Frontier Central Board elects leadership, approves appointments, policies and contracts at reorganizational meeting

The Frontier Central School District Board of Education at its reorganizational meeting elected Mary Anne Castello president of the board and approved a slate of officer and administrative appointments for the 2025–26 school year.

The reorganizational meeting also approved routine administrative designations, certified lead evaluators, adopted several board policies and approved contracts and insurance coverage, including a stop‑loss insurance policy for the district’s self‑funded health plan.

Mary Anne Castello was nominated and elected president of the board for the 2025–26 school year. John Cordier was elected vice president, and John Kilcoyne Jr. was elected vice president pro tempore. Oaths were administered to newly seated member Erin Oliver and student ex officio member Kaylin Wiley, and earlier in the day the oath was given to Superintendent Christopher J. Swiatek.

The board appointed district officers and role holders for the year, including Christopher J. Swiatek as superintendent of schools, Shannon Cross as district clerk, Maria Lorton as assistant district clerk, Kylene Young as district treasurer and Amy Spicola as assistant district treasurer. The board also approved a long list of statutory and administrative designees and firms (for example, Bond attorney John Alessi of Hodgson Russ and external auditor Bombadio and Company LLP) in a consolidated resolution.

The board certified Christopher Swiatek and Colleen Dugan as qualified lead evaluators under 8 NYCRR section 32.2 and also certified all district administrators as qualified lead evaluators for instructional personnel under 8 NYCRR subpart 30‑2. Those certifications cover use of the district’s rubrics, state‑approved measures of student achievement and scoring methodologies referenced in the regulations.

On policy and administrative matters the board: - Adopted policy 73‑16 (use of Internet‑enabled devices during the school day) on second reading. - Adopted policies 1220 (board nominations/election), 5420 (school district credit cards) and 1330 (appointments/designations by the board) on second reading and retired several obsolete policies. - Established routine financial parameters: official depositories (M&T Bank, JPMorgan Chase and M&T referenced in the motion), petty cash of $50 for central office, a mileage allowance of 70¢ per mile for official district travel, and bonding and insurance coverages and signatures for district accounts.

Contracts and agreements approved included: a professional services contract with Glendale & Company LLP to assist with GASB 87 and GASB 96 implementation (hourly rates attached to the motion) and stop‑loss insurance with United States Fire Insurance Company for the 07/01/2025–06/30/2026 policy year with a $350,000 specific deductible and an annual premium of $360,813. The board also approved a memorandum of understanding with the Research Foundation of SUNY for professional training and technical assistance and a memorandum of agreement with the Frontier Central Employees Association.

Personnel actions approved as part of consent and separate motions included the appointment of John Graham as assistant high school principal, multiple certified teacher hires and support‑staff hires, and multiple tenure appointments (a list of names and assignments was approved). The board also authorized the superintendent or designee to apply for grants and to enter into contracts necessary to implement those grants subject to the district’s claims‑auditing procedures.

Board members voted on motions as presented; the record shows motions were made, seconded and approved by voice vote ("Aye; Opposed? Carried") for the reorganizational slate and for the listed administrative and financial items.

The board adjourned its reorganizational meeting and moved to conduct hearings on the district code of conduct and the district safety plan later in the agenda.