Clarence Board of Education·July 13, 2026
Annual Reorganization · Officers Re-Seated · Safety-Plan Hearing · A District Offline
The school board reset itself for the year on Monday night: re-elected trustees Tricia Andrews, Cindy Magera and Dawn Snyder took the oath for terms running to June 2029; James Boglioli was returned as president and Andrews was elevated to vice president; and the board approved its full slate of 2026–27 annual appointments and required resolutions. Business Official Dr. Patricia Grupka[*] opened a 30-day public hearing on the district-wide safety plan; the board approved May financials, a $500 Rotary gift to the Family Support Center, and a stack of personnel moves; the special-education committees won approval of services for 128 and eight students; and eleven policies cleared a second read, among them a new Artificial Intelligence policy. The whole 26-minute session ran without its customary YouTube livestream — a weekend network failure had knocked out district phones and internet — before the board adjourned into executive session on a personnel matter.
New York school boards do this every July, and Clarence did it quickly. The district clerk, Megan Sutton, called the reorganization meeting to order in the high school lecture hall, and three re-elected trustees — Tricia Andrews, Cindy Magera and Dawn Snyder — raised their right hands and were sworn for three-year terms running through June 30, 2029.
Then the board picked its leaders for the year. A colleague put Boglioli's name forward — “I'll nominate you as president” — and, hearing no objection, he kept the gavel. Tricia Andrews was nominated for vice president and elected without opposition, stepping up from trustee (the outgoing vice president was Michael Fuchs). Members signed the board's Code of Conduct, approved the evening's agenda, and then took up the workhorse item of any reorganization: the 2026–27 Appointments and Required Resolutions — the annual slate that re-hires the district's architects, attorneys, banks, auditors, insurers and dozens of designated officers in a single motion.
Superintendent Dr. Matthew Frahm set expectations plainly. A reorganization, he said, is “not a meeting that typically comes packed with different sorts of reports” — but “a lot happens in a fairly brief amount of time.” The programming part of the year, he added, kicks in as summer turns to fall.
New York's Education Law requires every school board to hold an annual reorganizational meeting in early July. It is a housekeeping reset rather than a policy night: newly (re-)elected members take the oath of office, the board re-elects its president and vice president for the coming year, re-adopts its Code of Conduct, and re-appoints the long roster of professionals and officers who keep a district running — architect, attorneys, depository banks, internal and external auditors, treasurer, purchasing agent, records-access and compliance officers, physician, insurers. Little of it is controversial; nearly all of it is legally required before the district can transact business into the new school year. It is also when officer titles can change — which is why Andrews' move to vice president is the meeting's most durable outcome.
The reason the meeting wasn't on YouTube was itself the night's most consequential piece of district news. A network problem over the weekend forced Clarence to take down its phone and internet connections, and Dr. Frahm used his report to walk families through it. He had emailed and texted students, faculty and staff the day before; because the district is “a big place with a complex system,” he said, restoring service is “not clicking a switch” but a program-by-program return. The district would be “operational tomorrow for student programming,” he said, though it “will look a little bit different in some areas.” The two big summer programs — high-school summer school and August Regents retakes, run by principal Bob Caniglio[*], and the extended school year program — were already up and running. He thanked the technology team for “going above and beyond,” and it was that same team that recorded Monday's meeting to post afterward, since the connectivity loss ruled out the usual live stream.
Summer is also construction season. Half the high school's front parking lot has been torn up and is being rebuilt, the middle school's side lot and front bus loop reconfigured, and the Harris Hill[*] playground taken down to make way for a new one — a project Frahm noted had drawn a warm column in the Clarence Bee from Town Supervisor Patrick Casilio[*] about what the playground has meant to the community.
Dr. Patricia Grupka[*] opened a brief public hearing on the district-wide safety plan, noting there were “no required changes for this year.” She drew the distinction that matters to residents: the district-wide plan is public — broad concepts, policies and strategies, with parts redacted for confidentiality — while the building-level plans, which spell out evacuation routes and where students reassemble, are confidential, protected from disclosure and shared with local law enforcement so they know how to respond. The district-wide plan's appendices range from the code of conduct and a continuity-of-operations plan to a technology plan, a pandemic-influenza plan and cardiac-arrest response plans. The hearing opens a 30-day public comment window; the board expects to adopt the plan around August 24, after which it is filed to the state Education Department portal and shared with law enforcement by October 1. Grupka credited safety specialist Adamese[*], who supports the district through Erie 1 BOCES, and nurse Hanna Muller[*], who ran an AED and CPR class for administrators the week before.
On the business side, the board approved May financials and the schedule of bills and check warrants; a tire and transportation-parts bid; disposal of outdated textbooks; summer community-education stipends; and a $500 donation to the Family Support Center from the Clarence Rotary Foundation. Personnel items, presented by Robert Michel, cleared in two blocks: instructional (P1–P9) included an amended leave date, four resignations — among them a coming retirement — grade-level changes, two regular substitutes, coaching and mentor-training appointments, summer screening and CSE work, summer TOSA positions and a Clarence Teachers Association resolution; non-instructional (P10–P14) covered one termination, eight resignations, aide transfers and building assignments, extended-school-year staff, summer buildings-and-grounds laborers, three aides, a high-school nurse and TCI cycles. In Student Support Services, the Committee on Special Education reported meeting for 31 days and recommended services for 128 students, while the Committee on Preschool Special Education met seven days and recommended services for eight; the board also re-appointed CSE and CPSE members, surrogate parents, impartial hearing officers and evaluation designees for 2026–27.
