OCSD Updates

Oneonta City

School District

Board of Education

Bill Grau

President

Term Ends: June 30, 2022

Bill Grau has worked for the SUNY system since 1994. Bill is currently Executive Director of the SUNY SICAS Center, a group that provides software, training and other services to 45 SUNY campuses as well as 18 Private Colleges in New York He has also served as an Adjunct Lecturer in the Speech Communication Department at the College at Oneonta. Bill holds a Bachelor's Degree in Communication Studies from SUNY Oneonta and a Master's Degree in Sports Studies from the University of New Hampshire.

Bill recently served as President of the Oneonta Little League, Secretary of the Oneonta Soccer Club Board, and as a member of the College at Oneonta Athletic Hall of Fame Committee. Currently, Bill serves as a member of the Red Dragon Open Scholarship Golf Tournament Committee at SUNY Oneonta.

Since being elected to the Board in 2010, Bill has served on the Communications Committee, Committee for Equity & Inclusion, Safety Committee, Curricular Technology Committee, Policy Committee, and the Capital Improvements Committee.

Amy Rockwell Burnsworth

Vice - President

Term Ends: June 30, 2023

Amy Rockwell Burnsworth was born and raised in Oneonta, attending OCSD through 10th grade. Amy completed her undergraduate studies at St. John Fisher College in Rochester and earned her MBA from SUNY Empire State College. Her children, Avery and Owen, are both students in the Oneonta City School District.
Amy is employed by Spectrum Reach in Media Sales as a Senior Account Executive. Amy has served as a Board member of the United Way of Delaware and Otsego Counties. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees of First United Methodist Church and Board Member of the Ricky J. Parisian Scholarship Foundation.

Darren Gaisford

Member

Term Ends: June 30, 2022

Darren was born and raised in Oneonta. In 1985, he was a member of the Oneonta Little League All-Star Team that won the New York State Championship. Darren graduated from Oneonta High School in 1990. He attended SUNY Oneonta and received his undergraduate in 1995 in Secondary Education (emphasis in Biology) with a minor in Chemistry. After graduation Darren taught Biology, Life Science and Advanced Placement Biology at Unatego Jr. /Sr. High School. He also coached modified baseball and J.V. football. In 2000, Darren received his Master’s Degree in Secondary Teaching from SUNY Oneonta.

Currently, Darren is a partner in Better Home Improvement Company in Oneonta with his brother and father. Darren and his wife Tracy have two daughters, Jordan and Jenna, both students in the Oneonta School District. Darren enjoys playing softball, volleyball, golf, and taking family vacations. He volunteers his time coaching Pee-wee football and youth basketball and softball through the Oneonta Boy’s and Girl’s Club.

Susan Kurkowski

Member

Term Ends: June 30, 2021

Susan is employed by the Oneonta Family YMCA as an HR/Payroll Administrator. Her family and she all attended school in the Oneonta City Schools. Susan and her husband Kevin graduated in 1983 and 1979 respectively, as well as Kaitlyn in 2010, Kyle in 2018, and Kevin is presently a student in the District with a projected graduation of 2021.

Susan is in her third term as a member of the OCSD Board of Education and serves on the Wellness and Policy Committees for the District.

She has volunteered her time to many community organizations including the Executive Board of Oneonta Little League, Huntington Memorial Library Board of Trustees, Oneonta Reading is Fundamental and the Parent/Teacher Organizations in her children's schools. She presently serves on the Future of Oneonta Foundation

Jamie Reynolds

Member

Term Ends: June 30, 2021

Jamie Reynolds has been employed in banking and financial services for 33 years. He has been with NBT Bank for 31 of those years, 21 of which have been in Oneonta. Currently, he is the Senior Vice-President and Regional Executive for all of NBT Bank's operations in the area with functional roles in Commercial and Government Banking. He has been active on many local boards including the Otsego County Chamber, the Catskill Symphony Orchestra, the Friends of Bassett, the Oneonta Rotary Club, the Otsego County Empire Zone and the Catskill Area Hospice and Palliative Care.

Currently, he is Secretary of the Otsego County Development Corporation, sits on the Business Advisory Council to the School of Economics and Business at SUNY Oneonta and the Hartwick College Presidents Advisory Council, and is the Vice Chair of the AOFox Hospital Foundation Board. He has served on the Oneonta City School Board since November 2008 and serves on the Finance/Audit, and Labor Relations/Litigations Committee, having previously served as Board President for 5 years.

Jamie and his family reside in Oneonta.

Shawn Beckerink

Member

Term Ends: June 30, 2022

Shawn Beckerink is a veteran of the United States Air Force and served during Operation Desert Storm. Shawn and his wife, Sabrina, moved to Oneonta in 1997 where he was stationed after attending the New York State Police Academy. In 2017, Shawn retired from the New York State Police in the rank of Investigator. He had 20 plus years of law enforcement experience between the NY StatePolice and other agencies he was previously employed by.

During his tenure with the NY State Police, Shawn served the Oneonta community as a road trooper, and was promoted, in 2012, to the rank of Technical Sergeant and transferred to the New York State Police Headquarters in Albany, NY.

Baseball is a big part of Shawn’s life as has volunteered his time coaching with the Oneonta Little League and with the Oneonta Hurricanes travel baseball team. Currently, Shawn feels blessed to spend retirement doing the things he loves like caring for his family, spending time umpiring NCAA and High School baseball, golfing, hunting, and camping.

Shawn and Sabrina have two children, Ethan and Eliza. Ethan is a graduate from Oneonta and Eliza is currently a student in the Oneonta City School District.

Colleen Cashman

Member

Term Ends: June 30, 2023

Board Links

Contact the Board of Education

Board Agendas & Minutes

Board Agendas ARCHIVE (2009-March 2018)

Board Minutes ARCHIVE (2009-March 2018)

Finance Committee Minutes

Documents

2020-21 Finance Committee Meeting Schedule

Amendment to the Open Meetings Law

On May 12, 2009 the Governor signed into law Chapter 27 of the Laws of 2009. The bill, which became effective the day it was signed, amended the Open Meeings Law to require publication of the time and place of public meetings on the public body's website. The amendment applies to all public school districts in the State.

The amendment reads:

When a public body has the ability to do so, notice of the time and place of a meeting given in accordance with subdivision one or two of this section, shall also be conspicuously posted on the public body's internet website.