re-assigned to work on a curriculum project “so as not to disrupt the educational process,” Wiles said.

After the arrest, school counselors were poised to offer support to troubled students, but none was sought, Wiles said at the time. “Honestly, it’s been very quiet,” she said the week of McClaine’s arrest.

After the arrest, McClaine was placed on leave, and paid her regular teacher’s salary on a per diem basis.

Throughout the ordeal, Wiles stressed two points. “Our community needs to remember this was not district funds, not taxpayers’ dollars,” Wiles said of the money that McClaine has now been convicted of stealing.

Finally, Wiles stressed, “This is unfortunate for everybody involved but at no time did we have cause to worry about the well-being of our students or the quality of Mrs. McClaine’s teaching.”