The board welcomed its incoming student representative, Julia Jobes[*], a rising Clarence High School senior who has served on student council for four years, coordinates service for the National Honor Society and is active in the Academy of Business and Finance. “Community service is something very important to me,” she told the board. She succeeds Avery Collins[*], headed to Michigan State. On policy, eleven measures (B3–B13) cleared a second read and were adopted together — spanning student transportation, wellness, students in temporary housing, medication and life-threatening health conditions, acceptable-use rules for staff and students, and, notably, Policy #5840 on Artificial Intelligence, which had its first read at the June 8 meeting and is now on the books. Trustees also sorted committee sign-ups and Erie County Association of School Boards (ECASB) representative slots, including a voting delegate for the National School Boards Association convention this October — hosted, as it happens, in Buffalo. The board then adjourned into executive session to discuss a personnel matter.
All seven members were present. The Board of Education votes by voice (“All those in favor? Aye”), not roll call, so individual positions are generally not recorded; no recusals were noted. Motions carried unanimously as recorded.
James Boglioli was renominated and returned as board president, hearing no objection. Tricia Andrews was nominated and elected vice president, moving up from trustee; the prior vice president was Michael Fuchs. Boglioli then took over the chair for the balance of the meeting.
Tricia Andrews, Cindy Magera and Dawn Snyder — re-elected at the May district election — were sworn in for three-year terms running through June 30, 2029.
The board re-adopted its Board of Education Code of Conduct, which each member read and signed.
Moved by Dennis Priore, seconded by Cindy Magera; carried on a voice vote.
The annual reorganization slate, recommended in a memo from Business Official Dr. Patricia Grupka[*], re-appoints the district's professionals and officers for the year: architect Kideney Architects; attorneys Bond, Schoeneck & King, Hodgson Russ and Webster Szanyi; depository banks M&T Trust and Chase (each with a $40 million limit); external auditor Drescher & Malecki; district clerk Megan Sutton ($6,000 stipend); treasurer Matthew Mietlowski; newspaper of record the Clarence Bee; plus insurers, compliance officers and required resolutions on conference attendance and the like.
Moved by Dennis Priore, seconded by Michael Fuchs; carried.
May financials; schedule of bills and check warrants; tire and transportation-parts bid; a $500 Family Support Center donation from the Clarence Rotary Foundation; disposal of outdated textbooks; and summer community-education stipends. Moved by Cindy Magera, seconded by Tricia Andrews.
Amended leave date; four resignations (including a coming retirement); grade-level changes; two regular substitutes; extracurricular and sports appointments; mentor training; summer screening/CSE work; summer TOSA positions; and a Clarence Teachers Association resolution (P9). Presented by Robert Michel; moved by Michael Fuchs, seconded by Tricia Andrews.
One termination; eight resignations; aide transfers and next-year building assignments; extended-school-year staff; summer buildings-and-grounds laborers; three aides; a high-school nurse; and TCI cycles. Moved by Michael Fuchs, seconded by Tricia Andrews.
The Committee on Special Education met 31 days and recommended services for 128 students; the Committee on Preschool Special Education met seven days and recommended services for eight. Moved by Dennis Priore, seconded by Adrienne Costello-Sulik.
Appointment of CSE and CPSE members; surrogate parents; impartial hearing officers; and designees for initial evaluation referrals, all for 2026–27. Moved by Cindy Magera, seconded by Michael Fuchs.
Standing committee memberships (finance, policy, facilities), plus district-wide safety and strategic-planning teams, will be set by written interest forms. Erie County Association of School Boards representatives were named, including a voting delegate and alternate for the NSBA convention in Buffalo this October and ECASB assembly, budget/finance and legislative representatives.
Eleven policies cleared a second read and were adopted together: #7131 (students in temporary housing), #5661 (wellness), #5720 (student transportation), #1620 (annual organizational meeting), #1640 (absentee/military/early-mail ballots), #7513 (medication), #7521 (life-threatening health conditions/anaphylaxis), #7241 (student directory information), #6410 (acceptable use – personnel), #7315 (acceptable use – student) and #5840 (Artificial Intelligence). Moved and seconded by trustees and carried on a voice vote; the policy committee had recommended approval and the measures drew no questions at either read. The AI policy had its first read June 8.
On a motion by Dennis Priore, seconded by Cindy Magera, the board voted to move into executive session to discuss a personnel matter. No further public action followed on the recording.
This brief was built from the district's own recording of the July 13 reorganizational meeting rather than the usual live YouTube stream, which did not air: a weekend network outage took down district phone and internet service, so the technology team recorded the session and posted it afterward. Names, dollar figures and the docket were cross-checked against the official reorganization agenda packet, which governs spellings; where the audio and agenda disagreed, the agenda wins. Board-member surnames follow the roster verified for the June 8 brief; officer roles (president Boglioli, vice president Andrews) reflect Monday's internal election and update the pre-reorganization roster. Names heard only in the audio — the incoming student representative, and the summer-program, safety and nursing staff — carry a [*] pending confirmation against official minutes. Board of Education votes are voice votes, so individual positions are generally not recorded; no recusals were noted, and no member of the public spoke.